Announcements

REALTOR.com® listings now on msn.com

REALTOR.com® listings have been integrated into the MSN House & Home channel replacing Lending Tree’s RealEstate.com. The integration was completed on March 11, 2004. From this point forward, all REALTOR.com® property listings will now be exposed exclusively to an average of 5.2 million MSN House & Home users each month. Additionally, all listing enhancements, Virtual tours and Office Sign Riders purchased on REALTOR.com® will appear automatically on the MSN co-branded site, at no additional cost to agents.

FYI - No listing information is given or sent to MSN. All property listing data will continue to reside on REALTOR.com’s® site and databases. They are simply hosting listing search results for MSN.

NumberPortability.com - Change providers but keep your cell number!

Have you delayed changing cellular phone service because you didn’t want to change cell phone numbers again? NumberPortability.com offers the ability to keep your existing cell phone number when you change providers. Number Portability.com is an independent and carrier-neutral site offering expertise to consumers, free of charge, on how to save money and get better cell phone service. It provides news, plan comparison and advice for wireless customers. To see if your number is portable, visit NumberPortability.com.

Win a $7,500 grant for your community cause

REALTOR® magazine is seeking nominees for its fifth annual Good Neighbor Awards, which recognize REALTORS who positively impact their community through volunteer work. Five winners will be recognized at the 2004 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in Orlando and will receive travel expenses to attend the show and a $7,500 grant for their community cause. Volunteer work might include affordable housing initiatives, youth mentoring, homelessness prevention, or anything else that makes a community a better place to live. Entries are due May 28. For more information and an entry form, visit http://www.realtormag.com/rmodaily.NSF/pages/goodneighborhomepage

Teachers and police officers elibible for 50% discount on homes

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has started a new program in which teachers and police officers may be eligible for a 50 percent discount on homes in low or moderate-income neighborhoods. Teachers and police officers who buy properties from HUD under the Officer/Teacher Next Door program must work in the district or city where they make their purchase and must agree to live there for three years. To help reduce the risk of fraud, HUD will not allow participants to buy any other residential property while involved in the program. HUD officials say the program—which launched nationwide two months ago—is designed to attract more teachers and police officers to live and work in distressed urban communities.

Mortgage Relief for Military Personnel

On December 19, 2003, President Bush signed into law the "Servicemembers Civil Relief Act" (SCRA). Under this new law, "Servicemembers" are defined as persons on active duty in the military, but also includes National Guard members who have been called up for active duty for more than 30 days. Servicemembers must send a copy of their military orders to all of their lenders. Once the lender has been put on notice, it must reduce all interest payments down to six percent, and most importantly, must forgive all pre-service debts which exceeded this six percent cap. This protection applies only to debts incurred before the borrower went into active military service; debts incurred while on active duty are not similarly protected.