Most of us may remember the parable of the professor teaching his class about setting goals and prioritizing them.

If not, it goes like this. The professor came into his class one day carrying a big box of miscellaneous items. He first pulled out a large glass fish bowl and proceeded to fill it with large, odd shaped rocks. As he carefully placed the last rock in to the bowl, he turned to the class and asked if they thought it was full. Most of the class agreed that it was indeed full.

He then began to pull out of the large box a container full of small pebbles and prodded and shook them all into the glass container holding the large rocks. As he shook and poured, the little pebbles filled in all the nooks and space between the large rocks.

The professor once again asked the class the same question – is the bowl now full? Most of the class were in agreement that the bowl was certainly full now.

He then reached in and out came another small container filled with sand. As he began to pour the sand into the fish bowl he could see the look of amazement in his students’ faces. While they earlier thought the container was full, they watched as all of the sand filled in between the large rocks and small pebbles.
With a sly grin, the professor then pulled out a pitcher of water from the large box and as he began to pour the water into the fishbowl, to the amazement of all, every bit of water filtered into what appeared to be a solid mass of rock & sand.

As he looked at the class he said something very profound. “Class, this bowl represents your life. If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you cannot live a full life.” He then asked, “What are the things most important to you… your big rocks? Are you putting them in first?”

We all know life can get in the way of living. I hope you take some time this Holiday Season and determine what your 2011 is going to look like. Craft it so your big rocks go in first.

From The KC Business Journal

Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 2:44pm CDT | Modified: Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 3:14pm
ATA: Trucking industry reverses two months of tonnage drops
Kansas City Business Journal

The trucking industry ended a two-month tonnage slide in July, returning to its improvement on levels from a year ago.

Trade group American Trucking Associations said Wednesday that its advance index of for-hire truck tonnage rose 1.5 percent last month, up from a revised 1.6 percent drop in June. The index is adjusted for seasonal variations.

With the July increase, the index moved to 110. The base year of 2000 equals 100.

ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said that although he welcomes an improvement in freight levels, he still thinks the recovery for trucking is going to be long process.

“The economy is slowing, and truck freight tonnage has essentially gone sideways since April 2010,” Costello said in a release.

He added, however, that the second half of the year will see gains: “After accounting for the reduction in supply over the last few years, even small gains in tonnage will have a larger impact on the industry than in the past.”

Compared with July 2009, tonnage rose 7.4 percent, the eighth straight year-to-year improvement.

For the first seven months of the year, tonnage was 6.7 percent better than during the same period last year.

Not seasonally adjusted, the ATA index fell 5 percent to 109.9 between June and July.

Earlier this month, Overland Park-based YRC Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: YRCW) said tonnage for its regional division was up 4.6 percent from a year ago in the second quarter, leading to positive adjusted earnings before taxes and other expenses. It expects higher operating profits in the third quarter.

Trucking has been a leading indicator of the U.S. economy’s health, hauling 68 percent of tonnage carried by domestic modes of freight transportation.

davidtwiddy@bizjournals.com | 816-777-2204 | Twitter: @dtwiddy71

All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

NAR: ‘RESPA Guidelines Unclear’

By Deborah Ball Kearns, RE/MAX Times Online Associate Editor

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently released its interpretive rule of a RESPA guideline concerning home warranty companies compensating real estate agents for selling home warranties to buyers and sellers.

According to HUD’s updated interpretation, brokers and agents are allowed to be compensated on a per-transaction basis for selling home warranties to their buyer clients.

But the National Association of Realtors has expressed concerns that the RESPA rule isn’t clear on whether real estate agents and brokers can receive flat-fee compensation for marketing home warranty products. Some real estate companies – including RE/MAX – have business agreements with home warranty companies to market such products to buyers and sellers as a risk-management tool in the course of a home sale or purchase.

Here’s an excerpt from a letter NAR sent to HUD on July 22:

“Home warranties are beneficial products for homebuyers, sellers and homeowners, and home warranty companies do not employ independent sales representatives to acquaint consumers with these products. They are not required for a settlement to be successfully concluded and are often not paid for or sold in conjunction with settlement.

Real estate brokers and agents perform important services on behalf of home warranty companies to educate consumers about home warranty products and service customer questions and claims after these products are purchased. These services are actual, necessary and distinct services from those typically performed by real estate brokers and agents, and Section 8(c)(2) of RESPA permits the real estate broker or agent to receive compensation for these services.

We respectfully request the Department to reconsider its characterization of real estate broker or agent direct-to-consumer marketing services as mere referrals and consider clarifying that general marketing services may be compensable services under Section 8(c)(2) of RESPA.

