Top Headlines for April 30
Visit Fairhaven and GSAR/CNYIS will pay for your At Home with Diversity course
As part of the ongoing effort to promote fair housing and fair housing education, GSAR and CNYIS are excited to announce they will cover the $135 cost of the At Home with Diversity (AHWD) course for the first 100 members who complete the interactive Fairhaven: A Fair Housing Simulation training before Sept. 1.

At Home with Diversity is a NAR certification course designed to enable REALTORS® to work successfully with and within a rapidly changing multicultural market. It will help you to learn diversity sensitivity, how it applies to U.S. fair housing laws in your business, and ways to develop professional guidelines for working with people in the increasingly multicultural real estate market.

REALTORS® who take the At Home with Diversity will be able to apply for the AHWD Certification, earn 6 hours of CE, one hour of Fair Housing credit, and use it as an elective towards the ABR, GRI and CIPS designations. It also counts as a module in the C2EX program. Members, who qualify to take the course for free by completing Fairhaven, would only be responsible for the $75 certification fee.

GSAR has scheduled AHWD for Oct. 14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Registration details will be available soon.
Missed RTB #4? Watch the video
GSAR's Raising the Bar #4 featured Yvonne Conte presenting the "7 Habits of Supremely Happy People." Conte is a motivational humorist, and stress reduction expert. She is the author of "One Word," "Serious Laughter," "Frankie Wonders" and several other books. She is the founder and director of Day of Joy, Inc., a 501c3 organization contributing thousands of dollars to local charities annually.
New-home sales reach 15-year high
Buyers are increasingly turning to newly constructed homes for more options. Sales of new single-family homes surged 20.7 percent month over month in March to a 1.02 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to new data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Census Bureau. New-home sales are at the highest annual pace since September 2006. Read more.
Cold calling prohibited through May 25
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has extended the State of Emergency through May 25. Licensees remain prohibited from making any cold calls through that date and are required to follow all current guidance, directives and reopening rules. General Business Law §399-z(5)(a) states: “It shall be unlawful for any telemarketer doing business in this state to knowingly make an unsolicited telemarketing sales call to any person in a county, city, town or village under a declared state of emergency or disaster emergency as described in sections twenty-four or twenty-eight of the executive law.” All other types of marketing such as mailers, billboards, social media, internet are permitted. You may call a FSBO if you have an identifiable purchaser interested in the property. You are prohibited from calling the FSBO to solicit the listing. You may still perform business-to-business calls so long as you are calling the number provided as the business number.
MLS Tips
Agents and brokers should be aware of MLS rule changes that take effect on May 10
The CNYIS Board of Directors approved several changes to MLS rules on April 21 and all participants should be aware of these changes in order to be in compliance when they take effect on May 10. Click here to learn more about the changes, which are highlighted in red type.

Sell Score marketing feature to debut on MLS next week
On Tuesday, May 4, Realist will be releasing its Sell Score search prospecting and marketing tool within Realist. Sell Score takes both public records and proprietary Corelogic data to determine the relative likelihood a property will be listed for sale in the next six months. By assigning each property a clear numerical grade, the Sell Score makes it easy to identify homeowners who are more likely to sell. Users will now be able to do Sell Score searching within Realist. Learn more.

New 'Check It' tool will help agents avoid potential violations
The CoreLogic Check It, which allows an agent to check a listing for potential violations by running the listing against the automated rules in our Listing Data Checker program, will be active on the MLS during May. Check It can be run while a listing is still in an incomplete status, after it's active and just after a modification is made to a listing. Correcting potential violations before the listing is uploaded will also cut down possible fines. It will also help avoid penalties under the new NAR policy requiring a hearing after three administrative sanctions within a calendar year. (See Section 7- Compliance with Rules – Authority to Impose Discipline.) Agents should not solely rely on this program to avoid violations and remain responsible for knowing all MLS rules. The MLS is making this tool available as a way to further assist agents.
Education
Don't miss GSAR's May classes
GSAR's May classes will cover ethics, Instanet and more.
Ethics for REALTORS®
Instructor: Don Radke
May 5 from 9 a.m. – noon

Are you living by the Code? The REALTOR® Code of Ethics is your pathway to professionalism. Adhering to the Code is what separates you, as a REALTOR®, from other real estate professionals. In this class, you will be reminded of your duties to clients, customers, the public, and your fellow REALTORS®. The professional standards process and Pathways to Professionalism will also be discussed. This class satisfies the NAR ethics training requirement and the DOS Training Requirement. 3 hours CE. Register here.

