Home Inspector License Law One Step Closer to Reality

Last week, a bill requiring licensing of home inspectors finally cleared its first major hurdle in the legislative process. HB 257, sponsored by Rep. Michelle Schneider (R) Cincinnati, was passed by the Ohio House of Representatives and sent to the Senate. 

If the legislation is passed by the Senate and signed into law by the Governor, Ohio will become the 31st state to enact a statute addressing the performance of home inspections.

Among the provisions included in HB 257 are the following:

*criminal penalties for performing home inspections without a license.
*creation of the Ohio Home Inspection Board to regulate the industry.
*a requirement that all inspections be performed pursuant to a written contract.
*creation of standards for performing inspections.
*creation of a process for investigating complaints filed against inspectors.

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Free relocation market information

Wouldn't it be nice to know where the people who are moving to your area are coming from? You can and it's easy because NAR makes the reports available for you. The Relocation Report will show you the ten counties that relocate most to your county. The normal price of this report is $75. However, it is now FREE to members. Go to REALTOR Store at www.REALTOR.org and search for Relocation Report, Item #E186-71.


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Working in the Multicultural market

The Multicultural market has become an important opportunity for the real estate community. As a result there is more research being done by major industry participants, consulting firms and leading universities. Inside is a look at some studies conducted by The Gonzales Group, a leading research firm in the field of Multicultural markets. Link: http://www.thegonzalesgroup.com/wpmulticulture.php 

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Home Sales Soft But Projected to Rise 

A flat pattern in home sales activity should continue for the next couple months before improving over the summer, NAR says. "Things are beginning to improve, but the availability of affordable mortgages is uneven around the country and sometimes within metropolitan areas," says NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "As anticipated, we continue to look for a soft first half of the year, for both housing and the economy, before notable improvements in the second half. Some time is needed for FHA and new conforming jumbo loans to become widely available." 

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Penny for your thoughts

The US Postal rates will go up today, May 12, 2008 to $0.42 (from $0.41) for a first class letter and $0.27 for a postcard.
Tip: An inexpensive marketing piece would be to send your past customers a block of 10 or 20 one cent stamps to add to their current stamps which won't quite be enough. 

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Livestock and surrounding property values

During the recent OAR Spring Conference a presentation was made during the Local Government Forum a Power Point presentation was made on the effects of large livestock operations on surrounding property values. Link: http://www.ohiorealtors.org/public_policy/DairyAndSurroundingPropertyValues.ppt 

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On the light side...

Here are some fun automatic "out-of-office" responses for spam mail.

1. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I were in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at all.

2. I will be unable to delete all the e-mails you send me until I return from vacation. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.

3. Thank you for your e-mail. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first 10 words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.

4. The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection. Your message has not been delivered. Please restart your computer and try sending again.

5. Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system.
You are currently in 352nd place and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.

6. Hi, I'm thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.

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Are Boomers the most educated generation in history? 

Possibly. A U.S. Census Bureau study found that the proportion of Americans with at least a bachelors' degree grew five-fold from 1950 to 2003, from 3.4% to 17.4%. The percentage completing high school quadrupled from 1950 to 2003, from 17% to 71.5%.

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Use business cards in Outlook

The Electronic Business Card is new to Outlook 2007 and is easily customized. It is a feature of the Contacts record. It looks like a business card with your common contact information and room for a picture of you, your logo, or any other picture. The EBC can be used as a signature on your e-mail which will include a vCard so that the recipient can easily add it to their database without typing anything. 

Go to the contact record 
From the Ribbon on the Contact tab, select business card 
Adjust the fields order and the spaces between them from the Fields section a. When fields are selected, the text editor allows basic enhancements like bold, italics, color, etc. 
Select Layout to change the location of the image 
Select Image to add or change the picture used 
Select Image area to control the size of the picture 
Select background to change the color of the business card 
When finished, click OK. 

To set your business card as your e-mail signature, after you have customized it: 
 
Go to Tools, Options, Mail Format, Signatures 
Select New, give name EBC 
Select Business Card and locate your card 
Select OK to save 
Identify from the drop-down list the signature you want to be used for new messages and replies and forwards 
Click OK and close subsequent dialogs. 
Additional templates for electronic business cards can be found on the Microsoft Office Online web site. 

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Is time flying right by?

If you have been spending a lot of time on a project and want a quick and easy way to track it, let 88 miles figure it out for you! This web-based service allows you to set-up projects and simply PUNCH IN and PUNCH OUT. You do not have to look at the clock; 88 miles will do it for you! You can share your time study with other staff members, or keep it for your eyes only. 88 miles even offers a mobile edition! ... www.88miles.net