-
Read More
White House Releases Plan to Combat Appraisal Bias
April 8, 2022
An interagency task force at the White House has outlined a plan aimed at rooting out racial and ethnic bias in home valuations. The Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity task force released a five-step action plan... -
Read More
Off the Cuff with Ryan Weyandt, CEO of the Industry’s fastest growing LGBTQ group
April 1, 2022
This is an unprecedented time for the LGBTQ community. Public opinion for same-sex marriage now tops 70% in the U.S., yet there are now more than 200+ pieces of legislation in... -
Read More
Notes From the Legal Hotline: April 2022
April 1, 2022
Q: There has been a lot of discussion about website accessibility lately. Is there anything that I need to do? A: Over the last several years there have been a few notable cases across the country addressing the issue of website accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but… -
Read More
Notes from the Legal Hotline: March 2022
March 2, 2022
Q: If I select “Designated Agency” on the Massachusetts Mandatory Licensee-Consumer Relationship Disclosure, are there any other forms I need to provide my client to establish designated agency? A: Yes, although selecting Designated Agency on the Relationship Disclosure is necessary to identify the agency capacity in which you are working,… -
Read More
MAR Advocacy Provides Some Relief This Tax Season
February 18, 2022
As we enter tax season this year, many Realtors® will hopefully get at least a small reprieve thanks to MAR’s advocacy. In 2017, the Federal government instituted a new cap of $10,000 on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. Since then, many states have been seeking a means of restoring… -
Read More
Advocacy Update – Will the Price be Going Up?
February 9, 2022
Once again, some advocates in Massachusetts are pushing proposals to increase the cost of housing. On the one hand, the state has made tremendous advances in both policy (Housing Choice and MBTA Communities) and funding ($620 million from ARPA, doubling the Low Income Housing Tax Credit) in recent months. However,… -
Read More
Agency Disclosure Form Now Available in 8 Languages
February 2, 2022
The Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons recently released the Mandatory Licensee-Consumer Relationship Disclosure form (Agency Disclosure) in seven additional languages. The form is now available in Haitian Creole, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and English. These new versions are in the process… -
Read More
MAR Advocates to Protect Homebuyers from Discrimination
February 1, 2022
MAR has spent much of the last year fighting to remove remnants of historic real estate discrimination. As a recent WBUR story explains, we are unfortunately still dealing with this issue in the form of so-called restrictive covenants. A restrictive covenant is a provision in a real estate conveyance that… -
Read More
Notes From the Legal Hotline: February 2022
February 1, 2022
Q: A salesperson in my office has set up an LLC; can I pay their commission to the LLC? A: No. A broker may only pay fees and commissions from real estate transactions to an affiliated salesperson, broker, or a business entity with a corporate broker license. Commissions may not… -
Read More
Pro-Housing Budget Proposal and Pandemic Policy Extensions
January 28, 2022
Its been an eventful week for MAR’s advocacy priorities, from extending key pandemic policies to the first steps in the FY2023 budget. Going Remote. One week after the House passed its version of the latest pandemic...
