Always Make Safety Your Top Priority The recent abduction of an Arkansas REALTOR ® after showing a home gives us another reason for urging all HAR members to make safety the No. 1 priority during open houses and whenever showing a home. Remember that consumers who enter a home are strangers before potentially becoming clients, so HAR suggests you always take the following steps to ensure your safety: 1.If possible, always try to have at least one other person working with you at the open house. 2.Check your cell phone's strength and signal prior to the open house. Have emergency numbers programmed on speed dial. 3.Upon entering a house for the first time, check all rooms and determine several "escape" routes. Make sure all deadbolt locks are unlocked to facilitate a faster escape. 4.Make sure that if you were to escape by the back door, you could escape from the backyard. Frequently, high fences surround yards that contain swimming pools or hot tubs.

Always Make Safety Your Top Priority (continued) 5.Have all open house visitors sign in. Ask for full name, address, phone number, and . 6.When showing the house, always walk behind the prospect. Direct them; don't lead them. Say, for example, "The kitchen is on your left," and gesture for them to go ahead of you. 7.Avoid attics, basements, and getting trapped in small rooms. 8.Notify someone in your office, your answering service, a friend,or a relative that you will be calling in every hour on the hour. And if you don't call, they are to call you. 9.Inform a neighbor that you will be showing the house and ask if he or she would keep an eye and ear open for anything out of the ordinary. 10.Don't assume that everyone has left the premises at the end of an open house. Check all of the rooms and the backyard prior to locking the doors. Be prepared to defend yourself, if necessary.

TREC Issues Advisory For “Coming Soon” Listings Under certain circumstances, “Coming Soon” listings may result in a complaint with TREC, findings of a violation of TREC rules and laws and subject agents to disciplinary action. “Coming Soon” marketing may be legitimate if a seller is still preparing the property for sale. Listing brokers should obtain seller’s informed consent after disclosing that limited exposure could limit showings and offers. Click here to review full article: dvisor pdf dvisor pdf Click here to download HAR Seller Authorization Form:

Join HAR for H-Town Day 2014 You won’t want to miss this one-of-a-kind program with updates directly from Houston Mayor Annise Parker, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, area school districts, transportation experts and more. Thursday, October 16 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Downtown Aquarium 2 hrs of MCE credit available Seating is limited, so please register today!

Weekly HAR Market Stat Just in time for the fall equinox, mortgage applications are on the rise, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Though the season will likely slow things considerably in some areas, it seems that buyers are not yet ready to succumb to the pumpkin spice and cinnamon haze that is fall. Here are the latest trends for the greater Houston area. In the Houston region, for the week ending September 21: New Listings increased 0.2% to 1,907 Pending Sales increased 33.9% to 1,815 Closed Sales decreased 5.2% to 1,518

Questions? ext. 6 Graduate to a New Designation Register at Graduate REALTOR® Institute – GRI-1 Finance The GRI designation is the most widely recognized of the national real estate designations. Consisting of three courses, each is taught by experts in their respective fields. This module offers Finance Theory & Practice, Investment & Taxation, and Cultural Diversity & Fair Housing. GRI courses may be taken in any order and satisfy your 9 hours of non-legal MCE requirements. TREC rules mandate that each student be on time. A calculator is required. Please make sure to bring your license number to class. TAR provides a one-time, $50 coupon for qualifying students who register through HAR.com. Upon entering a user name and password, HAR will immediately verify with TAR that the coupon is valid and the discount will immediately be applied. All other courses are full-price. Date: October 9, 10, 13, 14 Time: 8:15 a.m. – 5 p.m. Location: HAR Montgomery Investment: $295