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in this issue

Weekly Market Activity Report	Sign Up for Education Here!
FREE! Member Appreciation Week is May 4–8	Green Gartside (Can You Name His Band?)
Foreclosures and Short Sales Report – Q1 2009	April is Fair Housing Month
Monthly Skinny Video – April 2009	News from NorthstarMLS
The 100+ – March 2009	Spring Seminars with RealEstateHomePages
Housing Supply Outlook – April 2009	Free USPS Webinars
Yo Pro Roll Call – LAST CALL	Minneapolis • St. Paul Home Tour
Transferring MLS Access from Another Association	Referral Expo 2009
Introducing LiveMSP.org	Maybe Try ListHub
Public Affairs	Just MongoFAX® It!

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Hopeful signs of a Twin Cities housing market recovery carry on thanks to a combination of no growth in the spring supply of homes for sale and still-improving sales figures.

Helping to keep inventory down is slow new listing activity, a metric that has been sluggish all year. For the week ending April 11, there were 20.7 percent fewer new listings than there were during the same week in 2008. Pending sales are still trending in the opposite direction, up 21.9 percent in year-over-year numbers to 1,046 for the week. That's only the second week of 1,000-plus pending sales or more since May 2007. If these two metrics persist, the market could be in for some serious re-balancing.

With the Housing Affordability Index reaching 218—an increase of 40.8 percent over last year—it seems to be an awfully good time for buyers to get off the wall and on the dance floor...being mindful that 29.1 percent of the dance partners are lender-mediated.

Click the logo below or click here for this week's full report. Visit Market Info for more research reports.

• FREE grilled lunch – Wed and Thurs, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. in the MAAR parking lot
• FREE make your own ice cream sundae – Fri, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the MAAR office
• FREE classes everyday! Complete the Member Appreciation Week form here!

IMPORTANT: A unique Membership Appreciation Week registration form (click here) needs to be completed in order to attend the special classes available from May 4 to May 8. This event is open to MAAR members only.

Class seating is limited. On the registration form, you are asked to select a first choice followed by two alternate choices.

Foreclosures and Short Sales Report – Q1 2009 Update

For an in-depth look at the role of lender-mediated properties in our region, check out the just-released Q1 2009 Update to "Foreclosures and Short Sales in the Twin Cities Housing Market." For a neighborhood-level look at lender-mediated properties, check out this exciting new interactive data tool.

We welcome your feedback. Please contact Jeff Allen, MAAR Research Manager, at jeffa@mplsrealtor.com to share your thoughts.

Monthly Skinny Video for April 2009

The April 2009 Monthly Skinny Video is online now!

Please feel free to share this whenever and however you'd like. For other great stuff like this, visit our market insight blog, also called "The Skinny," by clicking here.

"The 100+," our community level market tracking tool has been updated with data through March 2009. All real estate is local—even from block to block. "The 100+" was built with this micro-level geographic truism in mind.

The April Housing Supply Outlook is available. What to watch for:

New construction homes continue to go dodo. There are currently 3,149 new construction units listed for sale in the MLS system, down 25.0 percent and more than 1,000 units from a year ago. Unfortunately, sales are down even farther, which has pushed the Months Supply of Inventory for new construction properties up to 11.3 months.

Home sales are increasing in the Twin Cities, but the rise is entirely in the single-family detached segment; both townhomes and condominiums are selling less frequently this year than they did a year ago.

Similarly, the recent uptick in sales has missed the upper bracket market. Home sales above $190,000 are down 20.0 percent in the last year.

We appreciate your continued help as we work toward establishing a new generation of association and industry leaders.

We have a survey for you that includes just four items, and we predict that it will take less than two minutes to complete.

Your feedback is very important to the success of the Yo Pro young professionals network.

Please Take Our Survey!

Agents who transfer MLS access from another association within the RMLS to MAAR also need to transfer their SafeMLS token serial number. MAAR staff will delete the token serial number from the agent's previous MLS number. The agent will need to re-enroll the token via Matrix under the new MAAR MLS number.

LiveMSP.org

Introducing the one-stop site for MSP living and everything you need to make a move to Minneapolis or Saint Paul: www.livemsp.org.

Learn more about buying your first home or find your next dream home.
Find home purchase and renovation loans and grants.
Explore all 100+ of Minneapolis and Saint Paul's neighborhoods.
Get more involved in city life.
Celebrate your neighborhood pride.

The site is actually launching in a few days (on April 23, 2009), but maybe you won't read this 'til then. For more information, send an e-mail to info@livemsp.org.

