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Marin Association of Realtors

Mar 31

Housing Density AB-1537, Matt Hughes voted as President-Elect of MAR, MAR Monday Memo 03/31/14

By Legislation, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Real Estate News

Good morning MAR members!

As I write this on Friday afternoon, it seems that we’re in for a soggy weekend.  Sunday appears to be mostly dry, so hopefully your open houses weren’t a washout…but the long awaited “Miracle March” for our water supply may well be coming together these last few days of the month.

It was a busy week at MAR!  Last week, MAR President-Elect Nate Sumner alerted me that due to some unexpected circumstances he will be unable to fulfill his responsibilities as MAR President next year.  MAR Bylaws call for a simple majority of the Board of Directors to replace any Board or Executive Committee position.  Luckily for MAR, we’ve built a deep “bench” over the past few years, and I’m pleased to announce that the Board of Directors voted unanimously on Friday to appoint MAR Secretary and Executive Committee member Matt Hughes as 2014 President-Elect.  Matt will serve as your 2015 MAR President.  Matt is the right man for the job, and we are all lucky that MAR was able to fill this important position at a very important time with such a well-qualified candidate.  Please join me in congratulating Matt Hughes!

Last Friday, MAR CEO Andy Fegley, MAR Treasurer Arun Burrell and myself all paid a visit to Assemblyman Mark Levine’s office in San Rafael.  It was important to make the introduction of CEO Fegley, and we also wanted to express MAR’s strong support for Assemblyman Levine’s bill, AB 1537, which lowers the potential density of future Marin housing developments from 30 units per acre to 20 units per acre.

This potential density is at the core of many of the spirited discussions we’ve had here in Marin over the past year…and discussions we continue to have.  In addition to expressing our support for his bill, MAR also asked Assemblyman Levine what we can do to help.  Assemblyman Levine was delighted to learn of our support, and these conversations are ongoing.

Housing density has been one of the key debates in our community over the past year, and I expect it will be for the foreseeable future.

The debate on housing reached a fever pitch last summer with the debate over Plan Bay Area.  These spirited discussions continue to this day.  MAR’s Board of Directors voted last May to oppose Plan Bay Area, on the basis that it circumvented local control.  MAR was one of the earliest organizations in the county to oppose the measure, and we voiced our opposition to the Board of Supervisors, and publicly in an op-ed in the Marin IJ.

The housing density that was and continues to be dictated to us from outside the county was an easy issue to oppose.  Local leaders should have the final say on local planning decisions.  Much more complicated, however, have been the individual Housing Element plans that each municipality and the county overall have been crafting.  These are complex plans, with an enormous amount of detail that each town has invested a great deal of time to complete.  There was really no way for MAR to become experts on each housing element given the voluminous nature of each plan.

In addition, MAR has not had a policy regarding housing in the context of the current debate.  Until now.

MAR’s Government Affairs Committee is where these issues have been explored.  We’ve been talking about housing for the better part of a year now, and it comes up at nearly every meeting.  MAR has shared our position on the 30-units-per-acre density with every elected official who has come before us.  Many of you have come before this committee to share your position on the subject.

Honestly, we could spend every monthly Government Affairs committee meeting solely on housing during this critical time.  Earlier this year, MAR’s Board of Directors created the Housing Density Subcommittee under the Government Affairs Committee to focus on these issues and free up the main committee to be able to review other issues in addition to housing.  Missy Crowe was named to Chair this subcommittee.

The first order of business was to craft a Housing Policy for MAR to utilize to inform its decision making process going forward.  I’m pleased to announce that the Housing Density Subcommittee crafted and approved this policy statement.  The Policy Statement then worked its way through the Government Affairs Committee and finally the Board of Directors voted to approve the statement last week after several modifications.  You can read the MAR Policy Statement on Housing Density here.

One of the keys to this Statement, and to the process we are all witnessing, is transparency.  The public needs to know what’s going on, and to have the ability to participate and provide input.  This is increasingly what is occurring, and the voters of Marin County will ultimately have the opportunity to hold their elected officials accountable on this subject.

MAR applauds the ongoing participation of the public on this debate.  Many of MAR’s members have taken outspoken positions, which is fantastic.  Participate in the public process in Marin County, MAR members!  Make sure your voices continue to be heard, regardless of your position.

In other news, the California Association of REALTORS Spring Business Meetings are coming up at the end of April.  I encourage all of you to participate in Leg Day in Sacramento on Wednesday April 30th.  If you make it to the morning session, you will have the opportunity to hear Governor Jerry Brown, who will be addressing CAR.  It’s a truly exciting event, and going to Sacramento to participate in the Business of the People is an experience that is difficult to explain short of doing it.  The REALTOR Party making our voices heard!  If you’ve never been, consider making the investment of one day to see your statewide association in action.

MAR’s representatives on the CAR Board of Directors need your feedback, as always.  In addition to myself, MAR’s CAR Directors include President-Elect Matt Hughes, Kay Moore, Mary Kay Yamamoto, and Katie Beacock.  Katie is also the Chairperson of CAR Region 4, of which MAR is a part.  If you have anything on your mind that you think our leaders at CAR need to hear…or that you think our elected leaders need to her…please seek out one of us via phone or email.  That’s the most important thing we do at CAR:  make sure the voices of our MAR members…YOUR voices…are heard at the statewide level.

That’s it for this week.  Again, please join me in congratulating MAR’s 2014 President Elect, Matt Hughes.

I wish you a safe and prosperous week!

Blaine

Mar 24

Salmon, Resale Inspections and the Ongoing Flood Insurance Conversation. MAR Monday Memo 03/24/14

By Legislation, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Community News, Marin Real Estate News, Regulations

Good morning MAR members!

Spring is here, even though it’s felt like spring all winter.  I saw in the paper the other day that we just had the warmest winter on record for California…it really didn’t feel that way in December and January, when it was in the mid 20s every night at my house for about six weeks straight…no rain and frigid night temps killed much of my landscaping.  The citrus trees hated it.  That’s well behind us now, and the weather has been phenomenal for much of our winter.

Multiple offers all around.  Two offers, five offers, ten offers, more?  Every property of interest to my buyers is a brutal competition.  We seem to have more listings, and the data bears that out, but whether it’s in the flats or in the hills, it seems like every house on the market has plenty of buyers as long as it’s priced correctly.  Let’s get our sellers off the fence!

One final reminder for the Celebration of Catherine Munson’s life.  It will be held at the Marin Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium at the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael, this Thursday, March 27.  Doors will open at 1:00 pm, the service will begin at 2:00 pm, with music, food and joy to continue afterwards.  In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to Project Amigo, 14 Commercial Blvd., Suite 199, Novato, CA  94949.

