ArcadiaREALTOR®The Official Publication of the Arcadia Association of REALTORS®

VOL. 17, NO. 11WWW.THEAAR.COMNOVEMBER 2013

PROUDLY SERVING THE REALTORS® OF ARCADIA, BRADBURY, DUARTE, MONROVIA AND SIERRA MADRE

“Commercial Real Estate Day at the

Races”See page 8

AAR Hosts CIPS Designation

CoursesSee page 9

Nominations Now Open for REALTOR® and Affiliate of

the Year AwardsSee page 5

2

Arcadia Association of REALTORS®601 South First Avenue

Arcadia, California 91006626.446.2115

626.446.4072 FAXwww.TheAAR.com

2013 ASSOCIATION OFFICERSAndy Bencosme {President}

Mike Vachani {President-Elect}Joe Pacilio {Vice-President}

Jill Nelson {Secretary/Treasurer}

2013 ASSOCIATION DIRECTORSMicah Adams

Ryan AsaoRoy Blume

Kelvin ChangMargaret Garemore

John LeePaulina Lee

Sylvia RamosIrene Yamagata -Bermudez

2013 C.A.R. DIRECTORSRyan Asao

Andy BencosmeMargaret Garemore

George MonteRandall Traw

Mike VachaniKelvin Wong

ARCADIA ASSOCIATION STAFF

Robin Allen Ext. 307 Director of Finance / Office Manager Robin@TheAAR.com

Michael Beltran Ext. 302 IT Director / Webmaster Michael@TheAAR.com Brenda Faltes Ext. 304 Director of MLS Data Integrity, Supra & Social Media Brenda@TheAAR.com Jamie Hu Ext. 309 Administration Jamie.Hu@TheAAR.com

Stephanie Maertens Ext. 303 Director of Education, Publications & MLS Caravan Stephanie@TheAAR.com

Maria Roberts Ext. 305 Director of Membership & Professional Standards Maria@TheAAR.com Jane Shriver Ext. 301 Director of Association Services Jane@TheAAR.com

Andrew Cooper Ext. 308 Chief Executive Officer Andrew@TheAAR.com

{ Arcadia REALTOR® | November | Two Thousand and Thirteen | Volume Seventeen | Number Eleven}11.13

ArcadiaREALTOR®

November 2013

REGULAR FEATURES

4 Events Calendar

4 From the CEO’s Desk Andrew Cooper, Chief Executive Officer

5 Attorney Comments Dave Freeman, AAR Legal Counsel

6 Market Matters

9 Affiliate Corner “Credit Matters for Listing and Selling Agents” David Schram, 740 Plus

“How to Help Expedite the Closing of Escrow” Dave Barniak, Lotus Escrow

10 Through the Lens A Look at What’s Happening Around the AAR

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ON THE COVER5 Nominations Now Open for REALTOR® and Affiliate of the Year Awards The AAR is now accepting nominations for these coveted awards. Nomination forms due no later than Friday, November 22, 2013.

8 “Commercial Real Estate Day at the Races” The Commercial / Investment Committee recently held its annual educational and networking event with a group of expert panelists and a fantastic keynote speaker.

9 AAR Hosts CIPS Designation Courses The AAR recently offered a 5-Day CIPS Institute of courses. A total of 19 attendees are now on their way to becoming CIPS designees!

ADDITIONAL CONTENT3 “Social Media Marketing for Beginners” Please join us for our monthly Lunch & Learn Series!

3 “Dealing with Unpermitted Construction” Please join us for this popular course!

12 “How to Buy and Sell Hotels and Motels” Due to popluar demand, the AAR has scheduled this fantastic 3-hour seminar. Please join us!

Arcadia REALTOR® Magazine

lunch & learn series

The AAR Education Committee presents

“Social Media Marketing forBeginners”

Presented by: Richard Rocha, Marketing Representative, InterValley Escrow

Thursday, November 21, 201311:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Cost: FREE (with $10 refundable deposit)

Arcadia Association of REALTORS®601 S. First Ave.

