Latest / #HomeForAll Podcast / Fast Lane Learning - Season 4 Episode 3

Transcript

Fast Lane Learning - Season 4 Episode 3 · #HomeForAll Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Hey there, Home for All Podcast Listeners, and welcome back to Fast Lane Learning.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: I am Kelly Moss, your host and ACAR's communications director.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: We are taking this course turn by turn and excited to be talking today about what happens after you join a local association, preferably ACAR.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Fasten your seatbelts for more Fast Lane Learning with bite-sized episodes for those of you who don't always have time for a full-on 30-minute podcast, and for those of you who are looking for something really fast, really significant, and really informative.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Fast Lane Learning is going to be a fast and wild ride, so buckle up and let's get going.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Fast Lane Learning.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Joining me again is Ashley Varner, ACARS Membership Services and Operations Manager.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back, Ashley.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: How are things in ACARS membership department today?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Kelly.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Membership department's doing great today.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're getting prepared for our upcoming renewal season.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: So we've got a lot on our plates right now, but we're excited about what we're bringing our members in 2027.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's plow through the traffic today and talk about what uh happens when somebody joins the association.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: So let's pretend that I'm a newly licensed agent and I have my certificate on the wall.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: So what happens next?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, congratulations on your new license.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's exciting stuff.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So from the time that your license is issued to you from the Ohio Division of Real Estate, we're going to talk about what we do to get you from your license is issued to being an active member in good standing with ACAR.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: So once you've got that active license, you're going to need to join an association.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And because your broker of record is a realtor, you're going to join an association that your broker is also a member at because you are being supervised as a licensee by that broker.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So important to note, you need to belong where your broker belongs for their supervision.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Next, you're going to go ahead and fill out one of our applications to join as a new member.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I want you to go back to that wall certificate for a second because on there is going to be the effective date.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: The effective date is the date that your license was issued to you by the Ohio Division of Real Estate.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason that this is important when you're filling out your membership application is because you're going to qualify for prorated new member fees.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: That proration is going to come from the date on your license.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if your effective date, Kelly, let's just say is August 1st.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever you go to fill out that application, you're going to choose the August fee proration because your license was not active prior to August 1st for this year, and it became active on August 1st.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let's say your license became active on May 1st.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: But today that we're recording, this is September 2nd, 3rd.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you're applying for membership and that is your effective date, you will choose May, even if you weren't performing real estate activities from May to the time that you applied.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: That effective date is a way that we keep the process fair, even, and predictable across so many associations in the state of Ohio.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: It also marks the first opportunity you have to legally perform real estate activity in the state of Ohio.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem is we can't track whether you have or have not performed real estate activity.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So using that effective date ensures a smooth, even, fair process for everyone.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So back to your application.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Once you choose the correct date that corresponds to your effective date and you hit submit on your application, for ACAR in particular, the next screen that's going to pop up after our online application is for payment.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you can either make that payment of your new member joining fees at that time, or you can go ahead and close out of the page itself, and our staff will go ahead and send you an invoice and payment instructions after your application's been processed.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's important to note that our processing time we aim for it we aim for 24 hours, but uh during peak seasons of the year, during the the height of our renewal season each year, um, we do ask that you give us a little bit more time to go ahead and process those as we're taking a higher volume of member calls and communications at that time.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's a time where we're getting back in touch with folks that maybe we don't hear from during the year so much.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's a time where we are articulating the benefits of being a member of ACAR and encouraging your engagement in the upcoming year as well.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: So those membership applications are super important to us, but we just might need a little extra time to get those wrapped up for you.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Once our staff does process the application, however, um we're either going to send you an invoice or we're going to send that letter of good standing over to MLS now so that you have continuous access to their services, the listing services, uh, being able to schedule showings for your buyer clients, um, being able to pull data for your consumers to support your pricing, all sorts of tools over there that you want to be able to access to do your job effectively.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So after we've issued that letter of good standing, that next step is going to be a welcome email from our membership staff.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to have a few attachments, including a new member guide, the upcoming dates for our new member orientation if you'd like to attend that, and more information as well about your NRDS number, which is your identification number at the local, state, and national level for the associations you now belong to.