Fundamentals of Instanet
Instructor: Shelly Hoffman
May 11 from 1 -4 p.m.

This course is designed to help beginner users of Transaction Desk navigate through the system to create the required paperwork for a transaction. Participants will create professional documentation for both buyer and seller, thereby providing a clean, typed version of their forms for easier reading and understanding. You will learn how to print, e-mail and/or send the documents for an electronic signature using Authentisign.3 hours CE. Register here.

The List Price is Right
Instructor: Randy Templeman
May 12 from 9 a.m. - noon

Sellers rely on real estate professionals for advice on pricing their properties. Preparing an accurate comparative market analysis (CMA) is essential. In this course, you will learn about collecting and evaluating the data needed for the CMA and how to present an objective summary to the seller to get their property sold in a reasonable period of time with minimal stress and inconvenience.3 hours CE. Register here.
NAR offers free one-hour fair housing course to NY REALTORS 
The National Association of REALTORS®, in partnership with the Perception Institute, will be offering "Implicit Bias: Overcoming Barriers to Fair Housing" for free to REALTORS® in New York State. The one-hour, Zoom-delivered course will take place on May 3 from 9 a.m. to noon. The Perception Institute’s foundational mind science workshops focus on increasing comfort level with navigating identity differences, explaining the science of identity, and engaging the use of interactive exercises to build new muscles of equitable behavior. Register here.
Upcoming virtual continuing education

• Ethics for REALTORS®
Instructor: Don Radke
May 5 from 9 a.m. – noon

• Fundamentals of Instanet
Instructor: Shelly Hoffman
May 11 from 1 -4 p.m.

• The List Price is Right
Instructor: Randy Templeman
May 12 from 9 a.m. - noon

Upcoming virtual Matrix classes

May 5:
Introduction to Matrix 1 at 9 a.m.
Introduction to Matrix 2 at 11 a.m.
Matrix 2: Customization and Auto Emails at 1:30 p.m.

May 12:
Introduction to Matrix 1 at 9 a.m.
Introduction to Matrix 2 at 11 a.m.
Matrix 3: CMA at 1:30 p.m.

May 26: 
Introduction to Matrix 1 at 9 a.m.
Introduction to Matrix 2 at 11 a.m.
Matrix 2: Customization and Auto Emails at 1:30 p.m.


Education links
Attention REALTOR members! Your NAR Code of Ethics training cycle is coming to an end on December 21, 2021. Please remember to email your Ethics Certificates to [email protected] if you’ve taken the class already.
The Spring Sales Course is open for registration!
Brokers and agents, do you know of anyone looking for an exciting career in real estate? Let them know our live virtual 75-hour Salesperson Licensing Course begins on May 5, 2021! 
This is an evening/weekend class, please see https://www.cnyrealtor.com/education/salesperson-course/ for more information.

Thanks to our sponsors
Member Benefits and Events
May T3 to focus on drone photos and videos
GSAR's T3 webinar, Drone Photos and Videos for Real Estate, on May 24 from 1 to 3 p.m. will cover what real estate professionals will need to know to do their own drone photography and how to hire the right professional.

This introductory course will cover some of the key rules the FAA is enforcing, a basic understanding of drone technology, and what it takes to make and save drone photos and videos.Register here by 4 p.m. on May 23.

Thank you to our sponsor Tompkins Trust.
Welcome new GSAR members!
The Greater Syracuse Association of REALTORS® welcomes its newest members and wishes them great success.
Renee Gallant
Century 21 Leah’s Signature
315-598-1165

Jennifer Simpson
Inquire Realty
315-303-5656

Kerri Skidmore
Coldwell Banker Prime Properties
315-446-2910
Joan Soule
Berkshire Hathaway Home Services CNY Realty
315-343-6666

Jonathon Whitelaw
Century 21 Galloway Realty
315-342-2111

Bradley Zimmer
Keller Williams Realty
315-701-6900
Please note: There will not be a New Member Set-up Seminar on Thursday, May 20, 2021. All applications received for that week will be processed for the following week. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
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