This has been a truly amazing time to be the leader of MAR and to be able to witness firsthand the profound impact that Catherine has had on so many of our members and the community.  She touched so many in so many ways.  In meeting after meeting, people have shared heartfelt anecdotes about Catherine, and she will be missed very much.

On to what’s happening this week:

Salmon, resale inspections and the ongoing flood insurance conversation.

At my request, over the past couple of weeks, Donna Lahey of MAR staff performed a lot of due diligence with the county about where we sit right now in regards to the Marin County Streamside Conservation Ordinance.  As you may know, this is an ordinance that MAR opposed last year due to its vagueness, arbitrary rules, and compromise of private property rights throughout unincorporated Marin.

With all of that said, it was passed by the Board of Supervisors last year, and the Marin County Streamside Conservation Ordinance was the law of the land.  There have been several appeals, however, and two weeks ago the ordinance was sent back to the Board of Supervisors by the California Court of Appeal on the grounds that the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was not thorough enough; the courts ruled that the impacts of long-term development on the salmon populations was not taken into enough consideration.  So the courts sent it back to redo the EIR.  The Court of Appeals also ruled that the prior building moratorium in the San Geronimo Valley was not valid either, and so no more building moratorium.  That is great news, and it looks like the building moratorium won’t come back around.

The upshot of this is that the 2007 Marin County General Plan, of which the Streamside Conservation Ordinance is a part, has been blown up as it relates to the San Geronimo Valley.  Rather than the 2007 General Plan, now the 1994 General Plan is the law of the land in the San Geronimo Valley.

Stay with me here.

As best as we can verify at the County, the building guidelines of the 1994 General Plan are in effect in the San Geronimo Valley.  Curiously, the guidelines of the 2007 General Plan are in effect for the rest of unincorporated Marin County.  The Streamside Conservation Ordinance has been declared invalid.  And the San Geronimo Valley building moratorium was declared invalid and thus no more building moratorium.

What I’ve been trying to get at is, “How in the world do we advise our clients and property owners?”  I had a camo this week in the San Geronimo Valley, and a couple of the top agents in the Valley told me that “No one knows what’s going on.”  You think?

The question that I had…which is still not answered by the county:  Let’s say I have a house in the Valley.  Let’s say I want to do something (repair my deck, add some space, rebuild my driveway, etc).  What rules am I operating under?  According to the County’s press release (click here to read:  http://www.marincounty.org/main/newsroom/press-releases/2014/eir-ruling), it’s the 1994 planning guidelines.

So let’s say I start a permitting process in the Valley under the 1994 guidelines, and before I’m done, this all gets resolved…do I get to finish my project under the 1994 guidelines?  Or will it be the 2007 guidelines?  Or will there be new guidelines?  I still cannot answer that question.  MAR’s Donna Lahey was interacting with Brent Ainsworth, the County’s Public Information Officer.  His response to this question was: “We’re still working on an answer to that other question. The court ruling is so fresh, the answer is being hashed out among our attorneys and community planners. We’ll try to get back to you soon.”

Again, as I understand it, other unincorporated areas like Sleepy Hollow, Marinwood, Kentfield, Tam Valley, etc, are still under the 2007 General Plan…minus the Streamside Conservation Ordinance.

Confused?  So am I.  Sorry for the incomplete info, but I think we need to be talking and thinking about all of this.  I think it’s best to advise our clients that there are a lot of moving pieces that will hopefully become clearer in the coming weeks and months.

More on resale inspections

Lots of feedback from members on my comments a couple of weeks ago about one of our large municipalities that is busy “cleaning up past mistakes” and engaging in “double jeopardy.”  The staff in this town seems to be admitting as much:  “we made mistakes in the past, now we’re trying to correct those mistakes.”  Thank you to Matt MacPhee for coming to MAR’s Government Affairs Committee meeting last week during “open forum” time to detail the challenges he is having with this building department.

This kind of feedback is essential to MAR, and best delivered in person during “open forum”, which we have at 9:00 AM before both the monthly Government Affairs Committee meeting and also before the monthly Board of Directors meeting.  This is YOUR association, and we welcome and encourage you to come in and tell us what’s going on.  About anything.  PLEASE take advantage of this, emails are great, but there is no substitute for the color and detail that our members can provide during this open time, and it allows for valuable Q&A.

MAR is focused on ensuring that the building officials and elected officials in our Marin municipalities know the value of our Fair Principles of Resale Inspections.  We are working on getting the leadership of this municipality in question to come in and tell us what they are doing and why they think it’s ok.

Flood Insurance Update

Good news!  According to NAR, last Friday, President Obama signed the “Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act” into law.  This law repeals FEMA’s authority to increase premium rates at time of sale or new flood map, and refunds the excessive premium to those who bought a property before FEMA warned them of the rate increase.  The bill limits premium increases to 18 percent annually on newer properties and 25 percent for some older ones.  Additionally, the bill adds a small assessment on policies until everyone is paying full cost for flood insurance.

That’s it for now.

I wish you a safe and prosperous week!

Blaine

Mar 17

General Membership Meeting Highlights, Flood Insurance Update – MAR Monday Memo 03/17/14

By California Association of Realtors, Legislation, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Real Estate News

Good morning MAR members!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  Please enjoy your green beverages and snacks in moderation!

Spring is here, believe it or not!  The official first day of spring is Thursday, but it’s felt like spring real estate for a couple of weeks here in Marin.  Just as agents were lamenting an “inventory crisis”, here comes the inventory.  At our MAR General Membership meeting last Tuesday, Steve Dickason shared that we have 2.5 months of inventory in Marin right now, and that’s the most in 15 months.  I personally was scrambling to see all the places on tour this week, and I expect most of you feel the same way.  Let’s keep those listings coming MAR!

Speaking of last week’s General Membership Meeting, we had another sellout!   Thank you for all of your positive comments about the program and our efforts at MAR to provide you with timely and relevant information to use in your business and share with your clients.

Some highlights of the meeting:

  • Per Steve Dickason, with a year to year comparison, in Marin pendings are down 13%, listings are up 13%, and closings are down 10%.  That sounds to me like short inventory earlier in the year with things starting to turn around.
  • Also per Steve, average days-on-market for closed sales this year are 64 DOM; last year it was 92 DOM.
  • Another anecdote that I found interesting:  30 years ago in California, there were 5 Realtors for every lawyer.  Now there are two lawyers for every Realtor.  So be careful out there, and keep a tight file.
  • Guv Hutchison from the CAR legal department was our keynote speaker, and he had an enormous amount of useful info.  An interesting new law that started this year on January 1 is a change in the 140+ year-old law involving fences: in the past, if you and a neighbor shared a fence, and one property owner wanted to replace the fence, that property owner could ask the other property owner to split the cost…and the person receiving the request could basically ignore that request, “…the fence looks fine to me!”

