Top Headlines for Oct. 1
Registration is still open for the At Home with Diversity course on Oct. 14
There are still slots available in the Oct. 14 At Home with Diversity class. This is a NAR certification course designed to enable REALTORS® to work successfully with and within a rapidly changing multicultural market. It will help you to learn diversity sensitivity, how it applies to U.S. fair housing laws in your business, and ways to develop professional guidelines for working with people in the increasingly multicultural real estate market.


Members who have completed NAR's Fair Haven training can register by emailing the GSAR Education DepartmentRegistration confirmation can be found in the GSAR Member Portal. GSAR and CNYIS are covering the $135 cost of the At Home with Diversity (AHWD) course for the first 100 members who completed the training. Both organizations are making this offer as a part of their ongoing effort to promote fair housing and fair housing education.

REALTORS® who take the At Home with Diversity will be able to apply for the AHWD Certification, earn 6 hours of CE, one hour of Fair Housing credit, and use it as an elective towards the ABR, GRI and CIPS designations. It also counts as a module in the C2EX program. Members, who qualify to take the course for free by completing Fairhaven, would only be responsible for the $75 certification fee.
Register by Oct. 4 for GSAR's next discounted 22.5-hour CE package
Register for GSAR's October 22.5-hour continuing education package before Oct. 4 to take advantage of the discounted member rate of $90, down from $240. The September session, featuring night and weekend classes, starts on Tuesday, Oct. 5.

GSAR designed this program to help all members meet their CE requirements including those who may have been previously exempt from CE requirements. 

An additional package will be offered in November.

October and November package classes will be delivered virtually via Zoom. The non-member package rate is $270, down from $405. Learn more and register at cnyrealtor.com/CEpackages.
Register to vote before October 8
New York’s voter turnout is historically low In local elections. When voter turnout is especially low, every vote can make a huge impact. Some local elections come down to a difference of just a few hundred votes or less. That means that every single vote matters!
 
Registration applications to vote must be postmarked by Friday, October 8, 2021. To get you started, click here for a voter registration form. Just fill it out, download, print and sign! You can either mail it (postmarked by Oct. 8) or hand it in in-person. Address information for all county boards is contained within the PDF version of your completed voter registration form. You can check your registration status here. Information about upcoming elections and deadlines is available here and read answers to frequently asked questions here.
NYSAR Fall Business Meetings go virtual
Out of an abundance of caution, NYSAR has cancelled the in-person portion of the Fall Business Meetings at Turning Stone. Those sessions will take place virtually as scheduled. All hotel reservations will be automatically cancelled. Read more.

Fed hints mortgage rates may soon rise
Interest rates are expected to soon rise, even as the Federal Reserve announced last week that it would keep its benchmark rate near zero. The Fed, however, warned that it was preparing to taper its emergency stimulus efforts from the pandemic including winding down its bond purchases. That is expected to make mortgage rates rise, as well as rates on credit card and car loans. “Tapering itself is going to increase yields in the medium- and long-term horizons, which will translate into higher borrowing costs,” Yiming Ma, an assistant finance professor at Columbia University Business School, told CNBC. Read more.
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MLS Tips
Learn how to maximize your exposure on realtor.com
Join with realtor.com representatives on Friday, Oct. 15, at 11 a.m. for a tour of the site's free agent profiles and to learn the principles of maximizing your exposure on both realtor.com and search engines to get more clients and enhance your brand. Agents will discover the extraordinary power of video and how a stellar biography can be a key marketing tool. Learn to engage with your agent dashboard to manage your leads, listings, and profile. Also, view detailed reporting and access shareable content to position yourself as the local market expert. Register here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Simple steps help avoid duplicate listings in the MLS
In order to protect the database, listing agents must monitor their listings and sales to ensure they are appropriately accounted for, even if the transaction on property continues after the expiration date (Pending status). Agents should always search the database prior to entering a new listing to assure that a listing is not a duplicate. Please note that listings that are in the A, C, T, W, U or P status are considered currently listed and should not be entered as a new listing before the existing listing is expired.

A second listing can be entered into the MLS under a different property type provided:
  • It is zoned properly.
  • The first line of the Private Remarks must identify the MLS listing number of the other listing.
  • The listing office must notify the MLS Services Department to delete the second listing when the property is sold or expired in order for statistics to be accurate.
  • A fee may be required. Please note: Any change to the address or tax account number in order to input a duplicate listing is a violation of these rules and subject to a fine.
Education
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Bradford Tax Seminars will be offering "Keep More of Your Income in 2021" via Zoom on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 10 a.m. The course will cover important tax reduction strategies for the real estate professional. You will learn how to tax legal deductions that can save you $10,000, recoup the money you lost during COVID-19, and how to deduct your home office among other tips. Learn more and register here.
Member Benefits and Events
Welcome new GSAR members!
The Greater Syracuse Association of REALTORS® welcomes its newest members and wishes them great success.
Nicholas Capparelli
Acropolis Realty Group
315-396-0493

Jessica Hauberg
Arquette & Associates
315-446-4100

Maurice Jackson
Keller Williams Syracuse
315-701-6900

Robert Edward Lee Lewis
Keller Williams Syracuse
315-701-6900

Jeremy McDonald
Berkshire Hathaway Home Services CNY Realty
315-218-1480

Sarah Murphy
Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate Select
315-565-0772

Daniel Piciucco
Acropolis Realty Group
315-396-0493

Alexander Santarelli-Hansen
Procopio Real Estate
315-928-5394

Tawny Williams
GRG Gloria Realty Group
315-671-2341