Even though I am only half way through my term as Chairman of HAR, it feels like we have already done so much.

As you can see from the cover this month, we are talking about ratings—and HAR is not the only one.  At the recently held MLS Cloud 2011 conference, which HAR hosted in Houston, associations and MLSs across the country were buzzing about developing and instituting programs similar to our Client Experience Rating. We already have the eyeballs and our members are being rated elsewhere on the Internet (including on Zillow) so why not participate and show your prospects how great you are. You may read more about the program here.

This might seem like a crazy topic considering the string of days our area has had without rain (although it is finally raining on the day this magazine is going to press), but the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is once again top of mind for us. The last extension was only until September 30, 2011 so we need to contact our legislators to encourage them to extend this vital program—and for longer than just a few months. You may read more about it here.

With the deadline for vetoes passed, we now know for certain that many of our state legislative priorities became law—or were stopped from becoming law. These include the prohibition of private transfer fees and eminent domain reform. You may read more about these issues on here.

As a commercial member of HAR, I am especially proud to announce the launch of CommGate on the Go, which will allow our very mobile community of members to have the same kind of access to commercial listings that our residential counterparts do. You may read more about how to begin using this service here.

We also listened to our members’ feedback about wanting an option to be able to display pending sale listings on HAR.com. Some members want the ability to have them shown, while others don’t. You decide what’s right for you and read more about how you can make sure your pending listings are (or are not) displayed.

Lastly, our Board of Directors elections will begin on July 17 so I want to encourage you to review who is running for which seat. Then, visit the www.har.com/vote site to review their candidate profiles and videos (if they have shot one).  The more input and participation we have from the membership, the more representative we will be.

Carlos P. Bujosa
HAR Chairman of the Board