It was a busy week in Springfield this week- not only at the Capitol but for the Association as the annual lobby day and business meetings were also held.  The House and the Senate focused primarily on floor action this week on the hundreds of bills on their respective calendars.  This report is a summary of activity on bills of interest for the week ending April 8, 2011.  Events:  April 15, IAR Multicultural Summit, Understanding the Asian Market, Lisle May 4-5, Spring Conference, Collinsville     Date:  April 8, 2011 State Capitol Report Quote:  “We always hear about the rights of democracy, but the major responsibility of it is participation.” ~Wynton Marsalis
  read more

With residential real estate foreclosures increasing across the suburbs, officials in DuPage County are turning to a new pilot program to help families navigate complex court proceedings — and possibly save their homes. The effort in Judge Robert Gibson?s courtroom matches struggling homeowners with counselors from the DuPage Homeownership Center. The nonprofit group educates the homeowners

Cynthia Faullin of One Main Development holds a schematic showing leased spaces in M2 in Champaign. * * * The phones are ringing again. Demand for office space

When Fernando Molina left central Mexico to move to Illinois, he was searching for affordable housing, job opportunities and established Hispanic neighborhoods with grocery stores, bakeries and clothing shops. He didn?t head for Chicago, a well-known magnet for Mexicans pondering the journey north. Instead, he settled in Aurora. ?It?s like Mexico inside the United States,? said Molina, 37, a soc

Chicago real estate brokerage firm Dream Town Realty launches Friday a week-long deal on Groupon, hoping to tap the popular social buying model to attract clients. Dream Town says it is the first company to offer a residential real estate deal through Groupon. The firm joins a list of businesses in diverse sectors experimenting with a group buying as a novel marketing strategy.

It was a busy week in Springfield this week- not only at the Capitol but for the Association as the annual lobby day and business meetings were also held.  The House and the Senate focused primarily on floor action this week on the hundreds of bills on their respective calendars.  This report is a summary of activity on bills of interest for the week ending April 8, 2011.  Events:  April 14, IAR Multicultural Summit, Understanding the Asian Market, Lisle May 4-5, IAR Spring Conference, Collinsville Date:  April 8, 2011 State Capitol Report Quote:  “We always hear about the rights of democracy, but the major responsibility of it is participation.” ~Wynton Marsalis
  Button URL 1:  http://www.illinoisrealtor.org/rpac Button Image 1:  read more

It was a busy week in Springfield this week- not only at the Capitol but for the Association as the annual lobby day and business meetings were also held.  The House and the Senate focused primarily on floor action this week on the hundreds of bills on their respective calendars.  This report is a summary of activity on bills of interest for the week ending April 8, 2011.  Events:  April 14, IAR Multicultural Summit, Understanding the Asian Market, Lisle May 4-5, IAR Spring Conference, Collinsville   Date:  April 8, 2011 State Capitol Report Quote:  “We always hear about the rights of democracy, but the major responsibility of it is participation.” ~Wynton Marsalis
  Button URL 1:  http://www.illinoisrealtor.org/rpac read more

Now you can access illinoisrealtor.org’s top resources EASIER and FASTER with the NEW MOBILE WEBSITE FORMAT. Whether you’re looking for real estate news, education courses, legal issues, market statistics, legislative updates, podcasts, events, or if you need to find a REALTOR®, we’ve made it available in a mobile format. Just visit www.illinoisrealtor.org on your smartphone and the mobile detection programming will automatically take you to the mobile format—there’s no app you have to download! I recommend bookmarking the site from your phone’s web browser and then add a shortcut to your home screen. (I was able to do this easily on my Android phone.) On the iPhone, using Safari, click “Add to Home Screen” while you are on the webpage and it will put an icon on your home screen. Working from an iPad? You’d probably benefit from seeing the full website. But don’t worry, we thought of this too! You’ll be automatically taken to the “regular” website. (Just one click will take you to the mobile format if you prefer. Click on “View Mobile  Site”). P.S. You can access this blog from your mobile phone too! Just visit www.iarbuzz.com on your mobile browser or go to www.illinoisrealtor.org and click on “news” to see the latest entries.

