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Nearly 60 members from the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®, the Philippine Chamber of Real Estate & Builders Associations, Inc. (CREBA), the Filipino American Real Estate Professional Association (FAREPA) and other guests joined SILVAR’s virtual trade mission to Silicon Valley yesterday. The program, hosted by SILVAR’s Global Business Council (GBC), took participants from the Philippines virtually on a Philippine Airlines plane to the U.S., landing in San Francisco and spanning top spots in the heart of Silicon Valley, from Apple, LinkedIn, Facebook, to Google.
Welcoming trade mission participants to the region was GBC Chair Atsuko Yube and SILVAR CEO Paul Cardus. Evangeline (Vangie) Yia, CREBA vice president of International Affairs, said CREBA members were happy for the opportunity to join the trade mission. Among those joining the trade mission were Philippine Real Estate Commissioner Eduardo Ong and Andy Mañalac, CREBA vice president for Housing Affairs.
SILVAR is the National Association of REALTORS® Ambassador Association to the Philippines and CREBA is its partner association there. Yube said few agents from the Philippines have been able to travel abroad and their country has been closed to foreigners due to the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic there. The virtual trade mission gave Philippine International REALTOR® Members (IRMs) a chance to learn about Silicon Valley’s housing market without having to physically travel here. It was also an opportunity for SILVAR members to network, get to know other agents from the Philippines, and build relationships.
The trade mission program included an overview of the housing markets of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties by Michelle Ronco, senior product marketing manager with Aculist, a subsidiary of MLSListings, SILVAR’s multiple listing service. Ronco showed charts illustrating the market trends through the years and that showed momentum in the market despite the pandemic.
MLSListings Director of Outreach Mark Messimer then explained what an MLS is and the services it provides its subscribers. The Philippines does not have an official MLS system. The IRMs were curious and asked if they could join MLSListings. Messimer said only REALTORS® whose brokers are members of the MLS can be members of MLSLIstings, but access to IRMs is something that can be explored.
Joanne Fraser, president of SILVAR, then walked guests through the real estate transaction process in Silicon Valley, highlighting the many forms, inspection reports, disclosures and advisories that REALTORS® and their clients need to review thoroughly. She explained the importance of disclosures and the difference between escrow and title insurance, which Commissioner Ong noted are only used in the Philippines when dealing with very large transactions. Fraser then took participants on a virtual tour of a Los Altos condominium, which had just sold at 5 percent over asking at a price of $1,676,000, setting a record for the building.
Vicky Silvano, NAR Global Ambassador to the Philippines, explained how IRMs can work with SILVAR REALTORS® and how to use international referral forms from NAR. She noted being a Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) can give REALTORS® an edge in global real estate. An open forum for sharing of information and Q & A followed the presentations. The program then ended with a virtual tour of the Google complex in Mountain View.
This is a rendering of the REALTOR® Village to be built in the Philippines. NAR provided seed money to help construct containerized housing in the town of Bogo, Cebu in the Philippines.
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) has partnered with the Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Association, Inc. (CREBA) to build a REALTOR® Village in the Philippines. CREBA is the exclusive partner of NAR in the Philippines, one among over 82 real estate organizations delegated with stewardship of the NAR name and programming. SILVAR is NAR’s Ambassador Association to the Philippines and maintains a cooperative relationship with CREBA.
The REALTOR® Village is a project of the Philippine American Society of Arts & Culture in cooperation with NAR and CREBA that will provide containerized housing, the first of its kind, to promote socialized housing in the town of Bogo, which is located in the island of Cebu, Philippines. NAR provided seed money for the project.
Super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) that struck the country in November 2013 killed over 6,000 people and disrupted the lives of over a quarter of a million Filipinos, leaving them homeless. The proposed containerized housing can withstand wind of up to 100 miles an hour. The units are considered green buildings. The sustainability plan will consist of equipping recipients with aquaponics and dry hog farming. The recipients will also be planting fruit trees. The target is to build a village of 60 units, including a multipurpose center, health center and library.
A ribbon cutting ceremony attended by NAR Past President Steve Brown and NAR Treasurer Michael McGrew was held a day before the July 27-30 NAR International RELATORS® Conference hosted by CREBA in the Philippines. SILVAR member and past Global Business Council chair Jennifer Tasto, who currently serves as NAR’s President’s Liaison to the Philippines, represented NAR and SILVAR at both events.
Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® says ... 