News, Information & Hot Issues

Member Benefits

“Green” Printer Joins C.A.R. MAP Program

PrintingForLess.com has joined C.A.R.’s Member Advantage Program (MAP), as the program’s exclusive print partner. PrintingForLess.com specializes in providing high-quality printed marketing materials including business cards, postcards, brochures, stationery, catalogs, and many other custom-printed products.

In addition, the printer has earned the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC’s) Chain-of-Custody Certification and uses paper made by Oji Paper Group for its main paper stocks. Oji obtains 60 percent of its pulp from recovered paper, and nearly all of the rest from its own sustainably managed tree plantations.

Here are just a few of the benefits that C.A.R. members will receive:

• Unbeatable customer service.

• Professional-quality printing at a great value.

• 100-percent customer satisfaction guarantee.

• Commitment to environmentally responsible business practices.

As a special bonus, C.A.R members receive a 10 percent discount on all printing orders placed with PrintingForLess.com. Visit www.printingforless.com/CAR or call (800) 930-6040.

Fast Facts

Online real estate provider Zillow surveyed 2,000 adults planning to purchase a home in the next 24 months (study fielded by Harris Interactive) about their financial “worries” regarding the upcoming purchase. The respondents (specified below in percentages) cited the following concerns.

• Interest rates (68 percent)

• Local property taxes (63 percent)

• Purchase price (57 percent)

• Closing costs (41 percent)

• Maintenance costs (39 percent)

• REALTOR® fees (26 percent)

Consumer News

Home Builder Rankings

J.D. Power and Associates, the global marketing firm that conducts surveys of customer satisfaction, product quality, and buyer behavior, recently ranked overall customer satisfaction with home builders. The survey, New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study, used a 1,000-point scale and nine parameters: home readiness; construction manager; builder-provided recreational facilities; builder’s sales staff; builder’s warranty and customer service; workmanship and materials; price and value; location; and builder’s design center.

Pulte Homes, which includes Del Webb and DiVosta Homes, received the highest customer satisfaction ratings in 11 of 33 markets included in the study. Visit www.jdpower.com for complete rankings.

Newscan

Business Briefs & Bottom-line Boosters

ePUBS™ for WINForms® Cuts Paper, Not Trees

>> Timber! You’ve just closed escrow. Despite the benefit of using WINForms® to satisfy your forms needs, how much paper exchanged hands in providing your client with mandated disclosures?

It’s a fact that real estate transactions consume a lot of paper. If you and your clients are green-minded, you can eliminate the need to print out the lengthy Combined Hazards book and instead use ePUBS™ for WINForms® to satisfy California’s disclosure requirements. This digitized library is unique in that the signature page and the Earthquake Hazards Report are e-mailed in a separate file from the book, allowing your client to print only the two pages you’ll need for your files, instead of the entire 78-page, mandated book. An annual subscription of $36 allows you to purchase the ePUBS™ for WINForms® add-on library (available for WINForms® Online only) and access any of the six mandated and consumer disclosure titles, thereby saving time, money, and trees!

For more information, visit www.winforms.com/.

Fire Sprinklers Mandated

>> Starting January 1, 2011, fire sprinklers are required to be standard equipment in new one- and two-family homes. The mandate comes after the International Code Council, the body that sets residential building codes for 46 states, voted on the proposal. The average cost of a sprinkler system is $1.61 per square foot.

Watch It – Decorate It

REALTORS®’ Float in 2009 Rose Bowl Parade

On New Year’s Day, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®  will reach millions of viewers across the U.S. and around the world with its debut float in the 120th Rose Parade in Pasadena. Marking the end of NAR’s centennial year, the float, based on the story of the Swiss Family Robinson, is “Celebrating the Dream of Homeownership for 100 Years.” The float illustrates the importance of a family pulling together to build a home.

Riding on the float will be Dick Gaylord, 2008 NAR president; Charles McMillan, 2009 NAR president; Beth L. Peerce, C.A.R.’s 2008-2009 treasurer; andWest DeYoung, 2009 Pasadena-Foothills Association of REALTORS® president.

NAR and the host association, Pasadena-Foothills Association of REALTORS®, are inviting volunteers—local REALTORS®, all REALTORS® visiting Southern California during the holidays, plus their family members age 12 and older—to assist in building the float on Dec. 20, 21, 26-30. (Minors must be accompanied by an adult.) More than 1,000 volunteers are needed for the 13 planned shifts. Local offices and associations are encouraged to recruit teams of up to 90 people to decorate the float.

As host association for the event, the Pasadena-Foothills Association of REALTORS® is opening its offices to visiting members and providing a hospitality suite with refreshments and computer access.

“We are so proud to be able to highlight how the members of NAR are giving back to communities,” says Rita Sahlein, chairman of the Pasadena-Foothills Association of REALTORS® Rose Parade Float Committee. “Our members’ magnificent response to disasters such as  9/11, the tsunami in Indonesia, and hurricanes Katrina and Rita will be the message delivered by the television announcers as our float turns the corner at Colorado Boulevard. It will be a proud moment for all REALTORS®.” 

For more information, visit www.pfar.org/; call (626) 795-2455; or listen to NAR President Dick Gaylord’s podcast at www.realtor.org/about_nar/presidents_report/podcast_summaries.