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 Get your free discount drug card
 As a resident of Ohio, you and your family have access to a FREE Prescription Drug Card program. Simply print this card and receive savings of up to 75 % at more than 50,000 national and regional pharmacies. Participating pharmacies include the following: Kmart Pharmacy, Rite Aid, CVS/pharmacy, Walgreens, Meijer, Discount Drug Mart and Marc's Pharmacy as well as thousands of independent pharmacies. This card is pre-activated and can be used immediately!
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Buyers aren't all waiting
Fifty percent of buyers say they're not postponing buying decisions this year, a survey by NAR Research in June finds. Twenty-three percent are waiting and 6 percent aren't buying because of difficulty in securing a mortgage. Asked about client experiences in finding financing, 68 percent of REALTORS say either none or fewer than one-fifth of their clients haven't been able to get a mortgage.
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OHFA approves $6 million for second mortgage program...
 The Ohio Housing Finance Agency approved $6 million of additional funding for OHFA's Second Mortgage Down Payment Loan program. During the first five months of 2008, over 660 homebuyers, or approximately 30 percent of the participants in OHFA's First-Time Homebuyer Program, have used a down payment loan to help them purchase their home.
The Second Mortgage Down Payment Loan program allows potential homeowners to receive up to 4 percent of the purchase price of the home on a 20-year mortgage with a rate of up to 2 percent above the First-Time Homebuyer Program rate. This program is just one of the options available through OHFA to help first-time homebuyers and those purchasing homes in targeted areas and can be combined with a first mortgage through the First-Time Homebuyer or Ohio Heroes programs.
Since March, OHFA has helped over 550 Ohioans purchase a home through the Ohio Heroes program. This program helps those homebuyers who are active military personnel, military veterans, firefighters, emergency medical technicians-paramedics, healthcare workers, police officers or teachers to receive a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at a quarter of a percent less than OHFA's rate for the First-Time Homebuyer program.
The First-Time Homebuyer Program offers low, competitive mortgage rates to homebuyers through conventional loans or FHA, VA and USDA-RD government loans. OHFA partners with lenders throughout the state to make these attractive loan options available to borrowers. Each of these 30-year, fixed-rate loans is available to consumers based on their household income. As part of the program, homebuyers in need of down payment assistance can choose to use either the down payment loan or a grant in an amount equal to three percent of the purchase price of the home. OHFA increased the maximum sale price permitted in the program effective June 1. Contact www.ohiohome.org for more information.
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View recap of Management & IndustryUpdate seminars
Members who missed this year's 2008 Management & Industry Updates can view a Power Point presentation of the highlights. The Updates were held in June in eight different locations around Ohio and were presented by OAR's Chief Executive Officer Don Freels and Attorneys Peg Ritenour and Lorie Garland. This year's topics included state and federal issues; Association initiatives; the residential market in Ohio and liability research.
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National Issues
Answers on Two New FTC Rules Available Online...As we're sure you've heard the lawsuit filed against the National Association of REALTORS by the U.S. Department of Justice has been settled, although the settlement remains subject to court approval. To learn more about what the settlement means to NAR and its members, go to the following site and listen to a Podcast featuring NAR President Dick Gaylord. NAR has also made available a FAQ on these topics.
Speak Up About Your Local Market...NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun is calling on REALTORS to send him information about how their local markets are behaving this summer. "Paying attention to the anecdotal information--particularly if it is consistent among different sources--can give us a lot of insight into what is going on," Yun says.
Members take notice. There has been a change in your IRS nondeductible portion of dues for 2008. NAR has increased the 2008 nondeductible portion of dues from $18 to $25. Dues payments may be deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses subject to restrictions imposed by federal law regarding association lobbying activities. Call your local board for questions.
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Court upholds REALTOR arbitration process
A Tennessee appellate court has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to overturn an arbitration ruling conducted by the Greater Nashville Association of REALTORS. One party involved in the arbitration had sought to negate the decision, alleging fraud and bias. The court found no evidence of either in the arbitration decision by the association.
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Commercial real estate slowing
Tightening U.S. credit markets are having an impact on commercial real estate, so activity this year is expected to be well off the record $427.2 billion in commercial transactions seen in 2007, NAR says in its latest issue of the Commercial Real Estate Outlook. Other factors affecting the commercial market include the slowing U.S. economy, rising energy prices, and rising unemployment. The NAR forecast, released last week, examines the office, industrial, retail, and multifamily markets.