    Now, the requesting property owner can give a written request, and the recipient of that fence request has 30 days to dispute that claim.  If the recipient homeowner ignores that request, after 30 days the requesting homeowner can demand that the cost be shared, and the recipient homeowner must share in the cost.  The only remedy for the ignoring homeowner is to litigate that request.  Another reason, I suppose, why we need two attorneys for every Realtor.

  • Another item that Guv shared is the routine situation in Common Interested Developments (condos, townhomes, PUDs) where the CC&Rs say one thing, the Articles of Incorporation say another thing, the bylaws say something else, and the “rules” say something different.  A common issue relates to pets:  number of pets, kinds of pets, size of pets, what breed of dog, etc.  Well, there seems to be a hierarchy of these documents:  the “rules” are lowest on the totem pole; rules are superseded by the Bylaws.  The Bylaws are superseded by the Articles of Incorporation.  And the Articles of Incorporation are superseded by the CC&Rs.  Ultimately, the CC&Rs are the controlling document, they supersede all.  I see this being the foundation of some lively neighbor conversations if the word gets out!
  • Another interesting issue relates to medical marijuana.  If a landlord has a “no smoking” policy, can that landlord also prohibit medical marijuana?  According to Guv, yes, that landlord can also prohibit smoking medical marijuana.
  • Another new law relates to tenants in homes that are for sale.  In the past, we’ve all used the “24-hour notice” guideline.  Well, the new law says that tenants are entitled to a 10-day notice for an open house.  So we’re going to need to be a bit more organized as Realtors.  Yikes…
  • Finally (and this is not an exhaustive list), relating to SB-407, the water conserving fixture retrofit law that I spent a lot of time educating the membership on earlier this year.  Several brokers and at least one attorney have told me that the current disclosure language we have in the RETDS about SB-407 is insufficient, there needs to be more.  Well, I asked Gov that question, and he said that he feels that the disclosure language in the RETDS is in fact sufficient.  He seemed pretty confident in his position.

Flood Insurance Update

The flood insurance saga continues, but relief is in sight.  Several mortgage and insurance brokers confirmed to me this week that yes, the Natural Catastrophe Insurance Program (NCIP) which is underwritten by Lloyds of London is a viable and economically reasonable flood insurance solution if FEMA has crazy rates or needs an elevation certificate.

Even bigger news is that the US Senate overwhelmingly passed the House’s Flood Insurance Reform legislation.  This is great news.  The following is what I received last Thursday from Chris Gosselin, NAR’s Senior Political Representative for our area:

“The US Senate overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan flood insurance reform legislation  that the House approved earlier this month by a 72-22 margin. The President is expected to sign the legislation in the next few days.

The legislation that passed today:

  • REPEALS (the original Senate bill only delayed) the property-sales provision in the Biggert Waters law (sec. 205) that has triggered the most excessive and inaccurate premium increases over the past year.
  • REFUNDS (the original Senate bill would not refund) excessive premiums to those who have already seen an increase but were not warned by FEMA prior to purchasing the property.  (This would apply to ALL purchases of property including purchases of a second home or commercial property).
  • RESTORES (the original Senate bill only delayed) the grandfathering of lower rates when new flood maps are issued by repealing Section 207 of the law before any increases can be implemented.”

So I guess they heard us!  Thanks to everyone who shared important flood insurance feedback, which we at MAR were able to share with Congressman Huffman and also up the chain at CAR and NAR.

There is much work and clarification to be done…we need to see how and when this is all going to get implemented, but the good news is that help is on the way!

Opportunity to meet Joel Singer, CEO of the California Association of Realtors

Thank you to Jean Ludwick, a Broker Associate at Alain Pinel.  She asked me to get the word out that the Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers (“CRB”) is hosting a luncheon on Monday April 21st at the Acqua Hotel in Mill Valley from noon-1:45PM.  Joel Singer, the CEO of CAR, will be the keynote speaker, and Joel will provide an overview of the current housing market conditions for the state of California and the Bay Area, and will share his outlook and forecast of the market for the rest of 2014.  A light lunch will be served, and it’s FREE.  Jean is the President of the Northern California CRB, and she wanted me to invite everyone, not just brokers.  So agents, feel free to sign up!  If you’ve never heard Joel speak, this is a great opportunity to hear one of the leading minds in our industry.  I for one plan to attend.  Please rsvp by email to jbanuat@coldwellbanker.com.

That’s it for now.

I wish you a safe and prosperous week!

Blaine

 

 

 

 

Mar 10

Resale Inspections, Flood Insurance Alternative and Loss of One of Our Most Respected Realtors – MAR Monday Memo 03/10/14

By Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Real Estate News

Good morning MAR members!

Inventory is slowly starting to come online.  My brokerage had its monthly buy/sell meeting last Monday, and I was pleased to fill up two pages in my notebook of upcoming listings relevant to my clients…so they are on their way!  Several of you mentioned to me this week that you are flush with buyers and nothing to sell them.  This situation obviously creates anxiety for our buyers, and the resulting byproduct is anxiety for us as REALTORS.  In Patty Oxman’s presentation at our Marin Young Professionals Network meeting last week, Patty pointed out that there is 40% less inventory countywide than there was two years ago at the same time (mid-February).  And probably twice as many buyers, or more.  Hang in there MAR, spring is coming!

I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at the MAR General Membership meeting tomorrow for our Annual Meeting.  I will be introducing Andy Fegley, MAR’s new CEO.  Our Marin Market Update from Steve Dickason is always informative, timely and useful, and our keynote speaker Guv Hutcheson of CAR will update us on all that’s new and the best practices of selling California real estate.  Registration for the event is closed, but there still might be a few seats left, please call MAR to see if there is any room if you’d like to attend.

I’d like to take a moment and reflect on MAR’s loss of our dear friend Catherine Munson.  Talking about Catherine allows me to talk about service.  While unfortunately I cannot say that I was friends with Catherine, I can say I was friendly with Catherine.  I first heard of Catherine’s illness early last Monday morning when the emails and phone calls started to come in.  Call after call, email after email inquiring about what was known about her condition.  When I got the very unfortunate news that Catherine had passed, the calls and emails kept coming.  Stories about Catherine and how much she meant to people.

And stories about service.  Service to her community and service to her colleagues.  So many of you  looked to Catherine as a friend, mentor, and someone to look up to.  Kathy Schlegel summed it up best:  ”if you didn’t know her… you have missed much!! Probably the most respected REALTOR in Marin for the last 50 years.”  Indeed, Catherine gave of herself throughout her life, blazing many paths, and always coming back to service to her community.  Practicing her business of real estate right until the end.  I last saw Catherine at a brokers’ open house several months ago, and she was so full of energy, holding court with the neighbors, telling stories, and accompanying me out the front door to make sure all of my questions were answered.

MAR and Marin lost a true original last week.  Thank you Catherine Munson for all you gave to your community and your colleagues.