Minneapolis Works to Rebuild Neighborhoods Hit by Foreclosure
Check out the city-funded home mortgage loan program that provides $10,000 forgivable loans to help up to 200 people rebuild the City of Mineapolis's housing market, bringing homeowners into neighborhoods hardest hit by foreclosure. | MORE INFO

Upcoming Classes with Available Seating
Register at mplsrealtor.com. (note: you must use this separate form for Membership Appreciation Week). Classes are held at the MAAR office unless otherwise noted.

St. Therese Catholic School, April 22, 8:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m. (St. Therese), Featured class! This course will prepare REALTORS® to discuss exceptional school options that encompass pre-kindergarten through 12th grade with their clients who are seeking nonpublic alternatives. Building a stronger foundation: St. Therese Catholic School, Holy Family Catholic High School and the City of Deephaven. Registration and continental breakfast begin at 8:00 a.m. | VIEW FLYER (pdf)

NAR Green Residential Elective, April 29, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. (PDC@RFC)

Membership Appreciation Week, May 4–9, Free CE all week long for MAAR members! | CLICK FOR DETAILS

RSA Senior Housing Tour, May 11, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. (includes lunch and transportation but not eligible for the $99 Unlimited CE Pass)

Communicating with Style, May 13, 9:00 a.m.–noon

Identifying and Avoiding Fraud, May 13, 1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.

NAR's Green Designation
Green The Green Designation program includes 18 hours of coursework, and REALTORS® who earn the designation are prepared to help consumers and clients in their search for environmentally friendly properties and to incorporate green principles into their own practice. MAAR will be offering the Green Designation Course and Green Residential Elective on the following dates:

April 29, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., Green Residential Elective
December 7–8, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (Green Designation Course)
December 15, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (Green Residential Elective)

Green By Design
How to plan and build healthy, sustainable, affordable housing and communities in Minnesota.

Register now for the 4th annual statewide Green by Design conference and training aimed at providing housing developers, builders, contractors, architects, city planners, environmentalists, funders, and other professionals the tools needed to build energy efficient, healthy, and sustainable housing. Multiple tracks will be offered, including sessions by local and national experts that focus on various elements of the Green Communities criteria (a set of nationally recognized green affordable housing standards) and other related topics. Examples of successful green building projects, including both multifamily and single-family developments, new construction and rehabilitation, will be highlighted throughout the conference.

Keynote Speaker Hunter Lovins
L. Hunter Lovins is president and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, a nonprofit organization in Colorado. An internationally recognized leader in helping companies and communities profit from more sustainable practices, Lovins has co-authored 12 books. Her areas of expertise include globalization, land management, energy, water, and green and community economic development. She is also a founding Professor of Sustainable Business at Presidio School of Management and was named Time Magazine's 2000 Hero for the Planet.

Topics of interest include:
Residential Green Building • Minnesota Housing Green Funding Requirements • Green Rehabilitation • Ensuring Healthy Homes and Communities • Green Opportunities and Issues Surrounding the Foreclosure Crisis • Sustainable Land Use Planning • Equitable Green Economic Development • Green Building Materials • Energy Conservation and Climate Protection Strategies • Rural and Urban Greening Strategies • and other great topics on green building, design, and public policy.

Save the dates: June 10 and 11, 2009
Evening program: June 10 • Conference sessions June 11
The Depot • Minneapolis • www.mngreencommunities.org/gbd

Source: Minnesota Green Communities

Sustainable Design & New Technology Conference

Date: Thursday, April 30, 2009
Time: 7:15 a.m. (registration), 7:30 a.m. (continental buffet), 8:00 a.m. - Noon (program)
Location: Golden Valley Country Club, 7001 Golden Valley Rd, Golden Valley, MN 55427
Credits: 4 hours of real estate and appraisal CE (pending)
Cost: $99, $129 Day of Event
REGISTER

Program Agenda:

Retrofitting and Developing Sustainable Real Estate in Today's Economy
Bringing it All Together: Engineering Sustainable Development and Understanding the Process
Green Building and LEED Certification: A Valuation Perspective
Designing the Building of the Future and Converting Your Existing Building to Compete in Today's Marketplace
Important Energy Solutions and New Technology Programs and Products
LEED for Real Estate Brokers: Ready Set Sell Green

Source: Real Estate Communications Group; REjournals.com

This month marks the 41st anniversary of the landmark Fair Housing Act. It is the annual reminder to evaluate your business practices and conversations with clients, employees and the public. We offer several tools and classes to ensure awareness of the industry's high regard for professionalism.

