License Renewal Time- Don't Forget Your CE!

It’s that time of year again -- license renewal! This year those with a managing broker’s license will have to renew their licenses by April 30^th. Those of you with a license number beginning with 471 will, of course, need to complete your continuing education requirements prior to renewing your license.

We’ve created the following infographic to illustrate how many credits you need to renew your license. Remember, since you didn’t have to show proof of CE last year when you transitioned, the requirements are greater this year, but you can have completed them as far back as May 1, 2010.

Visit us at www.ChicagoREALTOR.com/CE for all requirements and to register for classes. Happy studying!

2013 Economic Forecast: Let the Growth Continue!

Housing is a bright spot in an economy that’s still struggling to recover, according to Dr. Michael Miller, Associate Professor of Economics at DePaul University. Dr. Miller was one of three panelists who spoke at the 2013 Economic Outlook, a C.A.R. Member Outreach event that welcomed about 200 Chicago REALTORS® to the InterContinental Chicago hotel on January 17.

While Dr. Miller presented the macro-economic picture affecting real estate nationwide, David Hrobon, President and CEO of Wintrust Mortgage Corporation, presented a look ahead from the local lenders’ perspective, and Russ Haraus, Independent Consultant and National Account Representative, addressed the outlook for home prices, appraisals and related national policy issues.

There is Progress – But It’s Slow

While our nation’s economy is undoubtedly on the rebound, Dr. Miller said, it is at a snail’s pace that is preventing adequate new job creation. As a result, while new entries to the job market may be able to land positions, those considered among the long-term unemployed will remain in dire straits.

“We’ve been through the worst recession since the Great Depression and the longest, slowest recovery,” Dr. Miller said, adding that at the current rate of economic growth, we’re looking at 8 years before the nation returns to the lower 4.7 percent unemployment rate it enjoyed in 2007.

On the upside, however, steady improvement expected in the housing sector will gain momentum as more young adults and others reach a financial position from which they are ready to move on with their lives, Dr. Miller said.

All Systems “Go”

“All positive indicators” are in place for both the single-family and multi-unit residential real estate industry in the eyes of mortgage brokers, said Mr. Hrobon of Wintrust, adding that the good news is expected to continue for both new homes and existing home sales.

Mr. Hrobon cited four factors that will matter significantly within his field in 2013:

- The residential mortgage forecast, which is trending in the right direction, along with growing employment and consumer confidence.

- Regulatory changes that will alter traditional lending and real estate practices, including Basel III and the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. For the most part, Mr. Hrobon said, the changes will have a long-term positive impact on professionalism within the lending industry, transparency and sustainable limits on credit as defined by the financial environment.

- Government sponsored housing recovery initiatives, which will keep Freddie, Fannie and the HUD in a dominant role for conforming loan sizes.

- Differences between the Chicago area’s housing recovery and that of the nation. Our state’s poor financial health and higher-than-average unemployment rate is compounding difficulties caused by our judicial foreclosure process that has caused a backlog and put a “sewer lid on price appreciation,” Mr. Hrobon said.

In the year ahead REALTORS® can expect greater homogeneity in the lending market, according to Mr. Hrobon. In addition, loans will become harder to originate because policy shifts have increased the costs of start-ups within the financial industry. REALTORS® will have to work aggressively and consistently to have clients preapproved and take other steps to help ensure their ability to secure home loans.

That said, Mr. Hrobon found reasons for optimism. Positive media coverage of housing is increasing consumer confidence, he said, and we should see market movement as pent-up demand among sellers and buyers releases.

Regaining an Edge in the “New Normal”

Steadily decreasing inventory will help stabilize home prices in the Chicago area and also promote more offers, said Mr. Haraus, an independent consultant who encouraged “focused entrepreneurship” as road REALTORS® can take to help lead the way back to prosperity.

