Upon my arrival at the office this morning I received the following via fax from RE/MAX International and thought what a wonderful idea..

 GIVING THANKS TO OUR BRAVE MILITARY MEN AND WOMEN

This Thanksgiving as you and your family gather to give thanks for the freedoms you enjoy, please take a moment to thank the men and woman of our military serving at home and overseas.

Beginning at 6am EST on Saturday, November 17, and ending at midnight, PDT on November 22, Thanksgiving Day, Americans can text a message of thanks to 8-9-2-7-9.

All of the major mobile wireless providers including - AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile provide access to The American Supports You Text Message program.

Members of the military and their families, and we now have troops serving in 177 countries, not only will learn of the number of text messages, but also will be able to view many of them at our American Supports you web site.

America Supports You expects this effort to be a unifying moment for the nation, at a time in which families traditonally come together and express gratitude for things large and small that contribute to their lives.

We hope you will join us in sending a text message of THANKS to 8-9-2-7-9. Your message matters please let our service members know how much you care.

I for one will be sending a Thank You text as well as a prayer for a safe and happy holiday, please join me.

Since Monika introduced me to Active Rain I have found a vast array of wonderful information here, unfortunately due to my schedule I haven't been as active a participant as I had originally hoped to be in the Active Rain Community, I am hoping to change that and have set a goal to visit Active Rain at-least one a week.

I have had the honor of opening a branch office ofRE/MAX Northen Edge Realty, in my hometown Woodsville NH, Woodsville is on of the precincts of HAVERHILL. We officially opened for business on April 13th of this year.

I knew our office would be a welcome addition to my small town but never imagined how quickly I would be overwhelmed with clients! 

Since opening our small office, I listed and closed my 1st property in 60 days, ironically enough it was a commercial property that had been previously listed with two other agencies in the previous two years! I currently have 22 listings 4 of which are UNDER CONTRACT, am working with several buyers, and have BPO orders up the KAZOO!

Beyond trying to juggle all my clients, showings, phone calls, e-mails, etc...I am also managing the books, marketing, and so on....

I am feeling very overwhelmed in WOODSVILLE!!!

I have finally managed to find another agent and am working with her to show her the ropes, I am hoping to have a total of five agents before years end.

I am sure that there is some one out there in the ACTIVE RAIN community that has been where I am now, any advice on how to keep things straight and still have a life would be greatly appreciated!!!

I look forwad to any and all comments,

I'd like to welcome another NH Agent to Active Rain, Kevin Aremburg of RE/MAX Northern Edge Realty, LLC Berlin.

WELCOME KEVIN, I'M CONFIDENT THAT YOU WILL NOT ONLY ENJOY READING BLOGS, BUT WILL FIND THAT ACTIVE RAIN IS A GREAT PLACE TO MEET NEW PEOPLE AND NETWORK.

I LOOK FORWARD TO READING YOUR FIRST BLOG!

ENJOY...

I Know everyone is tired of hearing about AGENCY, but this story has to be shared.

Ever since I decided to take the LEAP of FAITH and jump into Real Estate I have taken every class I can get myself to.

Last year I attended a class being offered in the Firm where I was an Agent.  When the notice of the time and date of this "AGENCY" class was circulated, it included a statement that it wasn't going to be your typical AGENCY DISCLOSURE lecture, me being the education nut decided why not!

To my surprise the class filled very quickly.

As I listened to the BROKER who happens to be a certified teacher in our state explain to the class what SPLIT AGENCY was and how it is LEGAL I shook my head and thought to myself, 'SPLIT AGENCY' ARE YOU FOR REAL??!!!

The Instructor noticed my reaction and asked me if I had something to share,I looked up at him and said, "THERE IS NO SUCH ANIMAL!"   I will never forget the look of dismay I received from him!

This is what was being taught that day:

SPLIT AGENCY is a way of ALTERNATING RELATIONSHIPS.   In other words, going from Seller Agent, to Buyer Agent and vise-versa!  The explanation as to how this is done is simple according to the Instructor.

Once full disclosure is given to a buyer prospect, and they choose to be represented, you explain that you only represent them on  FSBO'S, NOT FOR SALE, and COOPERATIVE LISTING THROUGH THE MLS,  next you have them sign an in-house BUYER AGENCY AGREEMENT  acknowledging their understanding that when you start showing them properties you will not be representing them on any in-house listings. The best part is there is even a way to memorialize this so you don't end up at the REAL ESTATE COMMISSION!  Just take a sheet of paper and plug in the addresses of the properties you will be viewing with the buyers and note next to each one who it is you will be representing next to the property address before bringing the buyers to view the properties, full disclosure!! (SHOCKING STUFF!!)

I have to be honest, when the Instructor reached this point I stood up and said, "that's DUAL AGENCY, you cannot switch back and forth from being a sellers agent to a buyers agent at your convenience! This limits your  FIDUCIARY duties to both CLIENTS, therefore; you become a DUAL AGENT and must disclose it to both sellers and buyers in writing before showing the property, and obtain their signatures on the DISCLOSED DUAL AGENCY AGREEMENT!

Needless to say, the class agreed with me, and the Instructor and I had a closed door discussion, which didn't accomplish anything for either one of us. I let it be known that I didn't agree and would never use this type of AGENCY in PRACTICE and he let me know that I was wrong and if done properly SPLIT AGENCY and ALTERNATING RELATIONSHIPS was completely LEGAL and the best way to avoid DUAL AGENCY! WOW

Is there anyone who actually believes or practices this type of Agency in any state?

How can this be a recognized AGENCY RELATIONSHIP when it isn't mentioned anywhere in the STATE rules or on the AGENCY DISCLOSURE?

How can anyone reduce a CLIENT back to customer status once you have gained information that would give the other party/CLIENT the advantage in the transaction?

Am I wrong in thinking that even if you reduce the Client to a Customer, you still have the duty of CONFIDENTIALITY and therefore cannot share any information that isn't material with the other CLIENT? Hence limiting your ability to fully represent that party? In my WORLD, this is DUAL AGENCY!!!!

I look forward to your comments...

Thank You for reading my BLOG

It has taken me sometime to decide to sit here and try writing my first BLOG, I really hate being a "rookie!' Since Monika intoroduced me to AR I have been surfing and reading and have discovered what a wonderful network of my peers can be found here and the information is endless!  I've noticed that when I am between appointments (not on the cell phone) that I am thinking about some of the posts I've read here and how wonderful the information is. So before I take a stab at a real Blog, here is a sincere THANK YOU to Monika for the invite and her seemingly endless knowledge, and willingness to share her experiences with all of us, to Jay for his quick response in regards to adding links (I'll figure it out eventually!!) and to everyone who responded with warm welcomes. I look forward to learning the techniques required for knowledgeable blogging and to building friendships through AR.

Sincerely,

Vickie