Editorial
Front Page - Friday, September 4, 2009
“Will I Be Here Tomorrow?” seminar to offer plan of action
David Laprad
“Will I be here tomorrow?”
That’s a good question. Even with the economy showing signs of slowly turning around, many people are still concerned about losing their jobs. Likewise, many business owners are wondering if their operations will be able to continue for much longer in the current climate.
Attorneys Karen Ingle and Tom Minor, of Minor, Bell & Neal, want to take away the fear behind that question by offering Realtors a plan of action that will not only help them through the current financial crisis but also position them for even greater things down the road.
Their platform: a three-hour seminar in which they will survey the current economy, explain the latest revisions to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and teach Realtors to take advantage of business opportunities with which they might not have experience.
The course, titled “Hot Topics 2009: Will I Be Here Tomorrow?”, is an officially sanctioned CAR class that will net those who attend three CE credits. It’s also free.
“We want educated Realtors, so we agreed to develop and teach this course for free,” says Ingle, who works at Battlefield Title Agency, a wholly owned subsidiary of Minor, Bell & Neal, in Ft. Oglethorpe, Ga. “Why would we want to charge for something that will make our lives easier?”
Ingle says it will be enough if the Realtors that attend the seminar see her title agency as a potential resource.
More than that, though, she and Minor are eager to share the information they have been putting together throughout 2009.
Ingle and Minor will begin the course with an overview of the current economy. Following a brief panel discussion, they will cover the nature of the financial crisis, the scope of unemployment in the U.S., challenges in the manufacturing space and problems in the housing market.
They will then offer their predictions for the future of the economy and cover the various incentives consumers have to engage the real estate industry, including the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and the bailout efforts of the U.S. government.
The first part of the class will build the foundation for what will follow, including a discussion of the new RESPA reforms. The latest changes to the federal statute, first passed in 1974 as a way of protecting borrowers from unscrupulous lending practices, are scheduled to take effect January 1, 2010. Ingle and Minor will cover the purpose behind the reforms, present a timeline of the changes and more.
The third portion of the seminar, subtitled “Curing the Incurable,” will cover lien discharges, or the removal of a lien on a real property once the claim has been satisfied. Ingle and Minor will talk about how Realtors can discover and deal with these drawbacks earlier in the process of closing a sale. The pair will cover a range of liens, including tax liens, mechanic’s liens, deed execution, title defects, judgment liens and bankruptcy.
Ingle and Minor will deal with foreclosures and short sales in the final portion of their course. Hot topics will include short sales versus foreclosures, the process and timeline of a foreclosure, short sale contracts, the benefits of short sales, the drawbacks of foreclosures, mortgage fraud, and the listing and selling of REO
properties.
“A lot of Realtors have never worked with these things in the past, but in the present economy, things like foreclosures and short sales are becoming a staple for many agents,” says Ingle.
The class will represent a step forward for the Chattanooga Association of Realtors, which is now an accredited Georgia Association of Realtors school. Until recently, Northwest Georgia members of the CAR and Tennessee Realtors licensed to operate in Georgia had to travel to Dalton, Ga., or Atlanta, Ga., to take courses, which Ingle says was inconvenient for a number of reasons.
“Realtors didn’t feel comfortable calling an instructor in Atlanta to ask a question about a course they had taken,” she explains. “Now the CAR can choose its own instructors, which is good for local Realtors.”
In addition, using area teachers will be less expensive, and Realtors won’t have to travel a long distance to earn their CE credits.
Ingle credits Myra Cochran, broker at Weichert Realtors First Choice in Ft. Oglethorpe, Ga., and Bobby Teems, broker at Coldwell Banker Teems & Teems Realty in Lafayette, Ga., with being instrumental in moving the CAR toward accreditation.
Ingle is the daughter of a litigator, a student of science and the wife of a military pilot. As a member of Minor, Bell & Neal’s real estate division, her goal is to “make each client feel like a priority.”
Ingle also has a passion for learning and teaching, and has taken her enthusiasm for education to her community by volunteering in elementary classrooms and teaching free Realtor and lender seminars. “With every opportunity to teach comes an opportunity to learn,” her biography on the Minor, Bell & Neal Web site quotes her as saying.
Minor has worked in the area of real property law for more than 25 years. During that time, he has been involved in a variety of real estate transactions, from complex commercial transactions to residential home and lot purchases.
Minor puts his knowledge of North Georgia and his enthusiasm for real estate to work for clients in Northwest Georgia and Southeast Tennessee, representing developers, lenders, corporations and individuals who need advice in the area of real property law. Minor works in his firm’s Dalton office and has been involved in many community activities since returning to his hometown in 1983.
To sign up for the “Will I Be Here Tomorrow?” course, visit the www.chattrealtors.com, click on the “Education” button near the top of the homepage, click on the “Education Calendar” link at the top of the drop-down menu that appears, click on the course title on the calendar that loads, log on to your CAR account, complete the registration form and then click the “Submit” button. After 24 hours, check the class registration page to confirm you are registered for the course.
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