Thank you for all of your emails and conversations about last week’s topic, flood insurance.  Last week, the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly and with bipartisan support to pass its version of flood insurance relief.  While not as broad nor as generous as the Senate bill, it now heads to conference committee to determine what the final bill will look like.  The bipartisan nature of the vote makes me hopeful that they will hammer out something out soon.  The House’s bill falls short of the Senate bill in that it does not place a moratorium on increases like the Senate bill.  The House bill is more about  controlling the rate of everyone’s increase, and after some of the crazy increases I’ve heard of this will be good news as well.  Stay tuned.

Thank you to Chris Caproni, one of MAR’s mortgage broker affiliates.  We love our affiliate members! Chris shared some info with me about an alternative to FEMA, the Natural Catastrophe Insurance Program (NCIP) which is underwritten by Lloyds of London.  Unlike FEMA, this program looks to have the ability to provide more affordable flood insurance WITHOUT an elevation certificate.  I encourage all of you to confirm this with your lenders, but through all of this flood insurance mess perhaps this new market might launch a bit of flood insurance competition.  I’ve been hesitant in the past to utilize Lloyds of London, as it’s often a last resort with very high rates.  I saw some rates last week that seemed very reasonable to me by comparison.  Please keep talking with your lenders, and let’s all look into this rumored new competitive product to FEMA.

Finally this week, resale inspections.  It’s like the big nasty bear that goes into hibernation, only to wake up in the spring hungry and ornery.  When we get into resale inspection aggravation season, the calls and emails flow like water.  When the season is over, the calls and emails cease like someone turned off the faucet.  The trouble is, the season seems to happen at a different time every year.  But trust me, we are in season and the faucet is on.

One of our large municipalities seems to have gotten back into the double jeopardy business, big time.  Claiming the moral high ground, cleaning up “past mistakes.”  It’s the same story:  old resale inspections that said things were ok (or not mentioning problems), and problems arising when it’s time to sell, even though no work had been done on the house since the current owner purchased the property.  This municipality has been telling our colleagues that it’s time to “clean things up.”

Two years ago, MAR’s Government Affairs Committee, under the leadership of then-chairman Gene Laico, came up with MAR’s “Fair Principles for Resale Inspections”.  An amazingly lucid and reasonable set of principles that are hard to argue with:  (1) Consistency–building standards should not be applied retroactively;  (2) no “double jeopardy”–no problem items on new reports that were not identified on prior reports; (3) Transparency–cities and towns should communicate resale inspection requirements in advance; (4) Timely inspection process; (5) No excess inspection fees; (6) Distressed home sales–in the difficult environment from which we are just now emerging, cities and towns should be sensitive that there is often no money for corrective repairs by the sellers.

We have witnessed politician after politician come through MAR, under various contexts, some reporting on their towns, some asking for MAR’s support at election time, and all in general agreeing with the reasonableness of these Fair Principles.  I’ve read these Fair Principles at town council meetings with affirmative nods all around.

We need to remind our partners in the building departments that the leaders of their towns agree with our Fair Principles for Resale Inspections.

Please keep sharing your stories of troublesome resale inspections.  This is something that MAR works on every year, advocating for our members.  We are on it.

I wish you a safe and prosperous week!

Mar 03

Flood Insurance Increases and Legislation – Blaine Morris’ 2014 President of Marin Association of Realtors 03/03/14 Monday Memo

By Legislation, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Real Estate News

Good morning MAR members,

Happy March, happy almost-spring!  In addition to our needed rain, as I had hoped, lots of new listings this past week.  One of our colleagues was quoted in the Marin IJ this past week characterizing Southern Marin as being in an “inventory crises”.  Let’s hope our sellers see this and get off the fence.

I’m hoping to see all of you at our MAR General Membership meeting next Tuesday.  It is at 11:30 at Embassy Suites in San Rafael.  It’s our MAR Annual Meeting, and our featured speaker is Gov Hutchinson, who is the Assistant General Counsel at the California Association of REALTORS.  Gov is on the front lines of the newest and timely risk management issues of selling real estate in California, and it’s always a popular meeting because he gives us this info with real world stories that we can apply to our business today.  Also presenting will be our colleague Steve Dickenson for his always-useful Marin Market Update.  Click here to register:

Thank you for all of your comments this past week about last week’s agent safety message.  Everywhere I went last week, people were sharing stories about unseemly experiences at open houses.  Many of us just stow these away, I’m glad we’re talking about it.  Be safe out there!

Last Thursday evening, I had the pleasure of attending meetings with two important REALTOR groups here in Marin, both of which are open to all.  The first was the Marin REALTORS Young Professionals Network.  This group is just getting off the ground, and they had their second monthly meeting at Wellington’s Wine Bar in Sausalito.  Our colleague CJ Nakagawa is the 2014 Chairman of the Marin REALTORS YPN group, and he and his advisory committee are doing a tremendous job launching this needed group that fosters the professional development of our newest members.  Plus, they have a lot of fun and network for the benefit of their individual businesses.

Patty Oxman was kind enough to share a presentation at YPN on how to create a repeat and referral business.  Patty is one of our busiest and most respected colleagues, and it always amazes me how giving she is to share her best practices with other agents.  I last heard this presentation nearly eleven years ago when I was just getting into the business, and the same fundamentals that Patty teaches apply today.  Service to our fellow agents is one of the most important things we have to share in our business, and I’m so thankful for top producers like Patty giving their valuable time to help others in the business get better.  Thank you Patty!

The second meeting on Thursday was with our colleagues at Womens Council of REALTORS.  This was a well-attended mixer and everyone had a great time!  WCR is hosting their monthly meeting this next Tuesday, March 4th, for a breakfast meeting.  The featured speaker will be Janice Niederhofer, who will be presenting “Top Secret Strategies of Business Success.”  Ms. Niederhofer is a “top secret” woman herself, who has taught interrogation techniques to the CIA, FBI and many other top agencies.  This sounds like super interesting material, and info that you can use in your business today since we all need to get creative on how we gather information.  Click here to register:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wcr-marin-presents-top-secret-strategies-turn-your-fear-into-an-advantage-tickets-9058158195?ref=enivtefor001&invite=NTI1MDMyOS9ibW9ycmlzQGZoYWxsZW4uY29tLzA%3D&utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inviteformalv2&utm_term=attend&ref=enivtefor001

Now, on to this week’s topic:  flood insurance.  I must admit, most of my listings are not in a flood zone, and I’ve paid attention to this topic only when in escrow.  We all have some brushing up to do, things are changing and we should all work to learn more about this subject.

Several weeks ago, I visited with Congressman Jared Huffman along with our MAR colleagues Kay Moore and Katie Beacock.  Kay is NAR’s “key contact” with Representative Huffman, and Katie is Chair of CAR’s Region 4, of which all of Marin is part.  Leading up to the meeting, I was asking agents if there was anything that should be brought to Rep Huffman’s attention.  We have to focus on things that have national oversight:  mortgage interest deduction, flood insurance, etc.  Boy, did I get an earful from everyone about flood insurance.  What a messy, in-between stage we find ourselves at right now!