Arcadia, California 91006

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.) is a great way to expand your sphere of influence and market to a much larger audience. The best part about using Social Media for marketing is that it can be done for little to no coast at all! In this class, you will learn the basics of Social Media marketing: ■ Setting up a Facebook business page ■ Learning to use the Insights provided by Facebook in order to maximize the audience you reach. ■ Learn to create automated campaigns via Facebook and Twitter. ■ Get listings up faster using just your smartphone and few social media apps ■ Introduction to other Social Media sites like Instagram, YouTube and Google+

To register, please visit www.TheAAR.com and click under the event title under “Upcoming Events”

A free educational series on the third thursday of every month

bring your lunch and learn!

3

“dealing withunpermittedconstruction”

MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013ARCADIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

601 SOUTH FIRST AVENUEARCADIA, CA 91006

TIME: 1:00 P.M. TO 3:00 P.M.CHECK-IN BEGINS: 12:30 P.M.

Course Cost: FREE**If you register and do not attend or cancel beforehand,

a $10 “No Show” charge will apply.

Refreshments will be provided by LaRoccaInspection Company.

Back By Popular

Demand!

To register for this course, please visit www.TheAAR.com and click on the course title under “Upcoming

Events”

Join us to learn:

• When a permit is required• The steps needed to legalize unpermitted work• The three options for dealing with unpermitted construction• If construction work always has to conform to current building codes

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FROM THE CEO’S DESK

I Saw Santa Claus Before the Headless Horseman

So there it was. The first Christmas television commercial of the season. And this was 10 days before my son dressed

in his costume on Halloween. They say “Christmas comes earlier every year”. I used to argue that by stating that according to my calendar it’s still on December 25th . But after seeing Santa Claus on television touting cell phones right before an ad with the Headless Horseman selling bags of candy at Target - I now see their point.

I’m concerned that if we’re being forced to start thinking about the Holidays already in October we’re going to start rushing around now and we’ll lose sight of what’s important and not appreciate everything that we already have. As REALTORS®, Affiliates and ultimately, independent business owners, we are goal-oriented by nature and as such we tend to live in the future by constantly looking on the horizon for new business. This is perfectly natural because that’s what we’re supposed to do as entrepreneurs. However always looking to the future will oftentimes cause us to lose sight of where we are today including not being thankful for everything we already have, both in our personal lives and in our respective businesses.

The automatic response to that is “But business has slowed down” or “I don’t have an escrow, so what do I have to be thankful for?”. If you are reading this article the chances are you are still active in the real estate industry and by still being in business that right there is something to be thankful for. By still being in business, we have the ability TODAY to make positive business decisions that will lead to a profitable future and that will get you those escrows and listings. The decisions to be made are endless and bountiful. However let’s not focus on our level of success because success is relative. Instead, let’s be thankful we are still in business to be able to make smart decisions and let’s also be thankful for those in our lives who have supported us as REALTORS® and Affiliates.

I truly believe there is a direct correlation that when we become more thankful for what and who we already have in our lives we will automatically find ourselves having more to be thankful about.

I am truly thankful to all our members for your valued membership with the Arcadia Association of REALTORS® and on behalf of our office staff and Board of Directors we wish you all a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

F 1 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. - Toastmasters

M 4 8:30 a.m. - New Member Orientation

T 5 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. - Beginning Zipforms Training 10:00 a.m. - Global Real Estate Comittee Mtg.

W 6 8:30 a.m. - MLS Caravan 9:30 a.m. - Events 4 Charity Auxiliary Mtg. N.A.R. in San Francisco (Nov. 6 - Nov. 9)

Th 7 9:30 a.m. - Commercial / Investment Committee Mtg. 11:00 a.m. - Commercial Education & Networking Session

F 8 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - CRMLS Training

M 11 AAR Closed in Observance of Veteran’s Day

T 12 11:00 a.m. - Tech Committee Mtg.

W 13 8:30 a.m. - MLS Caravan 8:45 a.m. - Affiliate Committee Mtg. 9:30 - MLS Committee Mtg. 3:30 p.m. - Equal Opportunity / Housing Affordability Committee Mtg.

