Critical Budget Votes at October HAAR + ValleyMLS Meeting

Attendees at the October 6th, 2022 HAAR + ValleyMLS annual business meeting will have the opportunity to vote to approve 2023 budgets for the association and MLS.

You must be in attendance to vote.

WHO: HAAR + ValleyMLS Members

WHAT: Budget Votes + Annual Business Meeting

WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 6rd @ 8:30 a.m.

WHERE: Toyota Field Trash Pandas Stadium Club

2023 HAAR Budget Highlights

The Finance Committee and Board of Directors are pleased to present a balanced budget for HAAR which aligns with the Strategic Plan; continues the free CE and membership meetings; offers other membership benefits as listed in the HAAR Resources section of the Appendix; supports our commitment to the housing industry and Realtor brand; and maintains travel for HAAR officers, as well as state and national directors representing HAAR at their respective meetings. The projected growth for HAAR is based on economic projections and trending membership tracking.

Highlights of the income section:

Account 1503 Application Fees is budgeted on 550 new applicants paying $500 to join HAAR.

Account 152523 HAAR Dues is budgeted on 3,200 members paying full dues of $150 and 40 new members per month whose dues would be prorated, 20 Affilaite Plus members and 80 Affiliate members.

Account 1527 Education Income contains the sponsorship opportunities for Education and Orientation; fees for designation classes and income from the courses listed on on HAARSchool.realestate. Free CE and non-CE classes will be offered as a member benefit.

Account 1539 Membership Meetings Income contains sponsorships for the HAAR and Jackson County luncheons and Happy Hours as well as booth rentals for the Expo. Again these will be offered as a free member benefit to all HAAR members.

Highlights of the expense section:

Account 1740 Marketing & Public Relations will ncrease to better reach the general public by publicizing the value of using a realtor and advertising HAARSchool.realestate.

Account 1740.1 Partnerships supports the Strategic Plan by forming relationships with local universities, businesses, and organizations to further promote the housing industry and the importance of using a realtor.

Account 1741 Research maintains the UAH project which provides the market trend analysis, Huntsville Area Real Estate Economics report, and the absorption rate of housing in relation to the local inventory.

Account 1743 ARPAC increases to help reinforce our pro-Realtor interests, and to help protect and promote the real estate industry.

Account 1776 contains activity for Pre/Post Licensing, Orientation and Education. These expenses are related to fees incurred for speakers, instructors, venues, course licensing, renewals, and maintenance fees, as well as domain renewals for HAARSchool.realestate.

Account 1838 Member Leadership Development remains on the budget at $2,500. This program will provide reimbursement of qualified applicants to further their leadership training.

Account 1839 Member Relations increases to purchase a new President photo frame.

Account 1840.1 Realtor Party increases for the advocacy contract. The budget also contains resource funding and grant matches.

Account 1843 Membership Meetings contains the expenses related to venue rentals, food and drink for the luncheons, Happy Hours, Realtor Expo, and Open House. Again, as a member benefit, thes events will be free to all HAAR members.

Account 1873 Travel aligns with the leadership structure and travel policy projections for HAAR leadershipship.

Income collected in accounts 15351 Arbitration/Mediation Fees and 15352 Ethics Fines will be transferred to Realtors in Action at year end. Realtors in Action is YOUR local, 501C3 organization, which was established to provide assistance to HAAR realtors in need as a result of a personal tragedy, illness or natural disaster. The fund provides short-term financial assistance to members when their incurred expenses are not covered by other programs.

The proposed income is $1,535,310.

The proposed expense is $1,513,134.

This will result in a proposed net income of $22,176 for the 2023 budget. As a reminder, the net income will be transferred to a account which supports member centric projects and goals and will be found on the Balance Sheet.

The 2022 Proposed Capital

Account 12171 Computer Equipment –

To replace 1 networking computer that is passed the 5 year life span. The estimate is $2,000.

2023 Valley Budget Highlights

The Finance Committee and Board of Directors are pleased to present to you a balanced budget which aligns with the MLS business plan; focuses on the growth of our users based on economic projections and trending participant tracking; provides tability to our technology systems – both internally and externally; and sustains staff development and travel to further serve the participants of ValleyMLS.