I shared some real world stories with the congressman.  One local firefighter whose flood insurance on his recently purchased home just jumped from $1800 to $6000 per year.  Another escrow that fell apart in San Rafael because the flood insurance was going to increase from under $2k to over $14k.  These stories are everywhere, and Congressman Huffman listened with great interest.

Flood insurance is being legislated at the highest level of our government right now.  On January 30th, the US Senate passed a bill that will delay many of these sharp increases for up to four years.  The bill is now in the House, and I expressed to Congressman Huffman that these gigantic increases are proving very troublesome for many of his constituents.  Forget about someone trying to buy a new home, how about people on fixed incomes who are seeing these rates triple, or quadruple or more.

We’re hoping that the House is poised to pass this bill.  And President Obama will need to sign this bill as well.

A key new component in the listing and selling of flood-zone properties is the regularly-needed “elevation certificate”.  In the past, elevation certificates came up often if homeowners wanted to try to get a reduction or removal of flood insurance.  Now it seems that it’s become standard practice to require this report as part of getting flood insurance, unless you are willing to pay the very highest rate.

Because many rates have gone up so much, the elevation certificate could possibly help to get the cost of insurance back to a manageable level.  This may well become a new negotiable closing cost.  And an elevation certificate isn’t cheap, it can cost more than $1000, sometimes up to $2000.  Nor do you get one quickly.  And sometimes the insurance company will require modifications to the house itself, such as venting, before they will issue a policy…and they want it done before close of escrow.  Plan accordingly in your escrows.

MAR is going to continue to seek clarity on this matter to get you the timely info to conduct business, stay tuned.  I’m sure your brokers can help too.  Again, I’m not an expert, and I’m working to get educated.

Finally, again, lots of feedback on the emerging auction business for real estate in Marin.  Many of you have asked about BAREIS MLS’s policy on compensation in the MLS.  They are under the same requirements as MAR, we don’t get involved in compensation issues.  I invite all of you to review item 11.1 of the BAREIS MLS Rules and Regulations, it’s linked on this page on the BAREIS website:  http://bareis.com/rules.  It’s pretty clear.  Please keep your auction stories coming!

I wish you all a safe and prosperous week!

Blaine

Feb 25

Agent Safety, SB-407 & Short Sale Auctions – Blaine Morris’ 2014 President of Marin Association of Realtors 02/24/14 Monday Memo

By Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Real Estate News

Good morning MAR members!

Auctions and Faucets and Prowlers, Oh My!

With ski week behind us, I anticipate a big week ahead.  From the looks of my email inbox, everyone is desperate and looking for properties to sell buyers.  I’m hopeful that this week is the week that sellers start to cooperate!

As for SB-407, well, we got it on the front page of the Marin IJ this week:

www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_25173774/marin-homeowners-compelled-combine-water-conservation-renovation

So I’ll call my efforts to get the word out a success.  Notwithstanding the IJ’s error in calling it “SB-470”, the article was largely accurate.  Janis Mara of the IJ called me a few weeks back, after having a realtor tell her about the new law.  Janis was looking for answers, and I had to break it to her that so was I…

Anyway, the local building officials group DID have its monthly meeting last week, and my understanding was that pretty much the entire meeting was devoted to this subject.  They have formed a committee to address this, and the goal is to come back with a template either next month or the month after.  The spirit of the CALBO direction seems to be the direction our local officials are headed:  http://www.calbo.org/uploads/NoCal%20Policy%20Memo%20SB%20407%20%28Dec%202013%29.pdf

Net-net, most permitted repairs shouldn’t trigger a retrofit.

Interestingly, the building official I spoke with said that “typically, the legislature legislates intent, and leaves it up to the building officials to provide the details of the code.  This time, the legislature legislated a very vague code with all sorts of grey area, and the building officials are left picking up the pieces.”  I could not agree more.  For example, please define a low-flow bathtub faucet…

AUCTIONS

Moving on, everyone was commenting to me on the subject of auctions that I raised last week, but no one was offering specifics on how they were harmed or held liable as the result of an auction process…anyone?  CAR has asked for our help.  Most of the comments centered on the one aspect of this auction world that I can’t comment on, compensation.  MAR, CAR and NAR cannot get involved in that area, sorry.

AGENT SAFETY:  RECENT MARIN AGENT STORIES AND CRIME

Now, on to my Big Subject of the week:  agent safety.  I want to thank our friends at Alain Pinel for bringing some unsettling stories to my attention from this past week relating to brokers’ open and open house security.  Super-important stuff, and these real-world stories offer a useful safety refresher for all of us.

First of all, I was reminded about how we live in a different world…or that the world is getting smaller and some problems we’ve not typically worried about here in Marin are starting to come to our doorstep.  Home invasions, anyone?  I read this article in the IJ last month, and was reminded about it by a couple of agents this past week:   http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_24987169/greenbrae-robbers-lock-resident-closet-ransack-home?source=pkg

In that one, robbers pushed their way into a Greenbrae home, last month, bound him and locked him in a closet and ransacked the home.

Earlier this month, the IJ discussed this growing trend of burglaries and robberies where our residents come face-to-face with these criminals:  http://www.marinij.com/crimebeat/ci_25087123/lately-marin-residents-and-burglars-find-themselves-meeting?source=pkg

I don’t know if we’re in the midst of a new trend here in Marin, but I’m certainly hearing about this sort of thing much more lately.

Which brings me back to agent safety.  Many of these stories seem to be coming out of Novato, where several years ago we had a very brazen prescription drug bandit.  This past week, one agent had prescription drugs stolen at the house during the Sunday open.  She has filed a police report, and the cops were ADAMENT that we need to report these things, it’s an increasing problem.

Another agent’s story was relayed from last week:  “one of our agents last week had just opened up an open house when a fairly large man entered the home.  Agent felt that he was a bit nervous.  The first thing he asked her was where the master bedroom was; she answered that it was upstairs.  He then asked her to please show it to him.  She said that she was busy opening up the home, etc, but he could go ahead up; he did so, and then called down to her to please come up and show it to her.  She just kept telling him that she was still setting up the home, etc.  When she asked him questions about what he was looking for and where he currently lived, he fumbled his answers and appeared to be making answers up on the spot.  It was a very uncomfortable situation; while he was there, agent made sure that she stood by the front door of the home in case she needed to get out quickly or get help.”