F 15 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. - Toastmasters

M 18 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - “Legal & Tax Consequences of Short Sales vs. Foreclosures”

T 19 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Intermediate ZipForms6 Training 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - “How to Buy and Sell Hotels and Motels” 1:30 p.m. - Budget and Finance Committee Mtg. 2:00 p.m. - Education Committee Mtg.

W 20 8:30 a.m. - MLS Caravan 9:30 a.m. - Public Relations Committee Mtg. 1:30 p.m. - Local Governmental Relations Committee Mtg.

Th 21 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Lunch & Learn Series Class

F 22 8:30 a.m. - Board of Directors Mtg.

W 27 No MLS Caravan Th 28 AAR Closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday

F 29 AAR Closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday

November 2013

November Events

Andrew CooperChief Executive Officer

AttorneyComments

By Dave Freeman, Association Counsel

November 2013

1. PROPERTY TAX TRANSFERS: Seniors – This is a provision often overlooked by our clients. As property values, and therefore property taxes, have sky-rocketed during the last decade or so, it is important to preserve the property tax base of seniors, based on Proposition 13. It is important to advise your clients that they must file the application with the county tax assessor upon purchase of the new residence in order to take advantage of Proposition 90.

Your clients should be reminded of three points:

1. Prop 13 keeps the property tax on particular residences stable, with no more than 2% per year increases, in most cases.

2. If anyone over the age of 55 sells their residence, and purchases another one, in the same county, for equal or less money, within two years of sale of the previous, Proposition 90 allows the seniors to retain their Proposition 13 property tax basis on the new residence. Only certain countries allow transfers of the Proposition 90 benefits to a new residence in a different county.

They include the local counties of:

• Orange County

• San Diego County• Los Angeles County• Riverside County• Ventura County

2. PROPERTY TAX REASSESSMENT: Upon change of ownership, the county tax assessors will reassess your property, almost always causing a large increase in property taxes. Until recently, this does not include partial transfers of the property, or addition of another person to the title, or changes in how the property is held. With the need for new money in Sacramento and locally, the county tax assessors have become more stringent on their rules regarding this subject.

A. Notably, if another party is added to the title, the property will be reassessed.

B. If joint tenancy is changed to tenants in common, even with the exact same parties on title, the county tax assessors will reassess, and the courts have upheld this. The actual case was in Marin County, but as the appellate court ruled in favor of the county tax assessor in that case, it is likely most county tax assessors in other countries will take advantage of this opportunity as well.

3. PRESERVING ELECTRONIC

COMMUNICATIONS: At the C.A.R. meetings in Long Beach recently, there was a great deal of discussion regarding the Bureau of Real Estate’s ruling that agents must retain all electronic communications involved during real estate transactions for a period of three years. This involves emails, texts, tweets, and Facebook communications, as well as other methods of electronic communication. You will be receiving more communications on this subject as they come down. C.A.R. had not yet researched this issue at the time of the meeting in Long Beach.

This brings up two obvious thoughts:1. Do not communication any

electronic message that you don’t want the BRE to see.

2. Each real estate brokerage should have an office policy, in writing and published to each member of that office concerning the subject.

4. NEW Q & A’S: There are new Q & A’s that are worth looking at on C.A.R.’s website:

A. Short SalesB. Property Managers and the

Contractors Licensing LawsC. Agency Disclosures and

Confirmation and Agency Laws Summary Chart

Arcadia REALTOR® Magazine5

DON’T MISSWHAT’S COMING!

For moreinformation on upcoming AAR classes and more, visit www.TheAAR.com and

click “Upcoming Events”

Nominations Now Open for REALTOR® and Affiliate of the Year Awards

The Arcadia Association of REALTORS® is now accepting nominations for the coveted REALTOR® and Affiliate of the Year Awards. Nomination forms are available at the AAR or on www.

