KCRAR was well represented last week at the National
Association of REALTORS® Conference and Expo in Boston, Mass. as 35 KCRAR members
traveled to the meetings.
The NAR Strategic Framework for 2019-2023 took center stage
as the
NAR Board of Directors, led by 2018 President Elizabeth Mendenhall, adopted a
five-year strategic framework to provide a more visionary, holistic and
business-oriented approach reflective of NAR’s expanding role in technology and
other arenas critical to real estate.
Among the many policies approved was an amended policy
statement regarding the rights of cooperating brokers in presentation of
offers. The policy reinforces cooperation and brings MLS policy in line with
the Code of Ethics. Under the rule, listing brokers will be required to provide
written affirmation or notification to cooperating brokers on the disposition
of their offer. The requirement gives associations the ability to impose
disciplinary action against a listing broker who fails to present either
written confirmation that the offer was presented or evidence that the seller
waived the obligation to have the offer presented. This means that in this ever-tightening
real estate market, cooperating brokers will now be offered written proof their
offers were presented to the sellers. Note:
the KCRAR sale contract and counter offer form includes a “certificate of
rejection” box at the end of the form. Completion and signature of the agent
provides the written affirmation as required.
At the meetings, NAR Directors also went on record in
support of laws, regulations and standards that advance notarization. The
policy calls for rules that focus on the completion of the notarial act,
regardless of the technology used, and support the adoption of remote
notarization across all U.S. states and territories, while protecting
consumers’ personal information. The policy also urges federal agencies to
facilitate the adoption of remote notary services across the mortgage system
which in many cases would simplify the document signing process while still
maintaining its integrity.
In other business, the Board of Directors acted to:
- Customize Core Standards for commercial overlay boards
- Allow flexibility in proceeding with ethics complaints when
criminal litigation is also involved - Approve Patent infringement liability policy
- Establish a new policy supporting indexing of tax bases of
capital assets - NAR went on record in support of the Opportunity Zones tax
incentive that was included in the 2017 tax reform act. - Strengthen and broadened the requirements for candidates for
elected NAR office - Approve funding to defend allegations of copyright
infringement - Issues Mobilization reforms were amended to allow more
flexibility in approving smaller grant requests while increasing the “skin in
the game” requirement for those associations requesting Issues Mobilization
funding. - A new presidential advisory group (PAG) will look at what
changes, if any, should be made to the structure of NAR’s governance system.
The PAG’s work covers only governance at the national level
Special recognition was given to a Distinguished Service
Award recipient as well as presentation of the William R. Magel Award of Excellence.
The award is presented annually to a REALTOR® association executive who has
excelled in his or her role.
Leadership Team, staff and members who attended these very important meetings,”
KCRAR and HMLS CEO Kipp Cooper said. “Your valuable input into the direction of
our National Association makes a difference and we appreciate the sacrifice of
time to your families and businesses to take on this important work.”
