February 2010

The ABoR Foundation is gearing up to help deserving high school seniors off-set the cost of college tuition by offering $1,000 scholarships to eligible students. A total of 10 scholarships are available to applicants who reside in one of the following counties: Travis, Williamson, Lee, Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Blanco or Burnet. Graduating high school seniors who plan to attend a Texas college, university or trade school are encouraged to apply.

Applications are available online and in person in the Education Department at the ABoR offices located at 10900 Stonelake Blvd., Suite A-100, Austin, TX 78759-5826.

The deadline to submit an application is March 12 at 5:00 p.m. Applications can be hand-delivered or mailed to the ABoR offices. All applications must be received at the ABoR offices, regardless of delivery method, by the 5:00 p.m. deadline on March 12 to be considered.

For more information, contact Hessie Brawley in ABoR’s Education Department at 512-454-7636, ext. 1603.

The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) has mobilized their resources to provide relief for earthquake victims in Haiti. NAR’s REALTORS® Relief Foundation, which was “established to provide housing-related assistance to victims of disasters,” is donating $550,000 in aid to help Haiti. Interested in helping, too? Click here to make your contribution to the Foundation today and help support those in need.

REALTOR® Magazine’s Good Neighbor Society is now accepting applications for their Volunteering Works program. Designed for REALTORS®, Volunteering Works aims to partner REALTORS®, who are NAR members, with a mentor and a $1,000 grant to help expand their community outreach and improve their community service initiatives. Five applicants will be selected for the program.

Individuals REALTORS®, who have shown dedication to their communities by volunteering and working on charitable efforts, are encouraged to apply. The deadline to enter is February 19, 2010. Click here to learn more about the program and for an entry form. Questions can be directed to NAR’s Information Central at 1-800-874-6500.

Learn more about new technologies and marketing opportunities in the real estate world at the RE BarCamp on March 11 at the Third Base Sports Bar at 1717 West 6th Street in downtown Austin. This event is free to attend. REALTORS®, lenders, title companies, appraisers and others in the real estate industry are welcome. Visit the Austin RE BarCamp Web site for more details.

Home and Garden Television (HGTV) is seeking a local REALTOR® to feature in an upcoming episode of Bang for Your Buck. HGTV, which will be filming in the Austin area in March, is looking for a REALTOR® who is knowledgeable about the Austin market. The selected  participant will visit three recently renovated media or recreation rooms with an HGTV design expert to judge each space and determine which homeowner will receive the best return on their investment.

Filming is set to take place March 24-25. Are you interested? If so, send a photo along with your resume, including the number of years you’ve been a REALTOR®, to Jenna Friederich. Learn more about HGTV’s Bang for Your Buck which airs Tuesday and Friday at 8:30 p.m.  

According to the Multiple Listing Service report by the Austin Board of REALTORS®, the volume of Austin area home sales in December 2009 was 1,373, up five percent from the same month in 2008. The median price of real estate in the Austin area also showed an increase, up six percent from December 2008 to $194,000.

“We saw dramatic increases in sales volume in October and November 2009, which were presumably related to the original deadline for the first-time homebuyer tax credit,” explained John Horton, 2010 Chairman of the Austin Board of REALTORS®. “However, increases in sales volume beyond November and figures that have improved steadily throughout the year indicate that, while some demand was driven by the tax credit deadline, a sustainable recovery is also underway in the real estate market.” Get the complete Austin housing market report online.

Mineral Coverages in Texas Title Policies after November 1, 2009

In this month’s “Legal Topics” column, John F. K. McGill, J.D., of Hancock and McGill, L.L.P., discusses mineral coverage with regards to Texas title policies. View the complete article here.

Don’t miss a moment of the action and ensure your access to the ACTRIS MLS system goes uninterrupted by paying your semi-annual participations fees by Monday, March 15. Submitting your payment by the March 15 deadline not only gives you continued MLS access, but also helps you avoid any late or reinstatement fees. Invoices will be distributed in mid-February.

Contact ABoR’s Membership Department at 512-454-7636 with questions regarding your ACTRIS participation fees.

As you know, ABoR began the transition away from SafeMLS tokens in January. As the transition progresses, MLS subscribers will need to use their Abor.com login and password to access MLXchange. You should continue using this method for logging in to the system until the new system flags you to create a new password. At that time, you will create a new MLXchange password, which must be exactly eight characters with at least two numbers.

ABoR has learned that some members are experiencing technical difficulties when trying to re-authenticate their sessions in MLXchange. If you experience this problem, sign out of MLXchange and close out all of your current Internet browser windows. Once you have closed your Web browser, re-open the program and try to log in to MLXchange again. This should resolve the issue and allow you to successfully log in.

If you are unable to log in or have questions and need assistance, contact the MLS support team at 512-454-7636.

ABoR will host a collection box for your old tokens should you wish to recycle them. You can recycle your tokens at 10900 Stonelake Blvd., Suite A-100, Austin, TX 78759-5826.

Don’t miss out on your chance to taste all of the delicious meat and vegetarian entries and support the REALTOR® Party at the annual TREPAC Chili Cook-off on February 17 from 5:30-8:00 p.m. in the ABoR Auditorium. With only a little over a week until the event, don’t delay and purchase your TREPAC event ticket today.

For more information, contact Christina Ortiz in ABoR’s Government Affairs Department at 512-454-7636, ext. 1501.

The City of Austin wants your opinion. Take the online survey to help kick off the citizen-input phase of the city’s two-year process of developing the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan, a vision of what we want Austin to look like in the future and a guide to achieving the goals laid out in the plan. Complete the initial survey by March 1, and let your voice be heard!

Over the next two years, the City will gather input from individuals, community groups and organizations and establish policies that will promote “growth, development and beautification of the land within the corporate limits and the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city.”

ABoR’s Government Affairs Committee has organized a subcommittee on the Comprehensive Plan and charged them with gathering input from members to present a unified REALTOR® vision of Austin. ABoR also encourages all REALTOR® members to participate individually by completing the surveys and attending community forums. More information can be found on the Imagine Austin Web site.