Welcome to ECBOR - CHIPS May 2004

In order to take advantage of the new combined library, members must download the new library. You will not get the new library by downloading just the updates. It seems after the new library is downloaded, the forms still do not appear. We have printed instructions to follow so the library will appear.

Members of the Elkhart County Board of REALTORS® will download the new ZipForm Desktop library by going to: Indiana Association of Realtors®.

If you login to your software and do not see your library listed, check the following:

ZipForm Issues - A letter from ZipForm date April 30, 2004

Over the past few days you may have experienced performance issues with your use of the ZipFormOnline application. For example, you may have had problems logging in, saving transactions or seen a general slowness with the website.

Unfortunately, we were required to take the ZipFormOnline servers offline for a while on Monday, May 3 to deal with these issues. Our work was successful and the application is available again.

We have been working diligently to increase the capacity of our data center and to increase the performance of ZipFormOnline. To this end, we are currently installing new, more powerful servers which will allow us to more effectively service and maintain the website. We expect this work to be completed by the end of this week.

Once this work is completed, you should notice a significant improvement in the performance and reliability of the application.

We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused. We value your trust in our products.

Thank you for your patience.

CRS Education Opportunities

The Council of Residential Specialists (CRS) has two upcoming training events that may be of interest to you.

ProACT® or Professional Accelerated Career Training is the quickest, most economical way for residential real estate professionals to obtain most of the education requirements needed to earn the CRS Designation.

This year there are two locations that members can choose from: ProACT® West in Las Vegas on June 14-19, or ProACT®East in Atlantic City on June 7-12. Both locations offer six days of education where you can take up to three 2-day CRS courses in just six days. The course listing and content of each is listed below:

CRS 200: Business Planning and Marketing for the Residential Specialist

Course Content:

Business plan development
Budgeting and cost analysis
Prospecting techniques
Personal promotion techniques

ProACT® East June 9-10

CRS 202: Effective Buyer Sales Strategies

Course Content:

Understand buyer motivation
Eliminating sales resistance
Creating trust and loyalty from buyers
Negotiating skills

ProACT® West June 18-19

CRS 204: Creating Wealth Through Residential Real Estate Investments

Course Content:

Identifying money-making opportunities
Comparing potential investment opportunities
Retirement planning and investing
Calculating initial investment to rate of return

ProACT® East June 7-8

ProACT® West June 14-15

CRS 206: Technologies to Advance Your Business

Course Content:

Using a contact manager
Creating printed and multimedia presentations
Online services, e-mail and the Internet
Improving time management

ProACT® West June 16-17

CRS 210: Building an Exceptional Customer Service Referral Business

Course Content:

Attracting a higher-caliber client
Meeting the expectations of the “new consumer”
Dialogues and strategies for building a referral database
Delivery systems to generate a successful referral business

ProACT® East June 11-12

For more details or registration info, visit www.proact2004.com.

In a major victory for REALTORS®, a three-judge panel of the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has unanimously ruled that "REALTOR®" and "REALTORS®" are not generic terms. The ruling came as part of the panel's denial of two petitions to cancel the rights in these terms held by the National Association of REALTORS®.

In the 39-page opinion, the judges made the affirmative finding that the terms are not generic; that is, they are not synonymous with real estate agent or real estate agents, and concluded that the petitioner failed to prove otherwise. The judges also pointed out that NAR had consistently taken steps to emphasize its ownership of the collective membership marks and to contest improper uses.

"This is a tremendous victory for REALTORS® everywhere, affirming our right to the terms, 'REALTOR®' and 'REALTORS®,' which designate the highest standards of professionalism and commitment to a strict Code of Ethics. The trademark decision puts to rest any question about NAR's exclusive rights to the use of these terms," said NAR President Walt McDonald.

Since 1916, when the term "REALTOR®" was coined, the term has come to be recognized as identifying members of the National Association of REALTORS®. NAR registered the trademarks in 1949 and 1950, soon after a new trademark law went into effect.

The Trademark Board's decision was issued in a case involving a challenge brought by Jacob Zimmerman, a former hotel management student at Cornell University who registered approximately 1,900 domain names containing the word "REALTOR®" in hopes of making money selling the URLs. The challenge was the most recent in a series of unsuccessful challenges to NAR's right to use the terms "REALTOR®" and "REALTORS®." The judges made the ruling on March 31 and NAR learned of the decision late April 5.

Find out the latest technology trends in real estate with Info Central’s award-winning Web Wizard Reports.

Why Rent When You Should Buy – Are your clients still on the fence about buying a home? This brochure is a great tool to present and market to first-time buyers. Mortgage interest deductions, property tax deductions, etc. are depicted in an easy to interpret format that strongly supports the decision to buy a home as opposed to renting a home.