And another from last Wednesday’s broker’s tour in Novato:  “A man came in.  Not an agent. Claimed no one sent him there to see the condo.  He went upstairs.  She clearly heard him opening drawers.  She was alone so she didn’t say a word and stayed near the front door. He came down a bit later.  When she quizzed him again on what he was looking for and/or where he currently lived he was very aloof.  She got a strange feeling from him.  She informed the homeowner. ”

Are these all related?  Who knows, these sorts of stories come up every year.  PLEASE pass them along to your broker and to MAR.

Another safety item we should all take to heart and was shared this week by Carol Munson:  There is a local Marin emergency dispatch number,  415-472-0911.  Who knew?  You save critical and valuable time rather than being routed through some regional 911 call center.  Minutes count, please put this number in your cell phone!

I’m up front with sellers when I take a listing, and emphasize again when we are going on the market:   secure your valuables, particularly jewelry and things that can get up and walk away.  AND secure your prescription medication…particularly any sort of pain or anxiety medication.

Several years ago, in my extended family one of my family members developed a very bad problem with prescription medication that led to all sorts of bad things, bad behavior and ultimately very bad outcomes.  It’s everywhere.  I read last week that heroin overdoses have more than doubled in the last five years.  Doubled!  Heroin?  Really?  Why?  Because it’s easier and cheaper to get than increasingly regulated prescription meds.  So if you’re someone with a problem, perhaps it’s a little easier to go tour pretty homes on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday to support your habit than it is to resort to pursuing the even harder stuff…

As a man, I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about my own safety beyond common sense and keeping an eye out.  But I’m also sensitive to the fact that our women colleagues view the issue of personal safety through a different lens.  I drove to a broker event last Thursday night in a big Suburban with seven of my women colleagues.  This issue was fresh in my mind, and I asked the women how many of them had felt uncomfortable in the past with someone in an open house.  All seven hands went up.  Then I asked how many had been fearful of her own safety to the point where she took active measures to secure her own safety.  Four of the seven hands went up.  “It’s a scary feeling and difficult to describe to a man” one of them said.

So let’s all be safe out there!  I’m not an expert on safety by any means, but don’t let unfamiliar visitors get between you and the front door or other safe exit.

NAR has a great agent safety website here:  http://www.realtor.org/topics/realtor-safety.  I’m also looking into an agent safety class at MAR.  Several years ago we had one of our members, who is a black belt, teach a well-attended safety class at MAR.  We’re going to look into something similar.  Another agent told me that they had the San Anselmo chief of police come in and give a safety and self-defense class at her gym that was well-attended.

MAR takes this matter very seriously.

I wish you all a safe and prosperous week ahead!

Blaine

 

 

Feb 22

Short Sale Auctions, SB-407 Water Conserving Fixtures Update – Blaine Morris’ 2014 President of Marin Association of Realtors 02/17/14 Monday Memo

By Legislation, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Real Estate News, Regulations

Good morning MAR members!

Happy President’s Day…which in Marin means Happy Ski Week!  Everybody sure seemed to be going somewhere last Thursday night, as I was trying to get to a dinner meeting in downtown San Rafael (well after rush hour) and it was absolute gridlock with people trying to get on 101 North…so I hope those of you on your way to a family ski vacation are having a fantastic time!

For those of us still here this week, another week in Marin, another week of low inventory.  Buyers are out there, as we all know.  Increased inventory will be good for everyone, so let’s get our sellers off the fence!

My weekly SB-407 water conserving retrofit update is below, lots of new info, and some qualified good news.  This week, I’ve put it down at the end of the memo so people don’t think that’s all I talk about every week…

AUCTIONS

Oh my goodness, lots of feedback on auctions.  Several weeks ago, I shared that CAR is going to “SPONSOR” legislation to require an auction company to indemnify or “hold harmless” the listing broker in a transaction against liability that results from the auction company’s actions in a short sale transaction.

As I said, this was the big story that everyone at last month’s CAR meeting was talking about.

Here is the genesis of this issue:  it is becoming an increasing practice that as part of a short sale approval, some banks/servicers are requiring that before an approval is granted, the property needs to be put out on an auction site to “verify” the price.  There is one servicer in particular who is doing this a lot.  As part of this process, the original listing broker is asked (required?) to abrogate the listing agreement to the auction company…then the auction company runs with the auction and essentially the listing.

But the original listing broker still has agency with the seller, and also has an agency disclosure with the buyer.  What happens if, as part of all of this, mistakes are made by the auction company during the transaction?  I know of one of these auction companies that is legitimately licensed with the State of California as a licensed broker, and I’m sure there are more.  If something goes wrong, who is then liable?  Whose E&O pays?  This is the root of the above “SPONSOR” position on legislation to get indemnification of the original listing broker by the auction company.

But wait, there’s more.  What does all of this say about a broker’s legitimate listing contract with a seller?  Does the bank have the authority to demand that a listing broker abrogate its legitimate contract with a seller to proceed with this deal?  It becomes a larger question about the overall legitimacy of our listing contract.  CAR is looking into this as well, and I must say it’s a hot potato issue.

CAR is looking for specific anecdotes…war stories.  Here is what they are looking for:

“We are looking for any anecdotes where a licensee may have been sued due to the negligence of an auction company. We are also looking for stories, where to avoid legal action, a licensee has taken financial responsibility for the error of an auction company. And finally, we are looking for any instances where licensees have been informed by their E & O carrier that if an auction company were to make an error and the REALTOR® was held responsible for it, that the event wouldn’t be covered under the policy. It would also be helpful to know which E & O carrier was involved.”

Can any of you help with this?  If you have any of these stories personally, or if you know of someone else who does, please contact me here [mailto link].  It’s important that we communicate what is happening on the ground here in Marin to our statewide association.

SB-407 WATER CONSERVING FIXTURES UPDATE

I recently directed MAR staff to survey the various Marin municipalities about each town’s plan for implementation of SB-407.  The question is whether our building departments are planning to follow the California Building Officials (“CALBO”) recommendation that permits for repairs and maintenance of homes are EXEMPT from the retrofit requirements.  After surveying most of our towns, it does seem that they are going to follow that recommendation.  Here is a link to CALBO’s position (see second page):  http://www.calbo.org/uploads/NoCal%20Policy%20Memo%20SB%20407%20%28Dec%202013%29.pdf

In addition, another concern is whether unclosed permits from prior years will require a retrofit when they are closed after the fact…sometimes years later…often as part of a real estate transaction.  To my great relief, those that we have spoken with have said “no”, old unclosed permits should not trigger a retrofit requirement since the permit was pulled prior to the new code.

Each town kept pointing to a meeting this week among the building officials, the Code Advisory Board meeting.  Their plan is to coordinate a uniform policy county-wide.  There are some minor differences around the edges, but let’s await the results of this group’s meeting to confirm that those differences are smoothed out

The current RETDS does have some brief language mentioning this new code, but I’ve received a number of comments that this language is inadequate.  CAR is working on it, and MAR is monitoring the situation closely with our General Council to make sure that we can advise our clients correctly.

