Realtors® Back HUD and OMB Nominees Julian Castro and Shaun Donovan

Provided By: National Association of Realtors


WASHINGTON (May 27, 2014) – The following is a statement by National Association of Realtors® President Steve Brown:
"The National Association of Realtors® applauds the administration for nominating San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to serve as the next secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which includes the Federal Housing Administration, and for nominating current HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to serve as the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
"We are encouraged by Mayor Castro’s work in San Antonio to revitalize the downtown area and promote homeownership in the city center. His vision for strong communities and affordable housing is the right fit for HUD, which has helped make the dream of homeownership a reality for millions of Americans.
"NAR has greatly valued its relationship with Secretary Donovan and his team during his tenure at HUD. We will continue to engage with the agency to ensure the homebuying process is fair and free from discrimination, and that FHA loans are safe and affordable to qualified buyers.
"We look forward to working with Mayor Castro and Secretary Donovan upon their confirmations."
The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

SentriLock

Provided By: National Association of Realtors

SentriLock's REALTOR® NXT Electronic Lockbox System is a reliable and secure technology providing outstanding customer service that's rated tops in the industry.

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BREAKING NEWS: SentriLock announces production of the One Millionth lockbox. From SentriLock: Thank You to all our customers who have made this production possible. We couldn't have done it without all of you. Now on to the next million!

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SentriLock works every day to serve the true needs of REALTORS®—offering you secure, easy, and reportable access to every listing you manage.

 

The SentriLock System currently has more than 750,000 lockboxes in use by 290,000 agents from over 270 different boards, associations, and MLSs in the United States and Canada. SentriLock's award-winning customer care team provides world-class support seven days a week, exclusively from their facility in Cincinnati, Ohio.

According to analysis by Second Century Ventures, SentriLock in the market has saved the industry close to $100 million over the past ten years by controlling costs for this technology, while at the same time SentriLock has made a positive impact on actual real estate opportunities by making it easier to show properties, solicit feedback, and sell properties. 

Features Offered

The REALTOR® Lockbox NXT is made of heat-treated alloy steel for maximum physical security. It has the highest number of  quality-certifications in the industry, including Underwriters Laboratories, Industry Canada, LPS (Loss Prevention Services) and ROHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances). It features an extra large key compartment, illuminated integral keypad, user-replaceable battery, and many unique software-based features as follows:

• SentriSmart® mobile app for PIN-based access via iPhone and Android smartphones and tablets. 
• SentriCard® smart cards for convenient, reliable, PIN-based lockbox access. 
• One-day codes for non-cardholders, such as home inspectors, appraisers, home stagers, maintenance workers, and out of area agents. SentriLock’s universal one day codes are arguably our most significant differentiating software feature compared to other lockbox systems.
• Homeowner-activated "Do Not Disturb" feature
• Web-based access logs and reports
• User-programmable access times
• Instant showing notifications

See the system in action

SentriSmart®, SentriLock’s mobile application, is designed for convenience and speed by utilizing the capabilities of your smartphone. Using GPS and the geo location data of the listing, SentriSmart® is able to find the listings in your immediate area, verify your identity using a PIN based security measure, and then create an access code for the lockbox. The listing agent is then immediately notified of the access and can begin scheduling their follow up.

A More Powerful SentriCard®

 

In addition to lockbox access and administration, REALTORS® can use the SentriCard® to track open house attendance, automatically solicit feedback for open houses, and collect a list of attendees, at no additional cost, through the SentriLock Event Tracker application. Call SentriLock's Customer Support to learn more about how you can add these additional features to your SentriCard®.

Learn How SentriLock Works

The SentriLock lockbox is easy to use – take a self-guided tutorial to learn about all the benefits this system offers. Once there, click the “Introduction” tab to view a brief, informative video about the SentriLock system.

 

Demo the REALTOR® Lockbox NXT System on your screen right now. Learn how our system supports the day-to-day needs of your members more cost-effectively than competing systems offer, and with greater ease of use and reliability.

See a comparison matrix of SentriLock’s REALTOR® Lockbox NXT System versus another lockbox company's product and service. The matrix provides a comprehensive comparison of general information right down to system specifics.

Dallas official: Denver's the frontrunner for 2016 Republican convention

Provided By: Bizjournals.com

Denver -- which learned Thursday that it's one of four cities still in the running to host 2016's Republican National Convention -- should be considered the frontrunner at this point, says a key official with Dallas, another finalist city.

That's the view of Phillip Jones, CEO of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, as quoted by the Dallas Morning News. Jones based his view on the fact that Denver held a successful Democratic convention in 2008.

But he was swift to add that the GOP's site pickers "are very keen on Dallas." He added: “It’s going to be a tough competition."

The comments may amount to little more than we're-the-underdog gamesmanship, since many political analysts see Dallas as the current frontrunner, in part due to the area's wealth and ability to donate the funds needed to stage the convention.

Also on the Republicans' short list are Kansas City and Cleveland. GOP officials will spend several days in each city in advance of picking one by late summer or fall; Denver's site visit is slated for June 9-11.

Las Vegas and Cincinnati withdrew in advance of Thursday's announcement -- reportedly as their elimination seemed inevitable, partly because of issues involving their arenas where the convention would be held.

Also, reports in the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere say Vegas faced objections from some GOP social conservatives over the city's sin-friendly image. It says that some party leaders also took note of Nevada Republicans dropping anti-abortion and anti-same-sex-marriage planks from their party platform.

Leaders in all four finalist cities are talking up their chances to host the four-day event, which will bring in tens of thousands of delegates and media personnel and pump millions into the local economy.

Here's what leaders of the three other finalist cities have to say about their chances, as compiled from the DBJ's sister news outlets:

• Cleveland: Local leaders touted the favor shown by the GOP as a sign of the city's rebirth. "There is no doubt that our city's renaissance is fully underway," said Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Cleveland also is a city in Ohio, a state that reliably votes for the winning presidential candidate from either party, and it's common political wisdom that a national convention can help a party's chances in a swing state (even though it's often not true). And Cleveland has already raised most of the estimated $50 million to $60 million needed in convention staging funds.

• Dallas:"It's still a very tough competition and Dallas is still the underdog," Jones tells the Dallas Business Journal. "At the end of the day, Denver is a tough competitor and Kansas City and Cleveland has been working on this bid for the past year. We will put our best foot forward and make Dallas an easy decision at the end of the day."

Dallas' urban sprawl could be a key factor in the decision, and unless the GOP holds the convention in July, it will impose significant commute times on attendees. The American Airlines Center in Dallas is unavailable in June. And there's the fact that a Dallas convention would do little to boost the GOP's presidential election chances in already-Republican-friendly Texas.

• Kansas City: " We're eager show [the GOP], and the world, all that this region has to offer," Mayor Sly James says in the Kansas City Business Journal.

But the Kansas City Star notes that there are concerns about a lack of close-in hotel rooms and the fact that KC is the only one of the four finalists lacking a rail transit network.