Our Tools:
• Recommended Member Practices: Dos and Don'ts
• REALTORS® Pathway to Professionalism

Find Code of Ethics and other Fair Housing resources at realtor.org.

Many of our popular Fair Housing classes have already filled up, but we do still have one available (click to register):

New Fields Coming to NorthstarMLS: In Foreclosure; Lender Owned; and Short Sale
Three new required fields will be added to NorthstarMLS. The current "In Foreclosure/Lender Owned?" field will be replaced with two separate fields: "In Foreclosure" and "Lender Owned." As with the current combined field, the options will be Yes, No and Not Disclosed. For current listings, both separate fields will automatically be populated with whatever you have selected for the combined field. If this is incorrect for either of the separate fields, you will need to edit it in Home Base.

If you have any Saved Searches in Matrix that include the current "In Foreclosure/Lender Owned" field, it will automatically be replaced with the single "In Foreclosure" field. If you want to add "Lender Owned" to any of your current saved searches, you will need to revise them.

NorthstarMLS continues to define "In Foreclosure" as: "The homeowner being served official notice of foreclosure by a governing entity."

"Short Sale?" is the third new field. The options here are also Yes, No and Not Disclosed. Existing listings will have nothing selected for this field. If you want to make a selection, you will need to go to Home Base and edit the listing.

For NorthstarMLS, "Short Sale" is defined as: "A transaction where title transfers; where the sale price is insufficient to pay the total of all liens and costs of the sale; and where the seller does not bring sufficient liquid assets to the closing to cure all deficiencies."

For all three fields, you should have the seller's signed consent for a disclosure of "Yes." You can get this through their signature on the Listing Input Form or on a Change Form.

These new fields are available on the Listing Input forms through WEBForms. Both the electronic and print forms are available through WEBForms. If you prefer a print version, click the "Printable Forms Library" tab within the WEBForms application.

The new fields will also be made available for broker/agent websites (through Broker Reciprocity). Therefore, the new fields will be visible to the public.

If you have questions, contact NorthstarMLS at 651.251.5456 or mlshelp@northstarmls.com.

SAFEMLS® Broken or Defective SafeMLS Token?
Easy Replacement Process
If your SafeMLS token breaks or becomes defective, you no longer need to make a trip to your Association get a replacement. Follow these online steps for a temporary password and to have a replacement mailed to you.

Click the "I Lost or Broke My Token" link on the NorthstarMLS login screen.
Click the "My Authenticator is Broken" button and follow the on screen prompts.
After completing the online form, a temporary password will immediately be emailed to you (using the email address you have on NorthstarMLS). The temporary password will get you into all NorthstarMLS systems for 10 days. Within one business day, a replacement token will be mailed to your office address (a toll-free number will be provided for you to call within 24 hours if you want the token mailed to a different address.)
You must return the defective token to your Association office within 10 days or be billed for the replacement. If you prefer, you may mail the defective token to your Association.
When the replacement token arrives, click the "I Need to Enroll My Token" link on the NorthstarMLS login screen and enroll your new token to start using it immediately.

Source: NorthstarMLS

Spring Seminars With Real Estate Home Pages. Please Download Images For Full Information.

Join us for our informative 2 hour seminar to grow your business and automate your marketing. Seminar Includes: Full training on website options, Search Engine Optimization tips, Lead Capture, Drip E-mail and Much More

Website Features: Google Map Property Search, 100% Editable, Lead Capture, Search Engine Friendly, Unlimited Pages, Free Local Phone Support, No Contracts, $39.95 Includes Website and MLS Search

Thursday April 23rd. Click Here To Sign Up Today.

MAAR at REAL Financial Center, 4450 W 76th St, Edina, MN 9:30–11:30 a.m. Click here for directions.

If you no longer wish to receive emails from us please go here: http://www.realestatehomepages.com/unsubscribe.asp?i=15344. Thank you.
Company Address: 636 Commerce Dr. Hudson, WI 54016

Direct Mail is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach customers, and now it's easier than ever. The U.S. Postal Service has been working with several online service providers to provide useful tips and helpful resources to make a Direct Mail campaign produce strong results.

Free webinars have been designed to give businesses some smart and imaginative solutions for planning a Direct Mail advertising campaign. The webinars can be found on www.usps.com/directmailonline and anyone can sign up for free.

Webinar Topics

Mail Piece Design – Wednesday, April 29, 2009, Noon–1:00 p.m.
In this webinar, you will learn how to create effective headlines, how to write effective copy, and how to select graphics that get you the best response possible.