As I keep saying, stay tuned.

I wish you a safe and prosperous week ahead!

Blaine

 

Feb 19

More on SB-407, Housing Density AB-1537 Legislation and More – Blaine Morris’ 2014 President of Marin Association of Realtors 02/10/14 Monday Memo

By Legislation, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Real Estate News

Good morning MAR members!

With the Super Bowl behind us, it was great to get out on tour this week to see the beginnings of our inventory for the spring home buying season.  Even though our winter rains finally seem to have rolled in, the daffodils  blooming (early) in my front yard point to spring right around the corner!  Buyers were out too, with agents reporting lots of activity.  Let’s all hope for more inventory to go along with more rain!

More on SB-407

My weekly updates on SB-407 will continue until we have clarity on the rollout.  This is the new water conserving fixtures legislation.  MAR is contacting the various municipalities to confirm local rollout plans.  I also spoke this week with one of the leaders of the local building official group, and he said that a consistent policy will be available after their next meeting a week from Wednesday on February 19th.  Stay tuned.

Speaking of SB-407, I received an email this week from MAR’s attorney, who reminded me about the “bill that no one is talking about, SB-407.”  After ensuring him that we are indeed talking about it, at least in Marin, he shared a couple of groups’ interesting interpretations of the law.  First is the California Contractors State License Board, which operates under the same Dept. of Consumer Affairs as our Bureau of Real Estate.  A bulletin from this group states, in part, that “Although not a legal opinion, the California Building Officials (CALBO) group has interpreted ‘alterations’ or ‘improvements’ to mean any construction to an existing structure that enhances or improves the structure. Construction that is related to repairs or maintenance of the structure is not considered to be an alteration or improvement.”

The bulletin goes on to say that items such as electrical service change out, HVAC change out, re-roofing, sewer line replacement, siding or stucco, retaining walls, fences, water heaters, windows should not trigger the retrofit requirement.  Near the end, the bulletin says “It is feared that property owners and licensed contractors who misunderstand the law may end up paying for new fixtures that are not required, or may avoid pulling building permits altogether to avoid the possible triggers to SB 407.”

You can read the full bulletin here:  http://www.cslb.ca.gov/GeneralInformation/Newsroom/IndustryBulletins/IndustryBulletins2014/IndustryBulletin20140117.asp

Again, this is not legal opinion, but since contractors look to be among the beneficiaries of this program, it’s refreshing to see their state board pull things back a bit.

The very comprehensive California Building Official’s group’s bulletin referenced above is here:  http://www.calbo.org/uploads/NoCal%20Policy%20Memo%20SB%20407%20%28Dec%202013%29.pdf

MAR will continue to advocate to our local building officials for clarity on this rollout.

A couple of odds and ends:

While scrambling up the mountain to see a new listing off of Panoramic Highway in Mill Valley on Wednesday’s broker tour, I was reminded of several emails I received from aggravated members last year.  This first broker’s open house was closing at 1:00, so in order to see it I needed to carve out a half-hour plus in the middle of tour to see this one property.  The members who contacted me last year identified a growing trend in our MAR community:  the shortened brokers’ open.  I wasn’t part of the “which hours on which days in which towns” discussion many years ago, but the convention that everyone agreed to was the following:  Wednesdays from 9:30-12:30 in Novato; Wednesdays from 10:30-2:00 in Southern Marin, and Thursdays from 10:30-2:00 in Central Marin.

Yes, it’s pretty simple, and yes I know we all know this.  I can understand the occasional 11:00 start times, I’m personally guilty of this sometimes, given that many of us have sales meetings on Thursday morning.  But why all the 1:00 close times…particularly on the first brokers’ open house?  I’m sure each of us can think of circumstances where you have to make some hard decisions about which houses you’re going to miss because you have to scramble across the county to see that ONE place you must see that closes at 1:00.  People grumble about this all the time.  Yes, I know sometimes we’re not worried about it, in this brisk market…yes, I know your listing is going to get multiple offers and you’re not worried.  But let’s be courteous to our fellow Realtors, and keep the house open until at least 2:00…at least the first week.

Correction

Thank you Colleen Frasco for identifying an error in last week’s Monday Memo.  I mentioned that on the recommendation of CAR’s Taxation and Government Finance Committee meeting, the CAR Board of Directors voted to “SUPPORT” legislation to study the impact of allowing homeowners to transfer their property tax basis to a home anywhere in the state.  This relates to Propositions 60 and 90, and I incorrectly stated the provision that over-age-50 homeowners can transfer their tax basis once per lifetime.  Colleen reminded me that it’s over-age-55, not 50.  That’s how rumors get started, and I wanted to clear that up.  Thank you Colleen!

Housing Density

On the legislative front, the MAR Board of Directors voted unanimously at our last meeting to support our Assemblyman Marc Levine’s AB-1537, which seeks to lower the state-mandated housing density from 30-units per acre to 20-units per acre.  Local officials have come to meetings at MAR since I got there bemoaning this Sacramento-sourced mandate, where Marin is classified as “urban” and lumped in with San Francisco and Oakland, rather than “suburban” like our neighbors to the north in Sonoma and Napa counties.  This is unfolding, but MAR will doing what we can to support this legislation.

I wish you a safe and prosperous week!

Blaine

 

 

Feb 17

SB407 and CAR Meeting Update – Blaine Morris’ 2014 President of Marin Association of Realtors 02/03/14 Monday Memo

By California Association of Realtors, Marin Association of Realtors, Regulations

Good morning MAR members!

Last week’s memo on SB-407, the new statewide water retrofit regulation, generated a huge amount of response.  Marin officials are still formulating their oversight plan, and MAR will get clarity on the changes. We will be doing so ASAP to determine the local criteria to trigger a need to retrofit based upon permit issuance.

Again, it is not a current point-of-sale requirement.  It is triggered by the pulling of permits for other things, starting this month.  However, starting January 1, 2017 (three years from now) every homeowner in the state will be required to retrofit their homes built before 1/1/1994, regardless of point-of-sale or permits… even if it’s not part of a sale.  Thus, it will become a point of sale requirement on January 1, 2017 for homes built before 1/1/1994.  Much like the recent rollout of required carbon monoxide detectors in all homes.

Some of you asked about disclosure requirements.  The Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement was revised over a year ago to reflect this new law.  On page 2 of the RETDS, the document specifically discloses much of this, but is brief in the description.  There looks to be an upcoming “Water Conserving Fixtures Disclosure (SB407)”, and I’m seeking clarity on when this form will be available.

MAR will continue to pass along info.

I promised to report back on the developments at last week’s CAR meetings in San Diego.  The other members of our CAR team will be reporting to back to me, and I will forward other relevant items as I learn about them.