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Make your company Gen Y-friendly
Facing a potential onslaught of baby boomer retirements and a smaller pool of Generation X employees to replace them, managers who want to create or sustain a Best Place to Work environment will need the additional help of another group of professionals: Generation Y. Also known as Millennials, this group consists of nearly 80 million individuals born roughly between 1979 and 1999. They are the workforce of the future.
But what will it take to attract and keep these individuals? Are Generation Y's ideas about what makes a great employer different from those of other generations? Read more...
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Commission elects new members
Last month the Ohio Real Estate Commission elected Rosetta Hayes-Borders as its President and Shirley Davis as Vice President. The Commission reorganizes annually and decided last year that they wanted to rotate the leadership instead of placing one member in for multiple consecutive years.
Hayes-Borders is a principal broker with RE/MAX Tri-County, in Reynoldsburg. She was appointed to the OREC by Governor Bob Taft in 2006. Her term runs through June 30, 2011. Davis is with RE/MAX Unlimited, in Cincinnati. She was appointed by Bob Taft in 2005. Her term runs through June 30, 2010.
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On the lighter side
 In a crowded elevator, one man asked another, "How's business?"
"Last year we sold 500,000 houses, 700,000 farms and 750,000 schools," came the reply. "This year we ought to do equally well and, in addition, sell 1,200,000 garages."
As the elevator descended, there was heavy silence for a moment. Then someone spoke up indignantly. "Sir," he said, "I'm in real estate and those figures are preposterous!"
He didn't know that the man boasting about his business was the marketing director of a major toy company.
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Save with OAR and NAR
 Your membership in the Ohio Association of REALTORS allows you to take advantage of a number of member benefits. For questions about member offers and benefits contact Greg Stitz at stitz@ohiorealtors.org.
In addition, the National Association of REALTORS also provides its members many more benefits and offers.
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Tech Tips
 Combine multiple lists in Word 2007...If you have two or more lists in Word, you can easily combine them into a single list. You do not even have to do any additional formatting because the second list is automatically formatted to match the first one. To combine multiple lists in Word 2007:
1. Highlight the list you want to combine with another one.
2. Press CTRL+X or CTRL+C.
3. Click the line directly below the list you want to add it to.
4. Press CTRL+V.
5. Click the Microsoft Office Button and click Word Options.
6. Click Advanced.
7. Under Cut, Copy, and Paste, click Settings.
8. Select the Merge pasted lists with surrounding lists check box.
Flag a message for follow up in Outlook...To flag a message in your Inbox, right click the appropriate message and click Follow-up. The Flag for Follow-up window will appear. Use the drop down arrow beside the Flag to value to select the action required for the message. You can also set a due date, which is helpful, if you need to follow-up by a certain date. Once you have set the appropriate follow-up options, click OK. The message will appear with a red flag beside it. To remove the message flag, right click the message and select the Clear Flag option.
Free Google 411 service...If your cell provider charges you for 411 calls, why not try Google's new service. It's FREE! You can ask Google to TEXT the info to your phone, CONNECT you to the number or even MAP it for you! http://www.google.com/goog411/index.html
Don't forget OAR's free Tech Hotline service...
866.478.TECH (8324) New EXPANDED hours of operation: M-F: 8 am - 8 pm ... S-S: 10 am - 4pm
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Education
Land 101: The Fundamentals of Land Brokerage
This two-day course will be held Aug. 5-6 at OAR headquarters. Students will be introduced to the land brokerage specialty, determining market value and more. C.E. credit is available. Register today...
CI 101: Financial Analysis for Commercial Investment Real Estate
This flagship CCIM course offers an array of financial analysis concepts and calculations to help you make sound commercial real estate investment decisions. You will also learn the fundamentals of profitable investing and how to accurately measure investment value and performance of a given property. Course will be held in Columbus on Aug. 11-15. C.E. credit applies. Register now...
NEWS from REALTOR University...
Don't forget you can get your ePro certification and ABR and CIPS designations online. Check it out...
30 hours online...Take your real estate continuing education hours online. You can take 3, 6 or all 30 hours in any combination...Sign-up today...
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