“When buying a home consumers are probably buying the largest single purchase they will make in their lives and we owe them more than just entry-level education,” said Illinois REALTOR® of the Year and top real estate industry instructor Lynn Madison, ABR, ABRM, GRI, SFR, SRES, owner of Lynn Madison Seminars of Lake Zurich. We spoke with Lynn just before the banquet held in her honor April 6 at the Hilton Springfield. She says education has been a mission early in her real estate career as a top-producing agent and successful managing broker overseeing the success of the individual agents at her firm. Why? Says Lynn: ”It’s not that we as REALTORS® can do what we can do independent of anyone else. My agents can’t do a good job if the agent on the other side of the transaction is not doing their part, so I got involved in doing education because I thought the entire industry needed to raise the bar a bit. We owe it to the consumer.” Lynn is a former Dean of the Illinois REALTOR® Institute and has been honored as the National Association of REALTORS® Educator of the Year. She is a certified continuing education instructor in more than 40 states and has been active in delivering and developing Illinois education programs since 1992. In addition to holding many REALTOR® designations for advanced education, she has written many of the courses and teaches them including the Short Sales and Foreclosure Resources (SFR) certification.

Dozens of Illinois REALTORS® are proudly wearing their REALTOR® pins today and ready to talk business. It’s the Illinois Association of REALTORS®’ (IAR) April Business Meetings, April 5-7 in Springfield. The business meetings are an opportunity for members to have direct involvement in the decision-making process as well as stay educated on the latest news and issues. In a Business Issues Forum held this afternoon, attendees will get updated on rules regarding the License Law and title insurance, education and MARS/short sales/foreclosures. Evening festivities include the annual REALTOR® of the Year reception and banquet and RPAC Stick Horse Derby. Tomorrow morning all attendees are invited to a Member Service Forum, “The Future of MLS.” A National Association of REALTORS® representative will also be available to discuss the Realtors Property Resource (RPR). Access the complete schedule at www.illinoisrealtor.org/businessmeetings and watch for highlights to be posted afterwards.

Illinois REALTORS® traveled to the State Capitol today from all corners of the state—Metro East St. Louis area to the Quad Cities, Rockford, the city of Chicago and its many suburbs—to help Illinois lawmakers understand the impact of certain legislation on homeowners and the real estate industry as part of the annual Illinois Association of REALTORS® (IAR) Capitol Conference. “Your presence here matters,” said Greg St. Aubin, IAR Governmental Affairs Director in the legislative briefing held before the legislator visits at the Capitol in the afternoon. “It shows your commitment to the issues that affect private property owners and this resonates loud and clear with elected officials.” Learn about the issues at this link www.illinoisrealtor.org/capitolconference and watch this video interview with several Illinois REALTORS® in attendance.

On April 1 the final administrative rules implementing the rewrite of the Real Estate License Act were published by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules or JCAR (the legislative panel that oversees agency rulemaking) in the Illinois Register and are now in effect. IAR provided a comment letter during the official rule comment period and sent a follow-up letter to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) and JCAR requesting various revisions to the rules. All of IAR’s revisions were accepted by IDFPR and JCAR prior to the final approval of the rules. Link to the rules available from IARlicenselaw.org. Check back to the IAR license law site for more information from IAR legal counsel on the rules.

The House and the Senate focused primarily on floor action this week on the hundreds of bills on their respective calendars.  There was also some Committee action on newly filed amendments.  This report is a summary of activity on bills of interest for the week ending April 1, 2011.  Events:  April 5, Capitol Conference, Springfield April 6, REALTOR of the Year Banquet, Springfield April 5-7, IAR Business Meetings, Springfield April 14, Multicultural Summit, Understanding the Asian Market, Lisle   Date:  April 1, 2011 State Capitol Report Quote:  “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people…they are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” ~Thomas Jefferson
  Button URL 1:  http://www.illinoisrealtor.org/rpac Button Image 1:  read more