TheAAR.com. Nominations are due no later than Friday, November 22, 2013. For questions, please contact the AAR at (626) 446-2115.

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MarketMatters

Market Statistics for the San Gabriel ValleySingle Family Homes Condominiums SFR Only

City Zip Code

Sales of Single Family

HomesPrice Median SFR ($1,000)

Price % Chg from

September 2012

Sales Count

Condos

Price Median Condo

($1,000)

Price & Chg from

September 2012

Median Home Price/

Sq. Ft.Alhambra 91801 10 $565 -5.9% 5 $405 15.2% $449Alhambra 91803 10 $580 45.0% 1 $577 37.4% $368Altadena 91001 44 $550 29.4% 4 $1,040 13.4% $399Arcadia 91006 34 $1,150 29.2% 6 $714 6.6% $519Arcadia 91007 13 $1,380 16.1% 12 $500 3.1% $587Azusa 91702 14 $355 35.2% 15 $317 85.1% $252Duarte 91010 8 $329 11.5% 4 $378 51.0% $348El Monte 91731 7 $395 51.9% 4 $335 5.3% $339El Monte 91732 8 $399 24.7% 9 $310 -37.4% $345El Monte - South 91733 7 $300 -7.4% 5 $392 54.3% $294Glendora 91740 27 $433 27.2% 5 $330 32.0% $310Glendora 91741 23 $568 24.7% 1 $345 -19.0% $326La Cañada Flintridge 91011 21 $1,180 21.0% 1 $770 13.6% $536La Verne 91750 23 $500 11.1% 5 $254 -26.4% $278Monrovia 91016 22 $597 31.4% 5 $350 -2.8% $392Pasadena 91101 n/a n/a n/a 22 $368 6.5% n/aPasadena 91103 20 $435 -13.9% 8 $437 n/a $354Pasadena 91104 21 $650 44.6% 3 $485 53.1% $441Pasadena 91105 13 $1,311 51.7% 11 $650 2.8% $510Pasadena 91106 3 $1,070 41.9% 16 $525 49.1% $617Pasadena 91107 33 $718 21.1% 6 $473 30.5% $460Rosemead 91770 19 $453 31.2% 3 $340 11.5% $429San Gabriel 91775 24 $719 43.8% 1 $520 n/a $419San Gabriel 91776 11 $533 22.4% 4 $439 54.9% $354San Marino 91108 13 $2,033 59.6% n/a n/a n/a $710Sierra Madre 91024 9 $890 20.3% 3 $483 22.3% $486Temple City 91780 16 $680 25.3% 6 $555 28.5% $457

Source: DQNews.com

September 2013

November 2013

7Arcadia REALTOR® Magazine

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November 2013

“Commercial Real EstateDay at the Races”

By Roy Blume, Commercial / Investment Committee Chairman

The Commercial /Investment Committee recently hosted a sold out Commercial Real Estate Day at the Races at the beautiful Santa Anita Racetrack. This was a new venue for the annual event. The event started off when a panel of commercial practitioners from the largest big-name commercial brokerages in the business. They included: Bill Ukropina – Coldwell Banker Commercial North County; Sheri McCanless – NAI Capital; Ron Heim – Cushman & Wakefield and Sam Foster – Jones Lang LaSalle. The panel members took questions regarding local commercial market trends, various types of commercial leases, transaction approach and how to market commercial properties. Their knowledge was extremely helpful to those who attended who were there to learn from some of the best. It was inspiring to listen to this line up of speakers. We learned how to network and how to do business with these firms. You can’t gain this information from a webinar.

Our keynote speaker Patricia Lynn, CCIM and N.A.R Signature Series Speaker gave us a great presentation on “Getting Heard Above the Noise” - very important if you want to separate yourself from the rest.

I would like to take a moment to thank our event sponsors.

Our Winner’s Circle sponsors were Laura Pozzi, Cutco Closing Gifts and David Padilla, CoStar Group. Our Finish Line sponsors include Armen Madatyan, CDC Loans; Julie Arballo, Wells Fargo; Mary Kay, Advanced Group Property Inspection Company; Ann Doherty, ODIC Environmental & Energy and Steve Micciche, WF Construction. Our Starting Gate sponsor was Dino Champagne, Asset Preservation Inc.

