Grand Traverse County Approves Drafting PILOT to Support Workforce Housing Development; Commissions-Related Lawsuit filed in Texas Aimed at Local Associations, Teams or Brokerages, and an Individual Broker; Support RPAC Participation Goal for 2023 by December 15th
Highlighted in the GAD Top 3 this week the Grand Traverse County Commission takes steps to move forward with a policy that can support workforce housing development, a commissions-related lawsuit filed in Texas is worth monitoring, and help Aspire North REALTORS to reach our RPAC participation goal for 2023 with a $15 investment today!
1. Grand Traverse County Approves Drafting PILOT to Support Workforce Housing Development
At the Wednesday, Nov. 22nd Grand Traverse County Commission Meeting the Grand Traverse County Commission voted to approve drafting a new payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) policy to help encourage developers to create more workforce housing in Grand Traverse County. This new policy language is expected to be available for the County Commission’s review at their Dec. 6th Board Meeting held at 9 am at the Governmental Center (400 Boardman Ave., Traverse City), 2nd Floor Commission Chambers. For more information check out this Record-Eagle article.
2. Commissions-Related Lawsuit Filed in Texas Aimed at Local Associations, Teams or Brokerages, and an Individual Broker
A Texas lawsuit filed on Monday, November 13th by a Texas home builder and business magazine publisher targets local associations and brokerages while identifying the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) as the “creator of the conspiracy.” The named defendants include The Texas Association of REALTORS, MetroTex Association of REALTORS, Houston Association of REALTORS, Austin Board of REALTORS, San Antonio Board of REALTORS, more than 20 Texas real estate teams and brokerages, and individual broker Mark Anthony Dimas. The lawsuits alleges that all named defendants violated the federal Sherman Antitrust Act. The lawsuit also accuses real estate teams of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of all home sellers in Texas from November 13th, 2019 to the present who paid a buyer’s agent commission using a defendant or their affiliates as a listing broker. Other lawsuits have been filed since the Sitzer/Burnett verdict in South Carolina, New York City, and Chicago although not to the scale of this Texas lawsuit. Learn more about the Texas commissions lawsuit here.
3. Support RPAC Participation Goal for 2023 by December 15th
As we cover each week in the GAD Top 3, crucial considerations are happening at local, state, and national levels which could significantly and negatively affect the real estate industry. If you have not already invested in RPAC in 2023, please consider making a minimal investment of $15 to help the RPAC Committee reach its membership participation goal of 20.58% for 2023.
You can submit an RPAC investment by clicking this link https://www.mirealtors.com/Advocacy-Initiatives/RPAC and then taking the following steps:
- As that page opens, click INVEST NOW/ONLINE.
- As a new page opens, enter your NRDS/Member ID number. Don’t Know Your NRDS/Member ID? Find it here: https://login.connect.realtor/#!/forgotmember.
- Select your Investment amount.
- Select either one-time or monthly recurrence.
- Click Process Investment at the bottom of the screen!