Highlights of the Income Section:

Account 2500 Quarterly Fees is budgeted at 4,100 users paying MLS fees each quarter and new users paying prorated MLS fees. Account 2501 Annual Fees are budgeted on 500 users prepaying their MLS fees. We have had approximately 150 users ask to pay their MLS fees annually as a result of the email notification. The Annual Fee also changes the nonlicensed fee to $300 and the licensed assistant fee to $600.

Account 2503 Board Services is income received from HAAR for the allocation of employee services, insurance and retirement. This account ties to the HAAR expense account 1865.

Account 2504 Agent Application Fees is budgeted on 700 new applicants paying an application fee of $400.

Account 2541 Non-Realtor Participation Fee uses a budget basis of 40 & changes the fee to align with the quarterly fees of $150 per quarter.

Account 2505 Company Participation Fees is budgeted on 80 new companies paying $500 to join the MLS and implements a renewal fee of $100 to each real estate company. (This will be billed to the broker on file in our database).

Account 25091- 25093 are the Technology Services Income accounts. These are budgeted at $0 as David will be focusing on our inhouse infrastructure.

Account 2514 Late Fees, Fines and Penalties places the budget more in line with the actuals that we are seeing.

Highlights of the Expense Section:

Account 2705 ARPAC, moves ValleyMLS to a Golden R level to further support our industry. Account 2740 Advertising increases to continue the promotion of ValleyMLS.com.

Account 2759 Computer Network increases to move server data to the cloud for remote accesibility. This will be hosted locally with redunant sites and encrypted backups.

Account 2760 Computer Software and Programs uses a basis of 4,600 renewing users, 425 assistants, 50 appraisers. New users of 300 realtors, 50 assistants, and 10 appraisers. As a reminder, this account contains the monthly fees for the tools, programs and software’s that are user driven.

Accounts 28631 – 28637 are the Royalties paid out to the associations that participate in the MLS. The Royalty payout continues as the tiered structure. The contract with the participating associations will renew February 2023.

Account 2865 Staff Development increases to provide industry related training and travel for staff. On Account 2873 Travel aligns with the leadership structure and travel policy projections. The cost of hotels and travel have increased and are factored into the budget.

Account 2873.1 MLS Outreach and Training increases as the MLS event has been combined into this account as well as reimbursement for offsite trainings.

Account 2874 Telephone increases to provide an allowance for staff who are working remotely.

The proposed income is $4,223,098.

The proposed expense is $3,987,316 with $105,000 allocated for Income Taxes.

The proposed net income is $130,782 for the 2023 budget. These funds will be used to fund the 2023 Capital Requests resulting in a revised net income of $60,782.

The 2023 Proposed Capital

The first capital request item is to replace 6 additional staff computers for continued hybrid work. The life span of the current computers has reached their 5 years.

The second capital request items is for $50,000 to build out a ValleyMLS app which will be available in app stores.

CLICK HERE TO REVIEW MINUTES FROM 2021’s ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING.

ValleyMLS.com Board Actions Update

On Tuesday, September 27th, the ValleyMLS.com Board of Directors met to discuss and approve several policy improvements. Those updates are listed below. Please email MLSsupport@valleymls.com with questions.

Equitable Interest Listings

A motion was approved to amend the Rules & Regulations as follows:

“Information in the Public Remarks field in the Listing shall be limited to information describing or marketing the listed property, to include any offers of seller-paid closing costs, repair allowances, or home warranties.”

After reviewing advice from counsel about the possible ramifications of allowing Equitable Interest listings into ValleyMLS and what options are available, the committee feels that only allowing listings where the seller is the legal owner (as opposed to just an “equitable owner”) will help side-step these issues all together. Therefore, only properties being sold by the legal owner is allowed to be listed in ValleyMLS.

Lead-based Paint Disclosure

Effective immediately, the Lead Based Paint Disclosure document is required to be attached to listings built prior to 1978. Failure to comply with this rule is a Category 1 Violation. To allow only properties being sold by the legal owner to be listed in ValleyMLS.