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April 2018
 
Elizabeth J. Mendenhall
2018 NAR President
 
Bob Goldberg
Chief Executive Officer
 
Five Star
BrightMLS
 
Three Star
Sandicor, Inc.
Northstar MLS
MRED, LLC
 
Two Star
Carolina MLS
MARIS
Northwest MLS
REALTRACS
UtahRealEstate.com
RMLS
Pikes Peak REALTOR® Services Corp.
HSF Affiliates 
Smart MLS
Realogy Corporation
   
One Star
SIOR
zipLogix
CCIM Institute
IREM
MLS Technology, Inc.
South Central WI MLS Corp.
San Francisco AOR MLS
Gulf South REIN
Edina Realty Home Services of America
Virginia Association of REALTORS®
 
Corporate Ally Investors
Strong Holdings, LLC
Champion Realty
Guarantee Real Estate
Kings County Board MLS
MLS, Inc.
Baldwin County AOR MLS
Greater Greenville AOR MLS
Big Sky Country MLS
Jefferson City AOR MLS
Southshore MLS
BHHS Fox & Roach, REALTORS®
Central Wisconsin MLS
RE/MAX Choice Properties
Southern Missouri Regional MLS
Northwest Oklahoma AOR MLS
South Central Board of REALTORS®
Realty Executives Ferrell Associates, LLC
NW Ohio Real Estate Information System
Bayou Board of REALTORS®
MLS of Roanoke Valley, Inc.
The MLS of Jackson
Northern Kentucky MLS
Bay East Association of REALTORS®
Dolan, REALTORS®


Message from the Chair

A warm and hearty welcome to our first Corporate Ally Program (CAP) investors for 2018. Our fundraising goal this year is $1.6 million and we are well on our way thanks to your continued generosity and support. More than $450,000 in revenue raised so far this year, we are 44% ahead of where we were at this time in 2017.  As CAP continues to grow in investments, revenue, and successes throughout the year, you will find all the exciting details updated below in our Numbers and Cents section.
 
I would like to extend special thanks to Bob Borgmann, CEO of Dolan REALTORS® located in Union, MO, for being the very first CAP investor to re-invest in the program in 2018.  Bob, thank you so much for your enthusiastic support!

Thanks to all of our 2017 and 2018 investors who responded to our recent survey on CAP’s recognition benefits. The Corporate Ally Program Advisory Board will review the results of the survey at our meeting on April 18 in Cincinnati to determine if changes or enhancements are needed to address your feedback.

Warmest regards,

Helen Hanna Casey


2018 CAP Advisory Board Chair


Investor Spotlight

The Corporate Ally Program wishes to acknowledge the NEW investors who have joined the team during the first quarter of 2018:
  • Smart MLS, Wallingford, Conn.
  • Realty Executives, Ferrell Associates, LLC, Rolla, M.
  • Memphis Area Association of REALTORS® MLS, Memphis, Tenn.
  • RE/MAX Choice Properties, Hendersonville, Tenn.


Numbers and Cents

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$456K 44% 4
Amount raised in
1st quarter 2018
Revenue increase over
1st quarter 2017

Number of new
investors YTD

 
20% 13
Participation increase
over 2016
Number of CAP-assisted state and local issue campaigns active in 1st quarter of 2018


Federal Issues

Net Neutrality
The business of real estate is increasingly conducted on-line. Streaming video, virtual tours and voice-over-internet-protocol are just some of the technologies that are commonly used by real estate professionals today. Net neutral practices are essential to ensure that real estate content can be freely and efficiently distributed online. NAR supports legislation that will restore the 2015 Open Internet Order and protect access for real estate content. Learn more at www.nar.realtor/net-neutrality.

Association Health Plans
Health care reform continues to be a primary concern for REALTORS® across the country. Repeal and replace efforts in Congress have lagged in momentum while many sole proprietors and small businesses face increasing health insurance premiums. NAR is supporting a new regulatory proposal issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in early 2018, which would allow for expanded access to Association Health Plans (AHPs) and potentially provide more affordable health insurance options for REALTORS®. An AHP plan would be treated as a large employer plan under federal law, subject to different rules than plans in the individual and small group insurance markets that tend to be more costly. DOL is now reviewing the hundreds of comments submitted, including those by NAR, and will issue a final rule reflecting that feedback — likely later this year — that will be used by insurers for plan design. For more information, visit www.nar.realtor/health-care-reform.

Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Exclusion
The exclusion for forgiven home mortgage debt following a foreclosure, short sale, or loan modification should be made permanent to provide relief to troubled borrowers and minimize the damage to families, neighborhoods and communities. That’s according to testimony NAR before the U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax Policy at a hearing evaluating recently expired tax provisions. NAR has long advocated for mortgage forgiveness tax relief, policy that was first established in 2007 at the onset of the housing and economic downturn and that has expired and been extended several times; most recently, early in 2018, it was retroactively extended to cover 2017. Read more.

Patent Trolls
On March 22, 2018, Representatives Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Bill Foster (D-IL) introduced the STRONGER PATENTS Act, a companion bill to legislation introduced in the Senate last year by Senator Chris Coons (D-DE). NAR joined with the United for Patent Reform Coalition to express concerns with the bill. Read more about NAR’s concerns. NAR will continue to work with Congress to protect REALTORS® from frivolous lawsuits brought by patent trolls.

Corporate Ally Program at Work

Congratulations to the Alabama Association of REALTORS® on its successful campaign to enact First Time Home Buyer legislation. Governor Kay Ivey signed the bill into law in March 2018. Hats off to the Baldwin County Association of REALTORS® MLS and the Greater Alabama MLS for the generous CAP investments that provided an important source of funding to assist Alabama REALTORS® with this campaign.

The Boise Regional REALTORS® Association chalked up a win for a community in its territory by helping to get a school bond initiative passed with a 68.8% majority.  The bond will provide funding for a new high school, and elementary school for the growing West Ada School District.  Kudos to Idaho CAP investors Intermountain MLS and Coeur d’Alene MLS.  Your generous CAP investments provided enough local allocation revenue to cover 100% of Boise’s skin-in-the-game requirement for this issue campaign.

CAP is currently at work on 13 other state and local issue campaigns in Alabama, California, Hawaii, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
 

 
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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS®
Headquarters: 430 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611
DC Office: 500 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001-2020