Andrew Wooten

With all of the new changes occurring with technology and social media, it is now more important than ever to ensure you protect not only your personal information but your business reputation as well, according to nationally recognized safety and technology expert Andrew Wooten.

Wooten, president of Safety Awareness Firearms Education (S.A.F.E.) and an NAR safety instructor, recently conducted a webinar on social media safety as a part of NAR’s Realtor® Safety Series for the month of September. The series also offered informative information on cyber crimes as well.

“Always think before you share information on social media and reevaluate what you are saying,” he said. “We need to learn to take charge of information and learn how to protect our name and business reputation.”

Wooten suggests searching for yourself on the internet through sites such as Google. He recommends Googling yourself at least once a month and constantly reassessing who has access to your pages and what images show up.

“When it comes to your online presence, you have to create what you want people to see,” he said. “Publish positive information about yourself through blogs and monthly articles. If you find negative information about yourself on a website, ask the person politely to remove it or contact the website administrator to remove it.”

According to Wooten, Realtors® need to make some major changes in the way they use social media and protect themselves in this ever-changing technology-driven world.

He offers simple tips on how to protect yourself when using social media:

• Consider setting up professional and personal profiles. It’s ok to have a professional social media page. Make sure to use different e-mail addresses for each and make sure to only add necessary personal information to your professional profile.

• Do you know all your “friends” and “followers”? Look at who you accept as a friend. Do not accept friend requests from people you don’t know.

• NEVER post on social media where you are or when you are going out of town. Do not use social media that requires you to “check-in” at locations. Do not post when you are going on vacation. This lets people know you’re not at home.

• Set and check your security/privacy settings. Frequently change and use a strong password. Make sure your page is only viewable by friends. Set your login notifications to let you know if someone is trying to gain access to your account from an unrecognized computer.

• Avoid being a victim of cyber crime. Only open links from trusted websites. Review short urls before clicking and check the spelling of the link. Never allow social networking sites access to your email accounts. Never put your home address, phone number or e-mail address on your profile.

• Disable geotagging on your smart phone. Information transmitted through your phone is not private. Photos, texts and video posted to social media from your smart phone are automatically tagged with your location. This can expose your work and home address. This information can also establish your patterns and habits allowing strangers to track you.

Andrew Wooten has been in the safety and security industry for over 24 years. A crime prevention speaker, author and consultant, Wooten can be reached at Andrew@Justbesafe.com.

When it comes to your physical safety, the most important thing you can do is trust your instinct, according to martial arts instructor Suk Jung Kim of Kim’s Institute of Martial Arts in Hershey. “Criminals control ability and desire. You control the opportunity,” said Kim. “Always be aware of your surroundings.”

Kim offers his four “A’s” for self-defense:

• Avoidance: Trust your gut feeling. Avoid any situation that seems dangerous or doesn’t feel right. If you aren’t trained with a weapon don’t use it.

• Awareness: Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Create a safety circle. Know ahead of time where all of the exits are located. If entering a room with only one exit always let the client enter first.

• Attitude: Always maintain a positive attitude and the self-confidence to handle any situation you’re faced with.

• Action: Establish a standard safety operating procedure with your office. Call your office to check in when you arrive and leave a location. Create a distress code you can use to phone into the office if you feel you’re in a dangerous situation. Be proactive not reactive.

Kim, who regularly teaches courses on self-defense and pepper spray training, recommends taking a self-defense course so you will know what to do in the event of a dangerous situation. “Don’t wait for a situation to occur before implementing safety procedures in your office,” he added. “Always be safe.”

Police officer Zach Fehrenbach of the Lower Paxton Police Department in Harrisburg agrees. “Always inform someone in your office where you’re going, how long you’re going to be there and who you’re meeting,” he said. “Get to know the neighborhood beforehand and let neighbors in the area know you’re showing a house. Always have your phone on hand and 911 set on speed dial.”

Smart phone safety applications are also available to Realtors®. Moby offers a free phone app that allows Realtors® to share their location with friends, family and colleagues with the touch of a button. The app allows Realtors® to alert contacts if they’re in danger as well. In honor of NAR Safety Month, Moby also created a safety toolkit for real estate professionals available as a free download.

The south central portion of Pennsylvania has had record-breaking amounts of rain with many home evacuations already underway. It’s expected that the Susquehanna River will reach flood stage in Harrisburg Thursday morning, cresting later in the week several feet above the flood stage.

At this time, no date has been rescheduled for the NAR bus to come to Pennsylvania.

Preserving the Mortgage Interest Deduction and why home ownership matters will be the topics during Friday’s rally at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. Realtors® from across the state are invited to be part of the press conference which will highlight why housing needs to remain a priority on the nation’s public policy agenda.

NAR’s Home Ownership Matters bus will arrive in Harrisburg at 10 a.m. and will be parked outside the East Wing of the State Capitol Building (fountain side).

Past NAR Treasurer Jim Helsel will speak about NAR’s efforts to preserve the Mortgage Interest Deduction and PAR President Guy A. Matteo, GRI, SRES, will discuss the importance of home ownership. State Rep. Sue Helm, also a Realtor®, will speak at the event as well.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Realtors® to rally on behalf of home owners,” Matteo said. “We’re pleased that NAR’s Home Ownership Matters bus has added Pennsylvania to the more than 30 stops on its tour.”

The press conference will begin at 10 a.m. and will be held inside the Capitol in the event of rain.

NAR’s Home Ownership Matters bus has toured throughout the country, promoting the benefits of home ownership and working to ensure that the nation’s 75 million home owners continue to receive the Mortgage Interest Deduction.

Realtors® can email PAR if they plan to attend the event.

NAR’s Home Ownership Matters bus will stop in Harrisburg on Friday, Sept. 9. The event will highlight why housing needs to remain a priority on the nation’s public policy agenda.

