ashtray

Remember the ashtray?  It has been a long time since I have seen one.

The new housing market has created some reluctant landlords and some new renters that are not always up to speed on the laws like  Smoke free apartment buildings. 

I was doing a little research on the interwebs and I found some resources for tenants and landlords.  Real estate is regulated at the state level and the laws on the live smoke free web site are for Minnesota.

It is completely legal for a landlord to adopt a smoke-free policy for their rental apartment buildings (including individual units), and no smokers are not a protected class and they do not have "rights".

The best place to go to learn more about landlord and tenant rights in Minnesota is the Minnesota Attorney generals office. . . or come to my blog first and click on the links.

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 It is Friday and Fridays are for fun.  If you are not sure if you are the 99% than you are the 1%.  

Everyone wants in on the action and marketers are using "occupy" as in occupy Wall Street or OccupyMN on various marketing campaigns. Lets not forget what this is all about. 

If you would like to join the OccupyMN protests I recommend riding light rail there is a stop right at the protest on "people's plaza".  I will be on the plaza this weekend but I carry a camera.  I am not sure what I would put on a sign but it would have something to do with foreclosures. . . . I have seen way too much in the last few years.   We need more jobs.  Jobs create homeowners and tax payers and we need more of both.  

occupymn 

people before profits

. . no I won't get arrested.  

Yesterday I stopped by the OccupyMN  protest in downtown Minneapolis.  They are occupying the Hennepin County Government Plaza and calling it the people's plaza.  The plaza has been occupied for over a week.  The occupy Wall street protest is the one that started it all and it has been going strong for more than three weeks.  

The protesters call them selves the 99% and they are protesting the war, poverty, unemployment, national economic policies, corporate greed, the federal reserve system and more.   I saw signs that read "People before profits" and "The 99% will not be silenced" 

This is a peaceful protest and  well organized.  They keep the plaza clean and have a schedule posted.  There are portable toilets for the protesters but tents are not allowed and that is causing some friction as protesters pitch tents.  It will be interesting to see if protesters will stay out on the plaza when there is snow and cold. (click on the photos to make the larger)

Sweeping up

Peace 

Occupy MN 

Ash tree

Will the ash tree be around for our children and grandchildren to enjoy?  The ash borer had been found in St. Paul and they kill ash trees.  You may have seen the purple triangular traps in some of the trees.   This particular tree has a bat house in it which has nothing to do with the EAB but the bats like it and they eat mosquitoes so we like them. 

Here is some information from the DNR:

What you need to know

EAB kills ash trees, and it does so in great numbers. Already it has killed millions of ash trees in North America . EAB will have a huge effect on Minnesota's landscape and the 998 million ash trees that grow in our cities and forests.

• Recognize the signs and symptoms of an EAB infested tree: heavy woodpecker activity on tree, dying branches in the top canopy, sprouts around the tree base, vertical cracks in the bark, S-shaped tunnels under the bark, and 1/8 inch D-shaped exit holes in the bark.
• If you think your tree is infested with EAB, complete the steps outlined in Do I Have Emerald Ash Borer ?  and refer to the Signs and Symptoms of EAB in Ash Trees slide show for more examples.
• If your ash tree is showing other signs and symptoms, visit the What's wrong with my ash tree?  online diagnostic tool to help identify problems caused by insects, diseases, and nonliving factors.
• To report a possible EAB infestation, contact the Arrest the Pest Hotline atarrest.the.pest@state.mn.us or 888-545-6684.
• Consider insecticide treatments only when your property is within 15 miles of an EAB infestation.More information  
• Do not transport firewood, even within Minnesota.

Trees, especially disease free trees add to the value of your home. 

Electronic signatures

New state laws often take place on August 1 and since real estate is highly and I do mean highly regulated on the state level we usually end up with new rules and that means new real estate  forms and changes  to existing forms to reflect new laws.   There is a forms class for real estate agents and brokers taught by the Minnesota Association of Realtors that goes over the changes.

I really wish all agents would attend the forms class.  Instead they like to tell us what is “legal” and what is not.  Each brokerage has it’s own unique interpretation of the forms and they like to hold the other party hostage until they get their way.

Several forms have been changed because of electronic signatures.  They are legal in Minnesota and they have been legal for years.  This language was added to some of the contracts: “Electronic signatures:  The parties agree the electronic signature of any party on any document related to this transaction constitute valid, binding signatures.”   I won’t know for sure until I go to the forms class but my guess is some agent told another agent that he/she has to have a written signature because that is how one party signed.  The party who signed electronically was probably in Outer Mongolia and the agent representing the party who signed with a written signature decided it wasn’t “legal” to have one of each type of signature and held all parties hostage until he/she got a written signature.

