TELEMARKETING TO YOUR CELL PHONE?

January 20,2006 all cell phone numbers were released to telemarketing companies. You will start to receive sales calls. As with any incoming call, your cell phone account will be charged for these calls.  Cell phone services will make a windfall!

You can thwart costly telemarketing calls by registering your cell phone number on The National DO NOT Call list. Call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222 or go to http://www.donotcall.gov

Registering your cell phone blocks your number for five (5) years.  Once you register, mark your calendar for 5 years ahead. You may not get an alert to renew your anonymity.

 ELECTRONIC RECORDS

Agents and Brokers are increasingly embracing the convenience of technology for record keeping, and for good reason. Storing paper files is cumbersome, expensive, inconvenient and very inefficient.

The average real estate transaction file is approximately 180 pages. Within a few months, an office of just 5 Agents will crowd the Broker's space with paper files, even if the Agents are working from their homes! By the end of the first quarter, the Broker will have to rent a storage space, usually on the outskirts of town. Getting to and locating the file in the storage area is at least a full day away from the office. The condition of the file may also have degraded from normal storage unit environment that does not protect against moisture, dust, insects and other local critters.

If you or your Broker consider switching to electronic data storage, you may be wondering about D.R.E. rules and regulations. Following is an updated question from the Broker's real estate exam regarding digital files. It may help to dispel things that you heard but did not verify.

QUESTION:  Broker Andrews' real estate firm has recently moved to the digital storage of all records required to be retained under real estate law. In order for the firm to fully comply with real estate law, after these records have been converted, the firm must

A)   have the capacity to transmit information requested by the Real Estate Commissioner using digital electronic format used by the State of California.

B)    have the ability to print hard copies of any documents requested by the Real Estate Commissioner, bearing the full cost of producing the print-outs.

C)    back up 3 years of documents onto a CD at the end of each month.

D)   retain the original documents for a period of one year.

ANSWER: B      Section 2927 of the Commissioner's regulations sets forth the requirement for Optional Image Storage.  There is no specific system requirement other than any system the Broker uses must have the ability to print copies of any document requested by the Commissioner. Records must be kept for 3 years.

REMERGE CD FILES COMPLY WITH D.R.E. IMAGE REQUIREMENTS

January 2005, REMERGE introduced CD files to Brokers, Agents and their clients. These are in compliance with D.R.E. regulations. Brokers and Agents can order their files in either paper or CD format.

D.R.E. requires the Broker to maintain his files for 3 years. REMERGE does not delete any electronic files, so you can order a reprint of any file, in CLOSED status for a recall fee of $75. If you or your client order a duplicate file while the transaction is active, the cost is only $35.

WHAT'S IN A FILE?

Whether paper of CD, remember that the quality of the file and/or the subsequent reprint of that file depend on the quality of the paperwork that you remit to REMERGE.  The Agency Relationship, Listing Agreements (and any Addenda) and Purchase Agreements (and any Addenda), Counter Offers, Request for Repair  and the final Verification of Condition are all negotiated documents for which the Agent is responsible. REMERGE cannot get signature on negotiated documents. We can only request them from you to include in your file.

D.R.E. requires that a copy of a contract or agreement is acceptable provided that the font size is 10 points.  Too often, a purchase agreement comes to REMERGE after having been faxed and re-faxed and re-faxed again and again and yet again.  The final product is a 8 x 11 piece of paper with a 3 x 4 blob of ink. The coordinator will include a legible copy that is not fully executed, as a reference if you make one available. This is YOUR file. We can only save what you send us. If you see that your agreements are unacceptable to D.R.E. requirements, please take the time to provide your coordinator with a legible "REFERENCE COPY" of the documents of the signed agreements.

COMMENTS? QUESTIONS? LETTERS TO THE EDITOR?

The REMERGE Gazette welcomes your comments and suggestions for future articles. E-mail to shelly@remerge.com