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: It'll also give you some contact information for our staff as well, and a couple of other useful resources and an invite to an upcoming event.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you're going the invoice route, you'll receive an email with an invoice and instructions for how to go ahead and make that new member joining fee payment.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Once we do receive your payment, we then send over that letter of good standing, and you'll get one of those awesome welcome letters full of information as well.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Once that's all happened, you're considered a member in good standing with ACAR.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And after that, you have access to the full range of benefits that we offer as well.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, can we take a take a side road for a second here and talk for just two seconds about new member orientation and how important it is because um and we may be addressing that in a future episode yet, but for just briefly, um for those of you who have never, if if they're if you're already a member here at ACAR, thank you for that.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: And we love that.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: If you haven't gone through new member orientation before, you don't have to be new to to to attend.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, it's open to everybody.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um I love our new member orientation because we've recently reformatted it so that it includes all of your membership benefits at the association, but we're including more practical information as well with some of the other entities we partner with to help you have a successful career.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we're using that time to also navigate some of your resources with the Ohio Division.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about the difference between MLS Now and ACAR.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about the ways that we partner at the state and uh national levels as well.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of it is information now about what you need to do as a licensee to maintain your license, who the proper channels are for communication when you've got questions and who handles what and where they do it at.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's important to note too that our orientation is not mandatory, but it is a really great resource when you're kind of just getting your feet wet, don't know what you don't know, or if you're a member that's coming to us as either a brand new secondary member or you've transferred from another local association to ACAR.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Every association does some things a little bit differently, and so it's always super important to get acclimated right away with what uh the lay of the land looks like at the association you belong to.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: We want you to get the maximum amount of your benefits, and this is a really good way to become familiar with what our offerings are.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, gosh, that was a lot of information.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way to shorten that, is there?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, there's just not.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: But but it's a it's a wealth of knowledge and it's a it's a a great place to start, is is right at the association and using the association website and all of that good stuff.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: But who can realtors contact if they do have questions?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh um obviously the website is my personal favorite, but there you go.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um so on our website we have a great about page, and it's going to actually have pictures of all of our staff along with all of our titles and all of our contact information.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a great jumping off point for finding a resource within the association.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um we also include in our new member guide that you'll get when you receive your welcome email who everyone at the association is, and then some of the hats that we wear, because we all wear plenty of hats.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um for questions that fall outside of the association, you can still reach out to us and we'll point you in the right direction.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you can reach us easily by email.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um we do have a phone number, you can absolutely call us, but the thing that I like to caution is that our staff may already be on the phone with another member assisting them.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: We might be in a meeting, we may be outperforming community outreach.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: An email is truly the best way to get a hold of us to receive a quick answer while we're in our office hours.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um if I'm in a meeting and I'm not the one conducting the meeting, I can absolutely answer your question about resetting your password much more quickly than I can respond to your voicemail.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the important thing to remember is that we don't always know what each other is doing in our day-to-day lives.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you're not going to know that I'm I'm not ignoring you.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: I promise I'm just teaching a class right now.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I will get back to you, I promise.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, shoot us an email.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can reach us at info at acroncleandrealtours.com or membership at acroncleandrealtours.com.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and those two inboxes are wide open and available for all your questions.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and as Ashley mentioned, you know, it's it's really um we love the email part because then we also have a a digital paper trail for your questions and things like that.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times, you know, as as Ashley said, we we all wear a lot of hats here.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: So there may be a time when you may be calling that, you know, one of us is on the phone or in another meeting or conducting a class or you know, lots of things.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: So that email is generally your fastest way to get to us.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the sweet spot for sure.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, my gosh, we've learned a lot today.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: So uh now that we've reached our destination, I want to thank Ashley for all of her input for today's episode.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: It was awesome.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Please be sure to join us next week for the next uh fast lane learning installment.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And until then, drive safely and keep your learning in the fast lane.