Board Report - October 2011
The Board of Directors meeting was held October 21, 2011 following a privacy and information workshop presented to Directors, past Chairs, and Association Executives and their guests by BAREIS MLS® privacy attorney Darity Wesley.
Long-standing Chairman of the MLS Committee Walt Jorgenson was elected by the Board to fill the vacant Mendocino County Director position.
The Corporation remains within budget and within income for the first nine months of the year. The budget for 2012 was adopted.
The nominating committee for the 2012 Board of Directors Election was appointed. Letters have been sent to Class A members to solicit candidates for Class A nominations. Letters will be sent to the Associations before the end of October regarding Class B nominations.
The MLS Committee recommended and the Board approved having Realist ValueMap not use the MLS list price in the valuation of the property; renaming choices for the lockbox section; and changing the default email report to client detail with additional photographs.
The Communications Committee solicited Director feedback as to how to increase participation in webinars. It was generally agreed that short (5 minute) pre-recorded webinars that members can view at their own convenience are more likely to gain viewers than lengthy, in-depth webinars that take place at a scheduled time.
The Board discussed data usage policies at length, specifically whether off-market data should be released to IDX websites. Jim Branscombe reported that he has met with more than 300 brokers in several counties and the feedback from these brokers has been mixed as to whether it is desirable to do so. The impression was that larger companies were in favor of releasing the data while smaller brokers were not. Clients hire real estate professionals because of the ability to properly value property based on data that is not currently available to the public. There is a fear that if the off-market data becomes available to the public, the public will have less incentive to utilize real estate professionals.
The current trend among MLSs seems to be in favor of feeding the off-market data into the IDX feed (this is not BAREIS’ current policy), and some MLSs sell the off-market data to generate income (BAREIS does not currently sell data to third parties).
Also considered briefly was whether BAREIS MLS® should participate in a statewide or global MLS.
After extensive discussion, the Board recommended, due to the enormity of the issue, a task force of 3 technologically savvy staff members and 3 technologically savvy brokers be created to conduct further research and to report to the Board in January (or as soon as practicable) with a recommendation regarding the off-market data policy and how to implement from both a data and rules perspective.
The Board approved changes to the Regulations regarding lockbox and keypad usage that will facilitate the key reciprocity agreements.
BAREIS is in the final stages of contracts with Fannie Mae for the implementation of the Short Sale Assistance Desk.
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