At any rate being the rebel that I am I use a product called EchoSign for electronic signatures.  My clients love it and I started using it when I discovered that I was not smart enough to figure out how to use the special software they make for real estate.   I will go on record as saying I am a raving fan of Echo Sign.  When I am fortunate enough to have a client sign documents in person I have them signed on my iPad with a real signature right on the screen.   I have had entire transactions where nothing has been printed the documents were either signed electronically or I had them signed on my iPad.   Clients get electronic copies of the files and so does the lender and the all other parties who need copies.  EchoSign was recently acquired by Adobe and so far they have not wrecked it.

Also see:

Real Estate And Paper

NAR building in DC

Some people live their entire life without ever buying a home.  Most people who buy real estate only buy one or two homes in their entire life.  I sometimes lose touch with that until I meet someone that I have to explain what a Realtor is and what a real estate agent does.  Did you know that Realtor is not a job or occupation?  Realtor is what we call people who belong to the National Association of Realtors.   We Pay dues to belong and while membership is not mandatory it is almost impossible to sell real estate without being a member.

Buyers will ask me how I get paid or who pays me.  Some think that real estate companies pay agents.  Most agents are independent contractors that work on a 100% commission basis.  Real estate agents need to work through a real estate broker and that is the purpose of a real estate company.  The agent gives the real estate company a percentage of each commission.

It is the seller that pays us, it is called “broker reciprocity” and we get paid through the sellers broker.  When an agent lists a home the seller agrees to pay a commission.   Some of that commission goes to the agent the seller hires and some of it will go to a buyers agent.  Either way we generally don’t need to charge a buyer directly.    Commissions are not due until the home is sold and the sale closes. Agents work for free up to the closing and then we get paid.  The check goes to the real estate brokerage and the big brokerages will take up to half of it and then cut the agent a check for the rest.

Home buyers and sellers often believe that real estate companies sell real estate.  They really don’t ans to go one step further in most cases the agent is paying for everything including the sign with the big company logo on it.  The real estate company that has the most sales is the company with the most agents.

It is a good system and a bad system.  The national association of Realtors does a survey every year and according to the 2010 survey median gross income for Realtors in 2010 was $34,100.  The typical Realtor is a 56 year old white female who attended college and is a home owner.  In advertising the agent is almost always represented by a photo of a young man in a shirt and tie or a young woman in a short dress.  The NAR is doing everything they can to attract younger members but the average age is going up instead of down.

Did you know that a real estate agent that has never sold a home will charge as much as an agent who has sold many homes?  That means that if you get your real estate license this week you can charge as much as the most experienced agent in town.

Also see:

How Many Realtors In Minnesota?

Broker Reciprocity

The Truth about Real Estate Companies

Older Americans become victims of crimes that they don't understand and are not prepared to protect themselves from.  They understand locks on doors but they don't understand the dangers of answering the phone or the door when someone knocks. 

When I deliver meals I often find that the homes I am delivering to have a front screen door that is locked, and beyond that door is a porch door, also locked.  Beyond the porch door is the interior door to the home, and it usually has multiple locks on it.  They are always locked.  It is very unusual for me to find even an outside screen door unlocked when I deliver the food. 

Seniors seem to be security conscious when it comes to their homes.   In spite of their best efforts I have gotten calls in the last few months from seniors who are about to lose their homes. 

Fewer violent crimes are committed against older Americans than against any other group but they are more susceptible to certain types of crime than any other group and it isn't the types of crimes that may be committed because a door is left unlocked. 

They are crimes like credit card fraud, mortgage fraud and identity theft. I recently met with a senior who just last year only owed $2000 on her home, and her payments were less than $100 a month.  This year her payments are up over $500 a month and she doesn't know how much she owes on it. It seems that she refinanced and signed a bunch of papers while she was in the nursing home.

I know of another older American in my community who just could not say no to the charities that called asking for money.  One of those charities was a scam and he is also losing his home, which he did keep locked at all times. 

There is some consumer information about crimes against seniors on the MN department of commerce web site, and I found some information on the FBI's web site, but I don't know how many older Americans are getting this information.  I know my 80 something parents are all over the internet, have blogs and even use twitter.  They keep their doors and windows locked too but I also know that there are criminals who prey on seniors and that they are more likely to be the victims of fraud than I  am.

If you have friends, parents or neighbors who are older Americans, read up on crimes against seniors and don't be afraid to talk with them about it. Educate yourself and teach someone else. It may be  a challenge to get past their spam blockers, caller I.D.'s and locks, but they need to know that there are people out there who can trick them out of their home, no matter how many locks they have.