Mr. Haraus called for widespread focus on job creation and real income growth, while also citing obstacles that will challenge REALTORS® in 2013’s “new normal:”

- Deferred home maintenance and repairs

- Increasing price challenges

- Greater lender and underwriting scrutiny

- Regulation, compliance and litigation risks to all parties involved in the lending process

To overcome these challenges, Mr. Haraus joined Mr. Hrobon in calling for a need to preapprove clients for lending. He also suggested continuing to build expertise in short sale and foreclosure transactions and other areas vital today, such as rental market counseling, global real estate transaction counseling and relocation counseling – which he expects a need for by about 2014.

Mr. Haraus urged REALTORS® to turn to C.A.R., MRED or other sources for education on the latest technologies that can increase business efficiency and client communication. In addition, he called upon REALTORS® to return to the basics of client service excellence. As the marketplace changes, he said, it is critical to underscore the consumer value of working with a REALTOR®.

View each panelist’s presentation plus the “Finding the Meaning in Data” presentation also delivered at the Jan. 17 C.A.R. Member Outreach event at ChicagoREALTOR.com/economic.

Judy Baar Topinka: Friend to REALTORS®, Impassioned Advocate of State Budget Reform

Illinois State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka addressed Chicago REALTORS® at a meeting of the C.A.R. Government Advocacy Forum on January 11 – which was a homecoming, of sorts. Topinka’s parents are both past presidents of the West Towns Board of REALTORS®; her father, William Baar, served in 1959, and her mother, Lillian, in 1965.

Topinka recalled when her mother opened a real estate office in the West Towns area in 1944 and faced harassment as one of the first women to do so. Topinka was six months old at the time.

“The real estate office was a sibling as I grew up. Early on I got involved,” she said.

Though her parents regretted their daughter didn’t pursue a career in real estate, Topinka said she appreciates the support she’s consistently received from REALTORS and added that she’s reciprocated the love in Springfield.

“You’re a bedrock industry for this state,” she said. “I want you to be successful. I want you to be very successful.”

State of the State

Topinka, who lives in Riverside, was the first woman elected State Treasurer in 1994 and has served as Comptroller since 2010. In essence, she is the state’s chief fiscal officer, she said, and hence someone whom officials try to avoid working with.

“Illinois finances are just depressing,” she said, illustrating with the fact that there were currently 185,517 unpaid bills in her office, accumulated since Sept. 4, worth $6.5 billion.

“When you throw in everything that’s piling up in state agencies, you’re talking nearly $10 billion which we owe; monies that folks are counting on to keep their businesses going. That $10 billion is the same as it was a year ago,” she said.

The biggest culprits, in Topinka’s eyes, are Medicaid and pensions, which she calls the “major eaters” in Illinois.

“Eventually they will eat up all the monies,” she said, including dollars gained through tax hikes.

She made an impassioned case for pension reform.

“Our pension situation is the worst in the nation,” she said, meaning currently $97 billion in the red.

“By law we have to have a balanced budget, which sounds good but it doesn’t pay out,” she said, citing a chronic underfunding of Illinois government budgets which will cause more agencies to close their doors.

State finances have caused Illinois to be downgraded by Moody’s from stable to negative, and downgraded by various credit agencies 12 times over the past four years.

To amend the situation, in addition to meaningful pension reform, Topinka advocated for merging the state offices of Treasurer and Comptroller, which would save $12 million by eliminating redundancies. To work toward doing so, she will back a bill asking for a constitutional amendment that will likely surface for voter approval at the next election.

“Anything that saves money for the State of Illinois in an orderly, sensible fashion is worth backing,” she said, also reflecting changes she’s made in her own office by reducing staff and taking measures like replacing postal mailings with online communications.

“We’ve shown we can do it,” she said. “We’re getting the job done and we’re doing it more efficiently.”

Topinka, who proclaimed she will run for re-election, urged REALTORS® to call her office anytime with questions or for assistance. Get the contact information and learn more about the Comptroller’s responsibilities on the State of Illinois Comptroller Web site.