Sarah Stelmok wrote a quick post today on her blog about the end of texting, as we know it.  No longer (as of tomorrow) can we using our little multi-tasking devices of death while operating a motor vehicle in Virginia.  This is a secondary offense for most drivers, which means that law enforcement must have cause to stop you for some other reason.  My simply question is how do they know if I am dialing a friend or texting a friend?  Regardless the answer, it’s never been a good idea to text or email while driving.  Here are some related rules that I found on HandsfreeInfo.com:

Cell phone, text messaging news: A ban on text messaging goes into effect July 1. All legislation regarding handheld cell phones is dead for 2009.

Current prohibitions:
Drivers under the age of 18 are prohibited from using cell phones or text messaging.

All drivers will be banned from text messaging effective July 1.

School bus drivers are prohibited from using cell phones or text messaging

2009 legislation:

HB 1876: Will prohibit text messaging while operating a motor vehicle. Takes effect July 1. Approved by the House and Senate and signed into law by Gov. Tim Kaine on March 30.

HB 1615 — Delegate Algie Howell, D-Norfolk, has prefiled legislation to the 2009 General Assembly that would ban text messaging while driving. The ban would extend to bicycles and mopeds. Incorporated into HB 1876, above.

Virginia cell phone, texting legislation notes:
Delegate John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, is the author of the text messaging legislation HB 1876. Fines for those who drive and text will be $20 and then $50 for subsequent offenses.

A spokesman for AAA told the Examiner that the secondary status of the new texting law — meaning police would have to have another, primary reason for pulling over drivers — makes it “tantamount to telling people you can do it.” Still, he called it a “moral victory.”

The younger-driver prohibitions went into effect in 2007. The prohibitions on school bus drivers became effective July 1, 2008.

“I believe this is a common-sense restriction on those new drivers who may be tempted to pay more attention to phone calls and text messages than the road, endangering themselves and other drivers,” Gov. Tim Kaine said of the 2007 law.

Virginia’s school bus cell phone/ texting law results in a primary offense; the teen driver law is a secondary offense.

I do think it’s worth noting that Delegate Bobby Mathieson, D-Virginia Beach has offered legislation that would stop drivers from using any device, even the telephone while driving. I think he’s been offering this for awhile and it’s been defeated each time.

Admittedly, I’ve never called Miss Utility before putting a post sign in the ground; nor had I though it necessary.  However, a committee made up of industry leaders decided that we need to incorporate the fact that you need to call before you use post-hole diggers.  So, here’s the information I received from the Virginia Real Estate Board today.

On March 12, 2009, the “Real Estate Licensee/Sign Post Installation Meeting” was hosted by the Division of Underground Utility and Railroad Safety (Miss Utility) of the State Corporation Commission. Miss Utility’s primary concern is excavation (usually manually digging a hole with a post-hole digger) occurring for real estate “for sale” signs in violation of the law’s requirement that Miss Utility be contacted, a “dig ticket” issued, and the underground utilities marked prior to digging. Miss Utility representatives asked what the Real Estate Board could do to help educate its licensees on the lawful procedure for this type of action.  On March 26, 2009, the Board approved: 1) encouraging its approved pre-license, continuing and post license educators to include instruction on this subject - an e-mail message encouraging this will be sent to the Board’s education providers; 2) including a question or questions on its salesperson and broker examinations on this subject; and 3) including an article in VREB Speaking” on this subject.

The Virginia Real Estate Board has mandated that we need to cover this information in pre-licensing, continuing education and any other training venues that we use.  Here is the information that asked us to distribute.

You need to read this very carefully.

Have you been considering blogging?  If so, Wordpress.com is a great place to get started.  Wordpress.com is a great and free system.  If you do well and enjoy it, you can always export all your posts and comments to another format, like a Wordpress self-hosted site.  If you’d like to know the difference between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org; you can go HERE. 

Here is the video showing how easy it is to setup your new blog:

Once you have the blog setup, here is a tutorial on using the free Windows Live Writer tool:

You can also find a Real Estate Blog Tool Kit HERE.

Happy Blogging!

The groovy folks over at VARBuzz.com put together a video of Special Counsel Lem Marshall and Association Counsel Blake Hegemen, talking about the 2009 Legislative changes that affect Virginia Real Estate.  

Here is a copy of the Legislative update:

** Ed Kulas is the instructor for our upcoming class on “Selling to Low Credit Score Prospects”, scheduled for July23rd, 2009.  For more information you can visit www.FAARMembers.com.  This is a Guest Blogger post on the same topic**

Are you Leaving Income on the Table?

As a Real Estate Agent, are you aware that you have left money on the table AND it is still there? Yes, I mean You. “Well” you say “if thats the case how do I get it because I sure could use it NOW.” Soooo… let’s look into the matter.

First, we need to have a basic understanding on how that ball of mush, the brain, works. The front part is our conscious. This works in our day to day functions and usually as directed by the subconscious. It doesn’t remember, just performs functions as directed. For example, when you first learned to drive a car, the conscious was alert to all the details and a fifteen minute trip felt like fifteen minutes or more. But now that same trip is a fleeting moment due to the subconscious controlling the driving functions and you are thinking on your upcoming sale.

“So what’s all this got to do about that money I don’t see on the table in front of me” you say. Be patient, we are getting there but next a basic lesson in business economics.

Fundamental Laws

There is a fundamental law that Event(E) + Response(R) = Output(O). In todays business environment, the event appears as a recession causing one to redirect their response to maintain their output. If there’s no change in response, income levels fall until there”s no more recession. Thus one generally regroups to sale practices that worked in the past and hope to limit the income plunge. But we are not in a cyclical recessionary event but rather a structural permanent changing event, So our new response has to be one of change and challenges.

But to do this, we need to reprogram our unconscious, so let’s return to our car driving example. Now you are no longer driving that Denali you are so familiar with but have had to change to a Civic. How do you think you will first feel when driving this different car? Cautious, anxious, fearful, frustrated, etc. All these are upsetting, negative emotions generated by the subconscious asking the conscious “What’s up Doc.” But through effort over time, the subconscious switches to positive feelings of familiarization, composure and takes control as your conscious returns to reflecting on other matters.

Knowledge is Power

“So all that’s interesting” you say “but show me the money!” Your subconscious has the answer but is storing it in a veil of resistance. It’s those low credit score prospects you have experienced in the past. How do I know that; Say aloud “Low Credit Score Prospect” and how do you feel. The subconscious flashes up “Warning – Pain Ahead – Avoid” and so you do.

But aren’t those low credit score prospects a pending sale and people you are familiar with? Are not the current housing and funding programs best suited for this group providing they improve their credit score? And are not those structural changes(E) going to be reflected in the financial markets with elevated credit score requirements to buy a house? I assure you there are easy, fast, and proven ways of credit score improvement that you are not aware of and should take the effort(R) to familiarize yourself with to increase your sales output(O). To this I say: “Wouldn’t NOW be the best time to seek out that knowledge?”

Ed Kulas is a Credit Score Specialist providing education to Realtors through an approved CE Course: Selling Low Credit Score Prospect and Sale Meetings. Email: edkulas@yahoo.com