AAR Updates

Arizona REALTOR® Magazine - June 2010

• Short Sale Seller Advisory Updated with HAFA Information
• zipForm® and TM Hotline
• GRI CyberDay
• New Member Benefit: MLS-Connect for ARMLS Subscribers
•  No 4.0% “Sales Tax” on Home Sales in New Health Care Bill
• RAPAC Updates

Short Sale Seller Advisory Updated with HAFA Information

The Short Sale Seller Advisory has been updated with the following information:

Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) Program
The HAFA program was designed to give homeowners different alternatives to a foreclosure, which include incentives for completing a short sale. For more information on the options available, visit the HAFA program website: www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/hafa.html
To find out which option you are eligible for, go to: www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/eligibility.html
To find out if your mortgage servicer participates in the HAFA program, go to: www.makinghomeaffordable.com/contact_servicer.html
National Association of REALTORS® HAFA Brochure: Click Here
Guidelines and Forms:Click Here

View the advisory now.

zipForm® and TM Hotline

Get the fastest response to questions about zipForm® or Transaction Management by calling our dedicated hotline at 480-304-8930 (866-833-7357). 

GRI CyberDay

Tuesday, June 29 | 9:00am - 4:00pm 
Register online: http://www.azgri.com/  

GRI Cyber Day is an opportunity for you to sample the GRI program via live webinar.  A portion of each required class will be showcased in 20-minute segments.  There will be 15 minutes of delivery and 5 minutes of Q&A. Discover the quality of GRI content and instructors!

New Member Benefit: MLS-Connect for ARMLS Subscribers

AAR is pleased to announce that a new member benefit, MLS-Connect, is now available through zipForm® 6 Online (Professional) to Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS) subscribers. With MLS-Connect, users can import data to zipForm® from MLS databases. AAR’s vision of real estate agent office integration has taken one step closer to fruition.

This video walks you through the process of using MLS-Connect with ARMLS:

Creating a RETS Password. To comply with ARMLS log-in requirements and use the MLS-Connect feature in your zipForm® 6 Professional account, you will have to set up your RETS password if you have not done so already. To set up your RETS password:

Step 1: Go to http://armls.flexmls.com and sign in.
Step 2: After you are signed in, click here to see how to set a RETS password for third-party products.
Step 3: After you have set up the RETS password, you will use that as your MLS password in MLS-Connect.

Other MLS Users. This service is already available through the Tucson MLS. Here are instructions for TARMLS subscribers: www.aaronline.com/HostedDocuments/TARMLS-MLS-Connect.pdf
Look for it to roll out to additional Arizona MLSs in the near future!

This update was originally published on Blog.AARonline.com April 20, 2010.

No 4.0% “Sales Tax” on Home Sales in New Health Care Bill

Remember when NAR busted the energy bill rumor about retrofits for existing homes? Now there’s a new email making the rounds about a real estate sales tax in the new health care bill. Turns out, this one is false too. Get the facts:

“Contrary to reports and newspaper articles circulating widely on the Internet, there is not a 4.0% ‘sales tax’ or ‘transfer tax’ on the sale of a home included in the recently signed health care reform bill. The analysis underlying these reports is incorrect and fails to take into account the interplay of the bill’s provisions with already existing real estate tax laws that remain unchanged.

What was included in the health bill is a provision that imposes a new 3.8% Medicare tax for some high income households that have ‘net investment income.’ Any revenue collected by the tax is dedicated to the Medicare hospital insurance program. This new tax will only apply to households with Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of more than $200,000 for individuals or more than $250,000 for married couples. Since capital gains are included in the definition of net investment income, an additional tax obligation might result from the sale of real property.

In the case of the sale of a principal residence, the existing $250,000/$500,000 exclusion from capital gains on the sale of a principal residence remains unchanged. Consequently, even when the AGI limits are met, the new tax would not be applied to all capital gains that result from the sale of a home. Rather, it would only apply to any home sale gain realized in excess of the $250K/$500K existing primary home exclusion that pushes the filer’s AGI over the $200K/$250K adjusted gross income limit.
The new Medicare tax will not take effect until January 1, 2013.”

In case you’re curious, Snopes covered this one too. If you get an email and you’re not sure about the facts, do your friends a favor and check it out on Snopes before hitting forward.

Have other health care-related questions? NAR has put together a page on the new health reform law.

This update was originally published on Blog.AARonline.com May 5, 2010.

RAPAC Updates

RAPAC at Leadership Conference. The 2010 RAPAC fundraising awards will be presented at AAR’s Leadership Conference during the Board of Director’s meeting. Awards will be based on fundraising numbers through August 31.

NAR RPAC Major Donor Deadlines. In order for a member to be recognized as a major donor at NAR’s Annual Convention, AAR needs to receive the contribution no later than Monday, October 11 at close of business (5pm).

Is Your Voter Registration Current? If you have moved, changed your name or changed your political party, please be sure to update your voter registration. The deadline for voter registration for this fall’s primary election is July 26 at midnight. You can register to vote or make changes to your voter registration online at Service Arizona: https://servicearizona.com/webapp/evoter/. 

 
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