Two of my favorite people in our industry are hosting this fabulous event. If you have not yet experienced Dockers you are in for a treat. The event is hosted by Styled & Sold's Allegra Dioguardi and Mary Thames Louis Photography.

The invite reads:

Join us from 6:00 to 8:00 on Thursday June 21st at Dockers and enjoy the most beautiful sunset on the East End. Good conversation, free hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar with happy hour prices.

Over the next three (3) years, the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will spread out $60 million dollars to programs benefiting struggling New York homeowners facing foreclosure. The funds come by way of a settlement reached, as previously mentioned on this blog, between several major banks, the federal government and forty-nine (49) states over foreclosure abuses. The Homeowner Protection Program will use just under half of the $132 million dollar settlement received by New York State to fund housing counseling and legal services offered to distressed homeowners. This measure should ensure that homeowners in need of assistance have additional options available to them for the next three (3) years.

At our last class on Conflicts of Interest, there were many confusions about how to fill-out the NY Agency Disclosure form. Fortunately, the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors has a great publication with samples on its last page and the Long Island Education Board strenuously recommends that all agents review this publication before they continue in their practice. Click here to access the publication.

Also, LIEB draws your attention to a NYS Administrative Decision, 675 DOS 09, which states:

"The agency relationship disclosure form which the respondent provided to Mr. Alejandro and Mr. Sanchez was improperly completed. The respondent was acting as a dual agent and so indicated on the disclosure form. However, she also completed sections of the form on which she indicated she was acting as agent of the seller and as agent of the buyer. It does not appear, however, that this error in completing the form could have possibly misled either Mr. Alejandro or Mr. Sanchez into believing that the respondent was representing him alone. Thus, while her conduct was a violation of Real Property Law 443 and a demonstration of incompetency, it does not, by itself, warrant the imposition of a penalty greater than that to be imposed for  her other, much more serious, misconduct."


Clearly, to properly fill-out the Agency Disclosure form, a dual agent should only check Dual agent and not also indicate that they are acting as an agent of the seller or buyer.

An interesting report by the Chicago Tribune and available on Business Insider, click here to read, discusses this peculiarity and attributes this dichotomy to the current jobs data. Fannie Mae, who offers the underlying Monthly National Housing Survey, characterizes consumer sentiment as the "wait and see" attitude in their article, which is available here.

What should real estate agents learn from these articles?
Clearly, the answer is who their target audience is. Consumers in areas and industries with high job security appear to be the best target purchasers. So, the question becomes where to look. Yahoo finance has your answer in a report by US News and World Report on the "Exciting Jobs in the Fastest-Growing Industries", which you can locate by clicking here.

Its postulated that individuals in these industries should be targeted by buyers brokers. Good luck and go make a meeting of the minds and sell that property.