Advocacy @ Work    

Advocacy @ Work is an article aimed at updating members on what is happening in our region regarding Economic Development and/or Governmental Affairs.

 

Flood Insurance Update: Congress has just approved another short-term extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that will go until December 20th. While this marks the 14th extension in just 2 years, we are glad there was no lapse.  

 

While at the National Association of REALTORS® Convention last week, I was able to speak with our NAR Political Advocacy Representative about the program. While you never know exactly what Congress will or will not do, he felt confident that we will see the NFIP face a few more of these short-term extensions. It is still perceived that given the continued priority on budget issues and the impeachment inquiry that a compromise bill will not move forward until next year.  

 

NAR is continuing to keep this issue in front of Congress and pushing for a long-term extension for the NFIP. I will continue to monitor this important program and alert members if a Call for Action is needed in the future. As stated before, please stay tuned to this ongoing issue! 

 

Local Elections Update: RVAR wants to congratulate Paul Mahoney on his election to the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors - Cave Spring District seat. This was a contested race and the RVAR's Board of Directors endorsed Mr. Mahoney's campaign for this race. We also congratulate REALTOR® members David Radford (Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Premier, REALTORS®) on his election to the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors - Windsor Hills District seat and to Chris Booth (MKB, REALTORS®) for being elected as the Botetourt County Commissioner of Revenue. While David and Chris were uncontested in the general election, they both had won contested primary elections earlier in the year. We congratulate Paul, David & Chris!    

Article provided by Joe Sutliff, RVAR Director of Economic & Governmental Affairs. 

NAR 2019 Remodeling Report 

Save the Date...RVAR's Family Fun Night on the Ice   

 

Join us for a night of fun and fast paced hockey with the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs on Friday, February 21st.   

Invite your family & friends for a fun, exciting evening at the Berglund Center!!  The puck drops at 7:05PM. 

 

Tickets go on sale in December. 

 

Which of the following are incorrect uses of the term REALTOR® (answers appear below):
        Jones REALTORS® Inc.
        Realtor
        Franklin County REALTOR®
        @botetourtrealtor

Trademarks are unique terms and/or symbols that communicate a specific message to the public. The term "COKE", for example, is a trademark which identifies a specific soft drink produced by The Coca-Cola Company. History teaches that trademarks not properly protected can be lost forever. The words "escalator" and "aspirin" were once trademarks, but for lack of protection and promotion are now words of ordinary use.

The National Association of REALTORS® aggressively protects and promotes the REALTOR® trademark, first coined in 1916, which signifies membership in the National Association. NAR requires the following when using the REALTOR® trademark: (1) all capital letters, (2) separating punctuation where necessary and (3) the use of the federal registration symbol "®".

NAR has adopted two exceptions when using the REALTOR® marks on the Internet. First, because the public has adopted the use of all lower-case letters in domain names and email addresses, the requirements to use capitalization and the registration symbol are relaxed. And second, no punctuation is required to separate the member or firm name from the term REALTOR® in a domain name or email address.

As for the examples above, all are incorrect.   

 
1. Jones, Inc., REALTORS® is an example of proper usage. The terms REALTOR® or REALTORS® cannot be incorporated within a firm name, but may appear adjacent to a firm name, separated by punctuation.

 

2. REALTOR® is proper usage of the term. 

 

3. No descriptive words may be used with the term REALTOR®. This applies to website addresses, email addresses, twitter accounts etc. 

 

Click here for NAR guidelines on using the REALTOR® trademark. Questions? Contact NAR at trademark@realtors.org.