“We’re pleased that NAR’s Home Ownership Matters bus is coming to Pennsylvania,” said PAR President Guy A. Matteo, GRI, SRES. “This is a great opportunity for Realtors® to explain the importance of preserving the Mortgage Interest Deduction to consumers.”

The bus will park outside of the East Wing of the State Capitol Building (fountain side) and Realtors® throughout the Commonwealth are invited to join this rally. NAR and PAR will hold a press conference at 10 a.m.

NAR’s Home Ownership Matters bus has toured throughout the country, promoting the benefits of home ownership and working to ensure that the nation’s 75 million home owners continue to receive the Mortgage Interest Deduction.

Please advise PAR if you plan to bring a contingency of members to next week’s event by emailing pargovtaff@parealtor.org.

To get started, go to memberguide.realtor.org. It’ll ask you for your NRDS number and last name. (Find your NRDS #)

A few highlights:

Membership Card:  The site offers you five membership card options with the ability to have up to six designations printed on the card. You can then print a new card from your computer or display it from your smart phone. Ordering a plastic version of the card is a feature they are rolling out in the future.

Why do you need a membership card? It gives you access to member discounts and makes registration easier at events like Triple Play.

Association information: When you first log into the site, three of the four tabs you see will give you more information about NAR, PAR and your local association.

Benefits Program:  The site lists the most up-to-date benefits you receive as a member of NAR.

Events: Local, state and national events are posted on this site including webinars and conventions.

Commercial: List of news and educational sources for commercial real estate.

Mobile apps: The site says both iPhone and iPad apps are coming soon.

For more information, visit the site or call 800-874-6500 to talk to a Customer Support Specialist.

Currently, local associations are required to offer the parties involved in an arbitration case an opportunity to mediate their dispute. Associations may choose whether to offer that option before or after the arbitration request is reviewed by their Grievance Committee. If either party doesn’t want to mediate, the case goes forward into the hearing process.

The proposed change, brought forth by the NAR Professional Standards Committee to the Board of Directors, allows local associations to mandate mediation, except where both parties elect to bypass mediation and go to the hearing.

Not every association is going to want to require mediation as a condition of membership, but those with the most successful mediation programs might consider adopting this change if it is approved in November.

In short, a franchisor with franchisees across the country would be able to display listings on a national basis.

NAR received a lot of feedback from members suggesting changes to the policy.  Some felt that the policy should be broadened to allow indexing by real estate affiliate groups other than franchisors.  Others were troubled by allowing these organizations to access the local data at all, and suggested that the policy be repealed.

This issue was probably the most debated policy question at the Midyear meetings.  There were various motions to suspend or repeal the policy, but the ultimate decision by the NAR Board of Directors was to retain the current policy with the addition of an “opt-in” for local brokers, effective 30 days after passage (June 13, 2011).  NAR will also be appointing a workgroup to study the issue and report back with possible changes at the annual meeting in November.

With the new opt-in rule, brokers will have to affirmatively state that they wish to have their listings indexed by franchisors.  This will be implemented by local MLSs, though the manner of implementation may vary based on how the MLS accommodates the current rules.  NAR has provided some additional guidance to MLS providers about how to implement the rule locally; members with questions about local policy should contact their MLS directly.

For the past year or so, NAR has been working to develop rules governing the possible display and/or distribution of IDX listing data via social media and/or RSS feeds. NAR’s current IDX policy technically only permits display of the IDX data on a website. So while a broker/agent can post his own listings via social media outlets (subject to compliance with the Code of Ethics and relevant advertising rules and regulations), that broker/agent could not post listing information of other agents in the same way.

A proposal to allow IDX distribution through social media was presented in November 2010 but sent back for further work.  A similar proposal at the Midyear meetings was also sent back to a workgroup for further consideration, with the directive that the workgroup consider establishing a separate policy for social media sharing (i.e., an IDX policy and a separate policy statement on social media sharing).  A report on this issue is expected at the annual meeting in November.

It’s a win-win event for both buyers and sellers, according to NAR. The weekend offers buyers a stress-free way to visit homes for sale in different neighborhoods while sellers can take advantage of a high-visibility effort to promote traffic and home sales. Nationwide about 30 states and 250 associations are expected to participate in the weekend Open House event.

The Reading-Berks Association of Realtors® is working with local media to promote the event, according to Kirsten Keim-Shendge, marketing and communications director for the association. Last year, the association created a video to promote the event online.

“We had a great turnout last year with more than 400 houses listed on OpenHouseinBerks.com,” Keim-Shendge said. “Realtors® enjoyed the event and appreciated the extra promotion.”

The association will also be providing members with gift bags which include water, granola bars, balloons and safety literature.

Beth Izzo, public relations director for the Realtors® Association of York and Adams Counties, said last year’s event was a success as well. “We promoted the event in the association’s weekly newspaper column and we saw great participation from our members,” she said. There were more than 600 open houses listed for that weekend last year.

Bobbi Hughes of RE/MAX Patriots in York said, “I got a positive response from consumers who came to the Open House and it seemed that they were interviewing agents as well as looking at the home. I had 14 families through an Open House in one Sunday. Our team doesn’t ordinarily do open houses but we thought this was a great opportunity because it was well advertised to the general public.”

This is the first year for Realtors® in the Suburban West Realtors® Association to participate in the Nationwide Open House, according to Steve Farace, SWRA director of marketing and member relations.

They are providing online information, logos and customizable flyers for members who want to participate. In addition, they have posted safety tips and sign ordinances for each local municipality. They’ll also have a comprehensive list of the open houses scheduled for June 4 and 5.

Materials for the Nationwide Open House are available on PAR’s website. Consumer handouts are available for Realtors® and associations at HouseLogic.com.