Address List – Wednesday, May 13, 2009, Noon–1:00 p.m.
This webinar will cover the basics of choosing, using and managing mailing lists for direct mail campaigns.

The webinars will teach you how to create postcards, purchase mailing lists, and design entire mailing campaigns on your computer from start to finish, while providing training and ideas from industry experts.

Source: U.S. Postal Service

The 2009 Minneapolis & St. Paul Home Tour will feature 60 homes—39 in Minneapolis and 21 in Saint Paul. Homes on the free, self-guided tour will be open Saturday, April 25, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., and Sunday, April 26, 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. regardless of weather conditions. The Tour is coordinated by the Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program in conjunction with the City of Saint Paul Planning and Economic Development department and is supported by other public, corporate and nonprofit sponsors.

Residents open their doors to show creative and practical ideas for home additions, kitchens, bathrooms and more. Talk directly with homeowners and find out what it's like. At many homes, their contractors, architects, and other trades people will also be on hand to answer questions. Start at www.MSPHomeTour.com or pick up a printed guide at libraries in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and suburban Hennepin and Ramsey counties.

Dates: Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26, 2009
Times: Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Sunday, 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Cost: FREE
More Info: www.MSPHomeTour.com
Watch: Video Segments of Tour Locations

Source: Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program

Effective Referral Strategies
In tough economic times, getting quality referrals is more important than ever. Because MAAR wants you to succeed in your business, we’ve arranged for all members to attend the 2009 Referral Expo at no cost! Space is limited! | REGISTER NOW

Referral Expo 2009 is a "virtual expo" conducted over the phone. It includes a stellar line-up of authors, successful business people and consultants that will give our members tools and ideas on how to build and grow their business through referrals. Ten incredible referral experts have agreed to donate their time and expertise to help MAAR members flourish during these challenging times. MAAR is a co-sponsor this event, and MAAR member Nobu Hata will be one of the ten speakers.

Dates: May 18–29
Time: one-hour presentation each day
Cost: FREE

Source: nsight Marketing

Did you know that 50 RMLS brokerages have signed up for ListHub? Did you know that their listings have generated more than 100 leads in the past month for NO COST and NO EXTRA EFFORT. ListHub posts your listings on websites for more exposure AND ensures that the traffic and leads that result are routed directly to YOU, the listing broker or agent.

If you have not yet registered for your FREE account, you can start today by following these registration instructions (registration must be completed by the head broker):

Go to www.ListHub.net
Click "Create Account."
Follow the on-screen instructions
When your account is created, click "Channels" and select the free channels available or, for maximum exposure, click the "select all" button.
Find your listings online within 72 hours!

An optional upgrade includes detailed reports that will provide measurements comparing the performance of the sites you choose to show your listings on. Which site drives more traffic? Which sites have the most qualified traffic? You can even find out where your online consumers are geographically located and what property characteristics are most popular.

What's available: Company-wide reports, agent-specific reports and individual reports for each listing, branded and consumer-ready. | VIEW PRICING AND SAMPLES

To discuss the ListHub in person, contact info@listhub.com or 877.847.3394, ext. 1.

NOTE: ListHub licenses RMLS data for use in its product for the exclusive use of RMLS subscribers.

Source: ListHub

Have you tried MongoFAX yet? Accelerate your business in 2009 with this free member benefit. MongoFAX empowers all Minnesota REALTORS® to instantly scan and email paper-based documents as searchable PDF files. All you need is an ordinary fax machine and a designated MongoFAX Email Cover Page. With MongoFAX, agents are able to eliminate courier, mail and overnight delivery costs. In addition, users are able to dramatically reduce paper and toner expenses, close deals faster, and deliver cleaner documents while automatically maintaining a digital email trail of all transactions. | TRY IT NOW

MongoFAX Online Training!
You are invited to participate in a live training class hosted daily by a certified MongoFAX Account Manager. Webinars are held online, last about 15 minutes and cover everything you need to know about the service and its applications.

Training is not required but is highly recommended. Click here to register for one of our upcoming webinars, or contact the MongoFAX Training team at training@mongonet.net.

MongoFAX Customer Support: 1.866.482.2229.

Source: MongoFAX®, Minnesota Association of REALTORS®

If you know a member who is not receiving enotes, please forward their email addresses to info@mplsrealtor.com. To unsubscribe, send an email to unsubscribe-enotes@mplsrealtor.com with REMOVE in the subject line. Allow 14 days to process the request. Send replies and news ideas to MAAR's Communications Manager, G. Sax.

© 2009 Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®. All rights reserved.