NAR Issues New Call for Action!
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REALTOR
® action has helped positively influence tax reform in some key areas, recently. If you responded to the call,
THANK YOU!
For example, both the House and Senate have agreed to maintain deductibility of state and local property taxes up to $10,000, and to maintain Section 1031 tax-deferred exchanges in their present form for real estate investments.
BUT OUR WORK IS NOT DONE.
We still have an opportunity to influence Congress to help make the tax reform bill more favorable to homeowners and consumers.
Now that both the House and Senate have passed
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act, a Conference Committee will begin to address the differences between the two bills.
Important improvements in the legislation are possible by encouraging Congress to maintain the current law for the mortgage interest deduction and capital gains exclusion.
Retaining current law makes the bill more favorable to homeownership.
Take action to tell Congress to protect middle-class homeowners.
Americans first began paying an income tax in 1861 to pay for the Civil War. It was on again, off again, for a while after that. The 16th Amendment made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system in 1913. The most recent major tax reform was in 1986.
If you'd like to better understand the issue of tax reform, and understand what's happening with it right now in our national legislature, watch this NAR webcast from earlier in the week.
The video lasts about 45-minutes, but offers a calm, rational discussion - from a REALTOR® point of view - on this first major revision of our federal tax code in more than 30 years.
See the video online here:
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Still Time to Improve Tax Reform
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Home-buying Streak Continues
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Spokane-area home sales continued at a strong pace in November, with the market benefiting from mild temperatures and the lack of significant snowfall.
A total of 705 single-family homes and condos sold during the month, which represented a 16 percent increase from November 2016, according to the Spokane Association of Realtors.
Home prices were higher, too. Last month's figure follows a 20 percent year-over-year increase in October.
Read the rest of the article in The Spokesman-Review, online here.
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New DOL Publication
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Annie Fitzsimmons, your Washington REALTORS
® Legal Hotline attorney, talks about a new publication from the Washington Department of Licensing that goes into the rules and regulations of real estate advertising.
The publication proves to be very informative and even provides helpful examples.
See Annie's three-minute video online here:
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2018 Housing Trends
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The big-picture view on housing trends in 2018 center around integrating technology and creating healthy and connected living environments.
That's why building materials, systems, and products that speak to these concerns are expected to generate greater buzz in the coming year.
And with more generations living under the same roof, home-related features that provide an extra pair of hands or calming-even spiritual-influence are also being enthusiastically embraced.
Here's a sampling of coming trends that are important to understand and share with clients.
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Holiday Light Map
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Photo: The Spokesman-Review
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Do you or a neighbor go all out with the holiday displays?
Does your street do up the holidays right?
Do you just love that place with the thousands of lights synced to Christmas music?
The Spokesman-Review wants to hear about it.
Visit their holiday light map online and enter the coordinates in a mapping program.
If you have a specific address, great. If you only know cross streets, that'll work, too.
The newspaper will publish a list of the submitted homes in the paper on
December 19th, suitable for printing as a guide as you head out to tour the best and brightest holiday displays this year.
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| 2017 REALTOR® Education |
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Quality of Education
through SAR/WR Education Instructors
Here is the latest class listing from your SAR - offering the best live and local continuing real estate education classes for 2017.
Click on each class title,
underlined in blue, to bring up a flyer for that class - suitable for posting in your office.
Register for these classes
online here:
Please be in touch with
Debbie at the SAR if you have any questions about these classes or your license education requirements, by phone at
326-9222 or by
email.
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What Else do we Need: Purchase & Sale Addenda
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NEXT WEEK!
Check-in: 8:15 a.m.
Class: 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
at the SAR
6.0 clock hours
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SAR CALENDAR
Click on the calendar image below to see
the current SAR calendar showing dates and times
of classes, committees and events.
NOTE: The REALTOR® Store will be closed December 28th and 29th.
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Condolences
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The SAR extends its condolences to
Sherry Coleman, DeCaro & Associates.
Sherry's husband,
Patrick passed away on
December 1, 2017, after a short illness.
Services will be scheduled at a later date.
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Net Neutrality
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The Federal Communications Commission, Thursday, announced a rollback of net neutrality rules, sparking a swift rebuke from the nation's 1.3 million REALTORS®.
FCC's rollback of the Open Internet Order will mean higher costs and slower service for millions of American consumers and businesses.
REALTORS®have strong concerns about what that might mean for the way consumers search for homes online and real estate is transacted.
Elizabeth Mendenhall
National Association of REALTORS® President
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2018 First Quarter MLS Fees Due
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2018 First Quarter MLS fees have been posted to the SAR member portal.
Click on the button above to pay yours now.
This is due by December 30, 2017.
Please contact Brenda, SAR bookkeeper and membership administrator, if you have a question about your fees by email here or contact her by phone at 326-9222.
Thank you for your prompt payment and for being a valued member of your SAR!
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ListHub - November
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The ListHub report for November is now available.
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| Market Activity Report - November |
The SAR Market Activity Report for
November is now online.
See the latest full report -
a member-exclusive product - and archived full reports -
online here.
See the November 2017 Snapshot Report (pictured above) online here.
See the 2017 Year-to-date Snapshot Report (pictured above), online here.
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Member Roster Update - November
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NEW!
Updated December 2017
Click here to view the latest list of
MLS Subscription Waivers - approved by the Board of Directors.
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Presented by your Spokane Association of REALTORS® 
See what's NEW at
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2017 SAR Leadership
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2017 SAR President
Jennifer Valerien
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869-3828
SECRETARY:
TREASURER:
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