February 7, 2025

MAR BOARD OF DIRECTORS ACTIONS:

The following are among the actions at the February 5 MAR Board of Directors meeting:

-Approved the MAR Legislative Committee recommended priority positions for legislative bills;

-Approved an application of up to $25,000 to the National Association of REALTORS® for an Issues Mobilization Grant for the virtual portion of REALTOR® Rally;

-Approved a request from the Greater Portland Board of REALTORS® for the addition of a Seller Compensation clause in zipforms;

-Approved $10,000 from unrestricted reserves for outside legal review of policies mandated by the National Association of REALTORS® including antitrust, harassment, conflict of interest, confidentiality, code of conduct, whistleblower, cybersecurity, and ownership disclosure;

-Approved disbursement of $5,000 from the MAR Issues Fund for a corporate investment in the Maine Association of REALTORS® Corporate PAC or the NAR Corporate Ally Program;

-Approved candidate Carolyn Fish, REALTOR® for endorsement to the Maine Legislature in the special election in House District 24 (Bangor, Brewer, Orono, Veazie).

Reminder:

You can view MAR’s legislative bill tracking report here (password: codeofethics)

MAR BYLAWS UPDATE:

The MAR Bylaws, in Article XX Section 1.1, allow for the Bylaws to be automatically amended if those amendments are mandated by National Association of REALTORS® policy.

Effective January 1, 2025, NAR membership policy requires that all REALTORS® are now required to complete fair housing/anti-bias training in addition to Code of Ethics training. These training courses must be completed between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2027. Learn more about this new membership requirement here

NAR has developed a NO COST, self-paced, two-hour course (no CE) called Fairhaven 2.0 to help members fulfill this membership requirement. Upon completion of this online course, your NAR member record will automatically update to reflect compliance.

We expect 3-hour continuing education courses to be offered over the coming years, which will also fulfill the fair housing / anti-bias training membership requirement.

Article XII – PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS of the MAR bylaws have been updated to include Section 7 and Section 8 as follows:

Section 7. NEW MEMBER FAIR HOUSING ORIENTATION - Applicants for REALTOR® membership and provisional REALTOR® members (where applicable) shall complete Fair Housing training of not less than two (2) hours of instructional time. This requirement will be satisfied upon presentation of documentation that the member has completed a course of instruction conducted by this or another REALTOR® association, the State Association of REALTORS®, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, or the Institutes, Societies, and Councils, which meets the learning objectives and minimum criteria established by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® from time to time. Fair Housing training approved by a state licensing authority for an existing Fair Housing requirement to gain or maintain licensure shall also fulfill this requirement, provided it also meets the learning objectives and minimum criteria established by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® from time to time. This requirement does not apply to applicants for REALTOR® membership or provisional members who have completed comparable orientation in another association, provided that REALTOR® membership has been continuous, or that any break in membership is for one (1) year or less. 

Failure to satisfy this requirement within 180 days of the date of application (or, alternatively, the date that provisional membership was granted), will result in denial of the membership application or termination of provisional membership. 

Section 8. CONTINUING FAIR HOUSING TRAINING - Effective January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2027, and for successive three-year periods thereafter, each REALTOR® member of the association (with the exception of REALTOR® members granted REALTOR® Emeritus status by the National Association) shall be required to complete Fair Housing training of not less than two (2) hours of instructional time. This requirement will be satisfied upon presentation of documentation that the member has completed a course of instruction conducted by this or another REALTOR® association, the State Association of REALTORS®, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, or the Institutes, Societies, and Councils, which meets the learning objectives and minimum criteria established by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® from time to time. Fair Housing training approved by a state licensing authority for an existing Fair Housing requirement to maintain licensure shall also fulfill this requirement, provided it also meets the learning objectives and minimum criteria established by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® from time to time. REALTOR® members who have completed Fair Housing training as a requirement of membership in another association shall not be required to complete additional Fair Housing training until a new three-year cycle commences. 

Failure to satisfy the required periodic Fair Housing training shall be considered a violation of a membership duty. Failure to meet the requirement in any three-year cycle will result in suspension of membership for the first two months (January and February) of the year following the end of any three-year cycle or until the requirement is met, whichever occurs sooner. On March 1 of that year, the membership of a member who is still suspended as of that date will be automatically terminated.

Review MAR’s full bylaws

ADVERTISING REMINDERS:

The Maine Real Estate Commission considers your voicemail greeting (the message a consumer hears when they call your phone, and you are not available) to be advertising for any phone number that you release to consumers for your real estate business. Therefore, your voicemail greetings on all phone numbers (business line that rings at your desk, cell phone, home phone) need to comply with MREC advertising rules which require your full name and the trade name of your agency as licensed.

Also, be sure that you are using an email footer/signature block that includes your full name and the trade name of your agency as licensed to conduct your real estate business.

Listings that are posted on your personal Facebook page (and other social media platforms) are considered advertising by the Maine Real Estate Commission. Be sure that all advertising, including advertising on social media, contains the trade name of the agency as licensed by the Maine Real Estate Commission, and that the agency trade name prominently appears or is readily accessible to the public.

NEXT Tuesday FEBRUARY 11!

SOCIALIZE WITH MAINE LEGISLATORS:

The Maine Association of REALTORS will be hosting our annual "Meet & Greet" Maine’s legislators at the Senator Inn in Augusta on Tuesday, February 11 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. This is a strictly social event and opportunity for members to join MAR's leadership team and Legislative Committee to meet Maine’s Legislators. Join us! Please RSVP to Claire and let us know you’re attending.

MAR REALTOR RALLY IS APRIL 17!

Maine REALTORS® will be rallying our Maine legislators at the Maine State House and virtually on April 17! More details soon. For now, save the date!

Be ready for MAR’s REALTOR® Rally! Text REALTORS to 30644 or click here to enroll in mobile alerts. For a convenient way to participate in our Rally, or when a state or national REALTOR® call for action is launched, you can take action from your cell phone.

Save the Dates:

Member Portals: