Archive for the ‘Seattle RE’ Category
The NWMLS will soon be replacing the “Locator” system agents use for searching for listings, etc., with the “Matrix” system. At this point it’s still a work in progress, or in effect a beta system, and it won’t replace Locator for a few months. Those agents who have gone through a short seminar, however, can start playing with it now. I attended the seminar on Monday, and here are my initial impressions:
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Another huge earthquake! Now the world is turning to Chile this week to offer assistance. Today’s reports talked about 500,000 homes being affected and the deaths are climbing. The number of deaths will be far less than the number lost in Haiti, because of better building codes. Chile is the unlucky place where the largest ever recorded earthquake happened in 1960,so structural engineers have worked hard to increase building standards in the country.
Needing to renew my license soon I had to take the Core Curriculum class. A new topic covered this year is coverage of real estate agents by the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). L&I’s coverage is more commonly known as workers’ compensation, and covers workers for on the job injuries. Workers’ compensation covers not only medical costs, but also lost earnings. For many agents this might be the only health coverage they have.
For well over a year legislation that would allow the “cramdown” of residential mortgages in Chapter 13 bankruptcies has been bumping around in Congress. Although there were some signs the banks would accept cramdown, so far the banks have successfully held off the legislation.
This just in from Jeff Ross from Ticor Title: Our friend and longtime colleague Barrick Benson of Windermere was stabbed early Friday evening after interrupting a robbery while doing a rental repair in Ravenna.