First, a disclaimer. This is not an April Fools’ Day prank. Starting today and through the month of April, if you’re a member of the Illinois Association of REALTORS® and a new subscriber to our official blog, the IARbuzz,  you’ll have a chance to win one of four weekly drawings for a $100 Visa gift card! It’s called “The Big IARbuzz Blog Promo” and the goal is to sign up more members to receive the blog…because if you’re not getting our weekly updates on the blog you’re missing out on some of the latest news and happenings in the Illinois real estate industry. Here’s how it works. 1. Between April 1 and April 30, 2011, sign up to receive the blog using the official Big IARbuzz Blog Promo entry form. 2. The Big IARbuzz Blog Promo is open to all Illinois Association of REALTORS® members in good standing who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry and who are new subscribers to the IARbuzz Blog as of April 1. (Sorry,employees of the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, their affiliates, advertising/promotion agencies, immediate family or the household of such employees are not eligible to enter the promotion.) Our legal advisors cover all the bases in the official rules, available here. 3. Each week in April a $100 Visa gift card will be awarded to a randomly selected winner from qualified entries. 4. We’ll announce the winners in the Illinois REALTOR® Weekly Connection April 12, 19, 26 and May 3. So, get in on all the buzz today and good luck! The sooner you sign up, the more chances you have to win.

Date:  April 1, 2011 Intro:  Illinois REALTORS® Celebrate Fair Housing Month in April   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  April 1, 2011 Contact:
Mary Schaefer
217-529-2600   Illinois REALTORS® Celebrate Fair Housing Month in April Bookmark/Search this post with

read more

April 2011 marks the 43rd anniversary of the 1968 landmark Fair Housing Act. Each year REALTORS® recognize the significance of this event and reconfirm our commitment to upholding fair housing law as well as our commitment to offering equal professional service to all in their search for real property. Find fair housing resources at www.illinoisrealtor.org/fairhousing. Fair Housing Proclamation
WHEREAS, April 11, 2011, marks the 43rd anniversary of the passage of the U.S. Fair Housing Law, Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended, which enunciates a national policy of Fair Housing without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, sex, familial status, and handicap, and encourages fair housing opportunities for all citizens; and WHEREAS, The Illinois Association of REALTORS® is committed to highlighting the Fair Housing Law, Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, by continuing to address discrimination in our community, to support programs that will educate the public about the right to equal housing opportunities, and to plan partnership efforts with other organizations to help assure every American of their right to fair housing. NOW, THEREFORE, we, the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, do hereby resolve that April 2011, being Fair Housing Month, begins a year-long commemoration of the U.S. Fair Housing Law in Illinois and urge all citizens to wholeheartedly recognize this celebration throughout the year. APPROVED this 24th day of March, 2011

Need a good reason to move forward with your decision to buy or sell a home in today’s housing market? How about nine? You’ll find them in the newly updated fact sheet from the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, “9 Facts You Should Know About Today’s Illinois Real Estate Markets.”  From low mortgage interest rates to a variety of safe and affordable mortgage programs available even to people with less-than-perfect credit, there are many opportunities in the market for first-time and move-up buyers. Illinois REALTORS® share these facts with clients by downloading “9 Facts” from www.yourillinoishome.com or order free copies in quantity from the IAR REALTOR® Store. Three of the facts worth knowing: #1 – Affordability is at a generational high. The combination of lower home prices and historically low mortgage rates has made housing exceptionally affordable relative to household income. #5 – When you sell, recoup when you buy. Waiting until later may cost you in the long run. What a seller may lose on the sell side can be recovered on the buy side when you take advantage of the low interest rates and lower priced homes. # 8 – Owning makes sense. The vast majority of both homeowners and renters say that owning a home is a smart decision over the long term. Even in today’s challenging economy, 95 percent of owners and 72 percent of renters believe that over a period of several years it makes more sense to own a home, according to the National Association of REALTORS® 2011 “American Attitudes About Homeownership” survey.

'); NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. private employers added 201,000 jobs in March, while February's figure was revised down slightly, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday. The data was largely in line with expectations. Economists surveyed by

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to kill President Barack Obama's signature program to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure, although the bill is unlikely to clear the Senate. A bill to terminate the program was approved on a 252-170 vote. It was the last in series of four measures brought forward by newly empowered House Republicans to en

Major banks may be forced to let severely delinquent homeowners sell their houses for less than the loan amounts owed as part of a broad settlement of federal and state investigations into botched foreclosure paperwork, according to government officials involved in the negotiations. The requirement to allow so-called short sales would be in addition to forcing mortgage servicers to red