If you didn’t make it to this year’s event, I encourage you to attend next years. It is sure to be another fantastic event! Also, if you are interested in Commercial real estate, remember that our Commercial / Investment Committee hosts a Commercial Education & Networking Session on the first Thursday of every month in the Arcadia Association building from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Lunch is provided. The Committee has their monthly meeting at 9:30 a.m. prior to the session. The meeting is open to all AAR members. If you have an interest in the Committee, I welcome you to come by and visit one of our meetings.

For any questions regarding the Commercial / Investment Committee, contact Roy Blume at (626) 355-1451 or email him at roydblume@gmail.com.

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9

Affiliate Corner“Credit Matters for Listing and Selling Agents”

By David Schram, 740 Plus

Every year I encounter sellers who cannot obtain their next home loan and have to rent instead. The professional REALTOR® can suggest pulling consumer credit reports after the listing agreement is signed but before the home is marketed.

Bad credit items may be warning signs that a new loan is not in the clients’ immediate future. I advise against pulling mortgage credit. That is a sign of motivation to debt collectors who do pull credit regularly and worse settlements are offered.

As a flat statement, less than excellent credit scores can always be improved legally. It is just a question of how many points and how quickly.

Here is a list of suggestions regarding common credit problems:

Protect your license and do not recommend disputing-type of credit repair services; don’t you do it and do not advise your client to do it. The legal penalties are far too great.

It is illegal to dispute accurate bad credit contrary to the assertions of dispute-oriented credit repair companies. Its actually in three federal laws, the third of which assesses up to $1million penalties and up to 30 years in prison. This warning includes the consumer doing disputes too.

The reason accurate bankruptcy, foreclosure, short sale and certain other bad credit is illegal to dispute or otherwise have removed from credit lies in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA); the Consumer Credit Protection Act, Title IV, Section 406; and bank fraud law which is serious business.

A very careful reading of the federal laws regarding credit reporting and credit “repair” reveal certain legal loopholes which

allow certain types of bad credit to have good resolutions without the illegal disputing process. These loopholes absolutely do not include BK or foreclosure per FCRA.

Collection accounts, certain judgments, certain tax liens, some late payments, many past-due amounts and over-due balances, some repossessions and certain other bad credit may or do fall within the legal loopholes for deletion from credit but most certainly not by disputing tactics if the bad credit is accurate and current.

Collection accounts: Do not pay them without a written promise to delete. The FICO scores never go up when collections are paid, contrary to logic. Verbal promises to delete are rarely kept. Payment temporarily makes the credit report “inaccurate”.

Late mortgage payments within the past twelve months makes mortgage lending difficult. Home equity loans and lines of credit are mortgage loans and late payments cause lending the same problem.

Tax liens: A paid and released six-year-old federal lien costs FICO scores about 25-40 points to otherwise perfect credit. Federal tax liens are different than other tax liens in terms of possible legal credit resolutions.

After discharge of bankruptcy and with proper credit rebuilding the FICO scores should be around 700 within two years. Most consumers rebuild their credit incorrectly and even 3-5 years after BK with perfect payments commonly have scores only from upper-500’s to mid-600’s.

For more information on this subject and more, contact Dave Schram at 818.813.8230 or email him at daveschram@sbcglobal.net.

9

“How to Help Expedite the Closing of Escrow”By Dave Barniak, Lotus Escrow

The key to a successful transaction is com-munication. Avoid delays or costly mistakes by being aware of situations that can cause them.