We are concerned that our members do not have clear guidance to assist them in creating RESPA-compliant service arrangements. NAR asks HUD to consider clarifying the facts underlying HUD’s analysis in the interpretive rule, as well as the application of the rule to per-transaction compensation arrangements. It is important for NAR’s members to understand that flat-fee marketing and service arrangements that comply with Section 8(c)(2) of RESPA are not covered by the interpretive rule.”

If you have questions or concerns about RESPA compliance, you should contact NAR, your local real estate board or your own legal counsel for further advice.

© 2010 RE/MAX, LLC. RE/MAX Affiliates may share this article, provided they do not charge for it and this notice is included. All other rights reserved.

Comment on this story
E-mail your comments to editor@remax.net. Please include your full name, RE/MAX office, city and state or province. Comments, slightly edited for length, flow and punctuation, will appear below.

Comments (2)
As usual, the government has given us a yes, no, maybe answer and I, for one, am not surprised. With that said, can we continue to sell the warranty or not. Yes or no would be the preferred answer.
– Linda Greenwell, RE/MAX Alliance, Louisville, Ky.

The warranty company I use offers “with” or “without” administrative fee (fee paid to real estate agent). I always choose “without” the fee. This saves the buyer or seller money (usually about $75) by not paying the administrative fee. I don’t need to take a fee, I’m already making a commission! Offer the savings to the party paying for the warranty – that goes a long way.
– Rachel Reardon, RE/MAX Executive Realty, Charlotte, N.C.

Over the last few months, many Kansas REALTORS® have reported being contacted by a foreign buyer who is interested in purchasing a property with cash.  Following a rapid set of events, the foreign buyer will seek to steal money from the REALTOR®’s escrow or trust account using a fraudulent check or wired funds.  Please briefly review the contents of this notice and closely scrutinize any email communications you receive from buyers that fit the profile discussed in this notice.

The scheme begins with an email message from the foreign buyer explaining that they are interested in permanently relocating to Kansas and would like to purchase property with cash from an investment account.  Following the initial communication, the foreign buyer will mail a check or wire funds from a foreign bank account for the earnest money and a substantial down payment to the REALTOR®.  Unfortunately, the check or the wired funds originate from a bank account that does not exist and the funds are fraudulent.

As soon as the funds are deposited in the broker’s escrow or trust account, the foreign buyer suddenly cancels the transaction and demands the immediate return of the deposited funds.  Once the funds are wired back to the foreign buyer, the domestic bank holding the REALTOR®’s trust account will identify the original check or wired funds as fraudulent and the REALTOR® will be defrauded out of the money that was refunded to the foreign buyer from the escrow or trust account.

In order to avoid becoming a victim of these types of fraudulent schemes, never enter into one of these transactions without consulting your supervising broker and company legal counsel and watch out for the following red flags:

•  Cash offer from a foreign buyer drawn from a foreign bank account;

•  Foreign buyer insists on email communications and will not agree to conduct business over the phone;

•  Provides a passport and account statement as proof that the funds reside in a foreign bank account; and

•  Initial email communication contains typographical errors and poor grammar.

Planning what to do in case of a disaster is an important part of being prepared. The Internal Revenue Service encourages taxpayers to safeguard their records. Some simple steps can help taxpayers protect financial and tax records in case of disasters. [Read more...]

Here are a few from smaller to mid-sized firms –

Mick Eichholz – Hinkle & Eichholz – mickeichholz@msn.com – 913-764-8000

Raylene Kaye Crozier – 913-831-3685 – rkc@crozierlaw.com

Jennifer Blum – 913-341-0303

Jeff Rinne – 913-334-5444

Vernon Jarboe – 785-357-6311 – vjarboe@sloanlawfirm.com – http://www.sloanlawfirm.com/attvjarboe.html

Bob Bartunek – (he is part of a pretty large firm) tel – 816-421-4460 – http://www.sblsg.com/attorney_detail.asp?attorney=13

Robert Vancrum -913-948-9400 – http://www.vancrumlaw.com/

Here are some of the Largest law firms in town:

Lathrope and Gage – John Vratil – http://www.lathropgage.com/jvratil/

Stinson, Morris & Hecker – Mark Wilson – http://www.stinson.com/MarcWilson/

Polsineli & Shugart – http://www.polsinelli.com/lwinn/

Shook Hardy & Bacon – Greg Wolf – http://www.shb.com/locations.aspx?id=18

Here is the Real Estate Board – Attorney – Jim Hubbard – http://www.nhrk.com – 913-782-2350

I have worked with all of them in some fashion and found them to knowledgeable and reasonable.

Best regards,

Steve Kornspan
Re/Max Premier Realty Kansas City | Associate Broker, ABR, GRI, SRES
main: 913-871-4148 ext 2 | direct tel/text: 913-735-5752 | direct fax: 913-562-5789
Steve@SteveKornspan.com | www.SteveKornspan.com