So, in no particular order:

Transaction and Regulatory

I sit on this committee.  We voted on the following action items, and we later voted as the CAR Board to approve these action items. These are NOT new regulations; CAR is simply starting the process:

  • That CAR “SPONSOR” legislation to clarify the rules for the CalBRE to regulate the use of “Team” names by licensees.  This was an extremely busy conversation, as this subject is getting a lot of attention at the CalBRE.  Currently, brokers are supposed to file a DBA to cover team names working for their brokerages…and the broker officially owns those team name DBAs.  This policy needs clarification, and an update is planned for the May meetings.
  • That CAR “SPONSOR” legislation to require an auction company to indemnify or “hold harmless” the listing broker in a transaction against liability that results from the auction company’s actions in a short sale transaction.  This was THE big issue that everyone was talking about the whole week.  There is too much on this subject for this memo, I’ll be writing more on this soon.  Also, at the CAR Board of Directors meeting, the floor voted to direct CAR legal staff to look into the whole validity of our listing agreement, as some banks are now requiring short sale transactions to go out to auction after a purchase agreement is executed…effectively ordering the listing broker to abrogate a valid contract and turn the listing over to the auction company.  Everyone is very interested in this subject, stay tuned.
  •  That CAR “SPONSOR” legislation to prohibit short-lived communications like tweets or text messages from being considered “transactional documents” that must be retained in a broker’s file.  This will be an ongoing conversation, but for now your text messages are supposed to be retained.

Taxation and Government Finance Committee

We voted to “SUPPORT” legislation to study the revenue impact of allowing homeowners to transfer their property tax basis to a home anywhere in the state.  This relates to Propositions 60 and 90, where over-age-50 homeowners can transfer their tax basis once per lifetime.  Right now, this is governed on a county-by-county basis, and Marin does not allow a new homeowner from outside the county to transfer his or her tax basis into Marin (though an intra-Marin transfer is allowed).  I tried to discern the political will for this, and the answer was “stay tuned.”

Public Policy Forum–General Home Inspectors

This forum was packed.  Believe it or not, there is no current statewide licensing requirement for general home inspectors.  We use these valued professionals in many of our transactions, and there are current industry standards in their trade associations.  But no statewide oversight.  Pest inspectors, engineers, electricians and plumbers all have a licensing requirement, and there is a discussion of creating such a licensing requirement for general home inspectors.  We voted on the Transaction and Regulatory Committee to establish a working group to explore this subject, and also to “explore options related to home inspectors contractual limitation of liability provisions…”   More on this later in the year.

Standard Forms Advisory Committee

The other big news from CAR is that there is a substantial revision of the Residential Purchase Agreement in the works.  The current draft will be available here http://on.car.org/rpa2014 until 2/14/2014, and there will be more revisions going forward.  Take a look, and we’d love to be able to pass along any feedback.

I wish you a safe and prosperous week ahead!

Blaine

Feb 13

Blaine Morris’ 2014 President of Marin Association of Realtors 01/27/14 Monday Memo – New Residential and Commercial Water Conservation Retrofit Rules–SB 407

By Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Real Estate News

The rest of the CAR Director team and I have been in San Diego this week at the winter meetings.  As usual, lots of stuff to report, discuss and learn across all spectrums of our business.

I was out last night after the meetings with a non-Realtor friend, and he wanted to know what in the world we do that requires us to come to these meetings three times per year.  I explained that the business and the regulatory environment are constantly changing. We need to be ahead of trends to respond to the needs of our members, clients and property owners.  We need to be ahead of the game with our government officials.  We need to coordinate the ever-changing transactional environment.  And most of all, we need to make sure that you, our members, have your voice heard at the highest levels of our profession.

I will have a more complete report from CAR next week.

New Residential and Commercial Water Conservation Retrofit Rules–SB 407

I want to make sure all of you are aware of an emerging new government regulation that became law on January 1, 2014.  Last fall, our friend and colleague Jim Fraser alerted me about the pending implementation of Senate Bill 407, which was passed by the California legislature in 2009 and signed by Governor Schwarzengger in October 2009..and promptly forgotten by just about everyone.  Net-net, there are some very substantial water conservation retrofit requirements on existing single family homes which are to be enforced when our clients and property owners go to get a permit…for just about anything they want to do to homes built before 1994.

This was news to all of us at MAR.  The law passed with little fanfare in 2009, probably because the implementation date was five years away.  When Assemblyman Levine was speaking to the Women’s Council of Realtors last fall, 2013 MAR Secretary Judy LeMarr asked him about it but he was not familiar with the law.  Later, 2013 MAR President Jack Wilkinson called the San Rafael Building Department, and his contact said he had just learned of the law the day before and they had no plan at the time for its required implementation.  Earlier this month, I was at a city inspection and asked the building official what the plan was and he told me that he and his colleagues were only now starting to formulate an implementation plan.

In a nutshell, SB407 requires that “On or after January 1, 2014, for all building alterations or improvements to single family residential real property, as a condition for issuance of a certificate of final completion and occupancy or final permit approval by the local building department, the permit applicant shall replace all noncompliant plumbing fixtures with water-conserving plumbing fixtures.”

Low-flow toilets, faucets, and showerheads.  It’s déjà vu all over again!

You can read the text of the whole bill here:  http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100SB407

Given our current extreme drought and MMWD’s request this week for a 25% reduction in water use, it’s hard to argue with the spirit of these regulations.

What does this mean for us?  Well, this is not a point-of-sale requirement, so it shouldn’t come into effect for our transactions closing.  But it is absolutely something we need to alert our clients about, because as the law is written, ANY permit will require these retrofit requirements.  And what about the very common case where a homeowner got a proper permit for work to be done, but didn’t close out the permit when work was complete?  Does that mean that to close some 5-year-old permit our clients will need to replace all the toilets, faucets, and showerheads?  Really?  That’s certainly something that might come into play in the last days and loose ends of a transaction.  This area of the law is unclear.

We need some clarification, and it’s a work in progress.  Our cities are just now working through the implementation process.  The building official I spoke with this month said that the enforcement overhead requirements to fully retrofit a house for ANY permit are just about impossible from a time and budget standpoint.  He said that it’s possible that for “minor” permits (roofs, water heaters, etc) there will just be a handout informing the homeowner of these requirements.  For a remodel or “major work” it will absolutely be required.  Where is the line drawn?  No for water heaters, yes for kitchen remodels?  What about a window or siding project?

So let’s all feel our collective pain together.

We are on it at MAR.  We will continue to press our local building officials for clarity about these new requirements.   And to bring it back to CAR, yesterday we received a report from the Land Use and Environmental Policy Committee suggesting that, given the current drought and recently enacted legislation, the CAR 2014 Budget be modified to include funds for education of the public and our members on these developments.  This should be brought for a vote before we leave San Diego.

Be aware, tell your clients that this is a developing issue, and I assure you that we will have more info for you shortly.

Have a great week!

Blaine

 

 

 

 

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