毎年恒例の HAR Advisory Group の昼食会が 11月30日にメディカル センターの Wolfgang Puck レストランで開催されました。 HAR.com には、ヒューストンの不動産メンバーで構成される多数のグループがあります。彼らは自ら時間を割いて定期的に集まり、業界の問題について話し合い、会員、協会、消費者に利益をもたらす解決策や新しいプログラムを提案します。委員会は、YPN (若手専門家ネットワーク)、グローバル (スーザンは元委員長)、MLS、リスク軽減、政治問題、リスク管理などの特定の専門分野に焦点を当てています。1 年間のボランティア活動を記念して、HAR は全員が参加する年次昼食会を開催します。 Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) には現在 50,000 人を超える会員がおり、これらの諮問グループは組織をより良くするために常に取り組んでいます。
The annual HAR Advisory Group holiday luncheon took place on Nov 30 at Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the Medical Center. HAR.com has many advisory groups comprised of Houston realtor members. They volunteer their time to meet regularly to discuss problems in the industry and also ro suggest solutions and new programs that will help benefit the members, association, and consumers. Committees focus on particular specialties such as YPN (Young Professionals Network), Global (Susan is past chairman), MLS, Risk Reduction, Political Affairs, Risk Management, etc. To commemorate a year’s worth of volunteering, HAR holds an annual luncheon where all advisory group members come together. The Houston Assocation of Realtors (HAR) has over 50,000 members now and these advisory groups constantly work to make it better and better.
Thanksgiving break provided the Annouras time to go on a family vacation! One of our favorite things to do is to go on a motorhome trip. As usual, we rented from American Dream Vacations, the branch in Boerne, TX. This year we rented a 26 foot Class A type motorhome and visited four different state parks. If you have never visited a Texas State Park, I highly recommend you buy a Park Pass for all the discounts! Booking so late in the game, we had to grab whatever parks that were open, but that allowed us to check out many different places! We started out our first two nights at South Llano River State Park, getting to hike along the beautiful Llano River. Good Friday we spent hiking up and around Enchanted State Park, just outside of Fredericksburg. In the evening, we stayed at Lady Bird Johnson RV Park (the only non State Park), and the following day we went out to Blanco State Park (Koh caught a catfish!). After dropping Joe back to Austin (UT started school the next day), we wrapped up our trip with a final night at McKinney Falls State Park, just 20 minutes from downtown Austin. Our favorite parts about the trip were all the different beautiful hikes, celebrating Koh’s birthday on top of Enchanted Rock, and planning/cooking all of our own meals. It helped to have two Eagle Scouts with us for all the cooking and fire building! All in all, it was a great trip for everyone!
The real estate industry is currently facing a multi-front assault from consumers and regulators across the U.S. And while it remains to be seen what will ultimately happen, the industry is increasingly bracing for major disruption.
Sitzer | Burnett Sitzer | Burnett has been the highest profile case lately because it went to trial in October in Missouri and the verdict was recently reached. A jury ultimately ruled in favor of the homeseller-plaintiffs in the case, agreeing that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and various large franchisors conspired to keep commissions high. At issue was NAR’s cooperative compensation rule, also known as the Participation Rule, which requires listing brokers to make an offer of compensation to buyer brokers in order to submit a listing to a Realtor-affiliated MLS. The jury awarded $1,785,310,872 in damages, which, under the law, will be automatically trebled to $5.356 billion.
In the days following the verdict, several ‘copy cat’ lawsuits have come out, including a suit against Texas Realtors, HAR, MetroTex, ABOR, and many other real estate companies and even individual agents. Although NAR just lost the Sitzer Burnett case, it is not named in this suit. The target is only state and local associations saying they are guilty for overseeing compliance with the NAR MLS rules. Potentially, this lawsuit could seek class action status and represent home sellers in Texas from Nov 13, 2019 to present, who used a local association’s listing broker and paid a buyer’s agent commission. NAR defended the current system of cooperative compensation, stating it benefits both sellers and buyers by allowing homes to be sold for more, providing more choices for buyers, and facilitating transparent and efficient marketplaces. NAR emphasizes the value Realtors bring to clients during the complex homebuying process.
This is my opinion only, but if we change the current system where sellers pay their listing agent and their listing agent splits their commission with the cooperating buyer’s agent, then what system will we go to? Will we follow New York, where sellers are committed to paying their listing agent and will now pay the buyer’s agent directly? Will we change to a Colorado system where the seller often pays their listing agent and the listing agent is in the middle, representing the seller and just helps the the buyer (with no buyer’s agent)? Will we change to a Japanese system where the seller pays the listing agent and the buyer pays his own agent? There are many options of what the system could become after these lawsuits are worked out.
今年もカンファレンスの季節がやってきました! 先週は NAR 会議だけではなく、その 2 日前には米日カウンシル年次会議がありました。 米日カウンシルの使命は、世界的なリーダーを育成し、結びつけ、より強力な日米関係を築くことです。 日米の指導者を結集させ、相互の懸念に対処し、解決策を生み出すには、人と人との関係が強力な方法であると信じています。 ヒューストン出身のスーザンは、ワシントン DC でグレンとロバート・ゴンドー、ドナ・コール、斉藤明美さんと会いました。 政治、医療、医療技術、教育、金融関係など、あらゆる業界にわたる素晴らしいネットワーキングが行われた 3 日間でした。米日カウンシルは優れた講演者を何人か招待し、全員が検討できるよういくつかの分科会ディスカッションを実施しました。 ワシントン DC はおいしい食事と素晴らしい天気に恵まれ、スーザンはこっそり抜け出してスミソニアン国立肖像美術館を覗いてみることもできました。 来年のコンベンションは日本に戻って渋谷のセルリアンタワーで開催されるので、楽しみにしています。
This is the season for conferences! Not only was the NAR National Conference last week, but two days before that was the USJC Annual Conference. The mission of USJC is to develop and connect global leaders to create a stronger U.S.-Japan relationship. It is an organization whose members believe people-to-people relationships are a powerful way to bring together leaders in the U.S. and Japan to address and create solutions to mutual concerns. From Houston, Susan met up with Glen and Robert Gondo, Donna Cole, and Akemi Saitoh in Washington DC. It was three days of great networking across all industries: politics, health care, health tech, education, banking, etc. USJC brought in some great speakers and conducted several break out discussions for all to consider. DC had great food and great weather and Susan was even able to sneak out for a quick peak at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Looking forward to next year’s convention when it will move back to Japan and be held at the Cerulean Tower in Shibuya!
Every year, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) holds their national conference. It is a time for realtors across the United States to come together and hold meetings, take classes, and network! This year, the conference was held in Anaheim, CA and took place from Monday Nov 13 until Friday Nov 17. As NAR is becoming more and more international, its global council, CIPS, and global ambassador program is very active. In attendance were over 700 international realtor members from all over the world including Japan, Spain, Mexico, Norway, Costa Rica, and beyond! Susan attended the CIPS Advisory Board meeting as well as the CIPS pinning ceremony, where she was able to pin several of her students from Houston and Mexico. There was also a very nice international welcome reception as well as a very elegant International Night Out gala, where Houston’s Richard Miranda was honored with an award. The Houston Association of Realtors executive board was in attendance to receive the award, making it a very special night indeed. It was so nice spending time with our Houston delegation as well as meeting new and old friends from California (Ryan and Meli) and New Jersey (Chris and Jerry), the executives of the Norway realtor association (Randi and Carl), and all of us dancing like teenagers with AMPI at Angel Stadium under a sky of fireworks. Unforgettable memories for sure. Thank you, NAR!