Prepare – The more information, the better. Always. During the opening process of an es-crow don’t hesitate to furnish the escrow agent as much information regarding the transaction

as possible. These items should include but are not limited to:

• Title vesting choice

• Correct spelling of client(s) name

• Contact info for lender (or mortgage broker)

• Fire insurance policy information HO6/HOA(Continued on page 11)

10

A Look at What’s Happening Around the AARthroughthe lens

10November 2013

AAR Past President, Ryan Asao with Barbara Corcoran, ABC Network

“Shark Tank” at the C.A.R. Expo

MonthlyCommercial

Networking & EducationSession

AAR Booth at the C.A.R. Expo

“Boomers to Zoomers”

Event at Pepper’s Restaurant

11Arcadia REALTOR® Magazine

11

• Payoff mortgage loan account info; plus any other tax, mortgage, bond or lien information.

• Copies of Trust or Corporate documents

• Statement of Information

Estimated closing statement up-front – Although closing costs will vary from one transaction to the next, you should not wait to find out what a client will owe at the close of escrow. Even an estimate can serve as a ballpark of what fees could be and would curtail any surprises. Is your client out of country or state? Both the IRS and California Franchise tax board have requirements for the withholding of Capital Gains. Contact escrow regarding certain instances where a waiver could be granted.

Review preliminary title report – The magical “free and clear” title report is not magic at all. Basically between the collaboration of the escrow and title officer any clouds on title, liens, loans and judgments are reconveyed or cleared. Expedite this process by supplying the escrow agent with a complete statement of information from the seller/bor-rower right from the get-go. There are many instances of old paid off loans, liens or substandards which simply have been recorded on properties in error or have been failed to be

reconveyed by lenders.

Communicate with lender – This would be the top reason of cancelled or delayed escrows. If a transaction is contingent on obtaining a loan, communicate with the broker/lender from the beginning. Read lender regulations before submit-ting – nothing would delay escrow more than a transaction submitted to a lender who does not finance a specific type of transaction.

Documents are time sensitive – Make sure to respond quickly to any correspondence related to the transaction. It is important that you do not hang on to and delay handling these documents. Instead, you need to review and have the client sign them as soon as possible. If your client is going to be out of town or country during the escrow process you may want to consider a power of attorney to avoid delays.

When in doubt – Ask, email or call your escrow. We are a service provider and a neutral party to the transaction. Re-member to always advise escrow as soon as you are aware of any issue that could delay your transaction.

For more information on this topic, contact Dave Barniak at 626.262.4333 or email him at dave@lotusescrow.com.

(Continued from page 9)Affiliate Corner Cont.

AAR Hosts CIPS Designation CoursesThe Arcadia Association of REALTORS® had the honor of recently offering Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) Courses. For a total of five days, instructor Fanny Chu, CIPS, SRES, TRC, SFR of San Francisco offered her expertise and knowledge to each of the attendees. This year, a total of nineteen students joined together in determination to gain their CIPS Designations and to learn all of the information required to conduct real estate business in various foreign countries.

CIPS Students with the course instructor are (Standing L to R): Kelly Tran, Michael Hui, Daphne Hu, Kartik Subramaniam, Selene Lum, Santiago Ogradon Cortes, Jeff Curtis, Eugene Solonin, Mei Zheng, Aaron van Kesteren, Jill Askren, Loni McVicar, Diane Kaefer and Amy Song. (Seated L to R): Sharon Kao, Tina Lynne, Elwin Wang, Instructor, Fanny Chu; Eileen Ruan and Angela Chen.

12

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Phone: (800) 743-1031Fax: (626) 796-8222

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We Provide A Complete Service To Successfully Accomplish Tax Deferred Exchanges

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Arcadia Association of REALTORS®601 South First AvenueArcadia, California 91006

12

• Estate Planning• Trust Administration• Probate• Business Law• Commercial Transactions• Corporation, LLC & Partnership Formations• Business Contracts

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(626) 869-878733 East Huntington Drive • Arcadia, CA 91006

Call today for a free consultation

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33 East Huntington Drive • Arcadia, CA 91006romy@rahmanianlaw.com • www.RahmanianLaw.com

Visit www.TheAAR.com for more details and to register.

“How to Buy and SellHotels and Motels”

Monday, November 18, 2013

1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.AAR Building

Cost: $29

with Instructor, Bill Herrera, Palm Pacific Realty