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The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® Global Business Council (SILVAR GBC) was presented the DIAMOND Global Achievement Program Award for 2018 by the National Association of REALTORS® at the Nov. 2-5 REALTORS® Conference & EXPO in Boston. SILVAR President Bill Moody and Executive Officer Paul Cardus accepted the award on behalf of the GBC from NAR Global Business and Alliances Committee Chair Mario Arriaga during the International Night Out dinner on Nov. 3.
The DIAMOND award is the highest level award for global achievement that recognizes those global councils that have consistently performed at the highest level for six years. The award is given to association global councils that have earned PLATINUM status for five consecutive years. SILVAR was honored with the PLATINUM Global Achievement Award for five consecutive years from 2013-2017.
NAR recognized SILVAR GBC as having demonstrated the utmost commitment to helping their members capture their share of the global real estate market in the United States, in addition to connecting their council and members to the global community in their area. The services and resources they have worked hard to provide their members are the benchmarks upon which the standards have been set.
“We are thankful to SILVAR’s Global Business Council for their commitment to enhancing global business opportunities for REALTORS® in their market,” said Jan Hope, NAR Vice President of Commercial & Global Services. “They have done an outstanding job and we are pleased to provide them with the Diamond Global Achievement Program Award.”
The GBC provides SILVAR members information, resources, networking and skills training to enhance their professionalism and success in their local markets with international and multicultural clients and customers. Each year the GBC provides a host of programs related to global real estate, including the Certified International Property Specialist Institute (CIPS).
The CIPS Institute provides training in international business issues, including currency conversion, cultural awareness, legal and tax requirements, transaction principles of international real estate, and specifics about the real estate markets in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. The course is taught by David Wyant, recognized NAR International Instructor of the Year for 2017, 2012 and 2009. There are currently over 4,000 CIPS designees from the U.S. and 35 other countries.
Congratulating the Global Business Council members, SILVAR Executive Officer Paul Cardus said, “The benchmarks for success over the past six years have been the commitment of SILVAR to think globally, the resolute efforts of our Global Business Council.”
Members of this year’s GBC core team are chair Tess Crescini, SILVAR board directors Mark Wong and Joanne Fraser, Mitra Lahidji, Atsuko Yube, past president David Tonna, Alicia Sandoval, Jimmy Kang, Ketan Jashapara, Daisy Wong and Lisa Wendl. Past chairs who led the team in obtaining past PLATINUM awards are Jennifer Tasto, Davena Gentry and Mark Wong.
Other REALTOR® associations earning DIAMOND status are Houston Association of REALTORS®, Arcadia Association of REALTORS® and Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association, REALTOR® Association of the Palm Beaches and Greater Ford Lauderdale (2017) and Miami Association of REALTORS® (2016).
Pictured are members of the Japanese real estate delegation with SILVAR board directors, Global Business Council members and guests.
Fifteen real estate professionals from Japan came to Silicon Valley early in this month to network with Silicon Valley REALTORS®, bring cultural awareness, and learn about similarities and differences in doing business in the U.S. and Japan.
At the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR), the Japanese real estate professionals also learned about home inspection and typical inspection services provided to homeowners in the U.S. SILVAR Global Business Council member Atsuko Yube, a REALTOR® with Global Estate Link, arranged the visit. Yube, who is also a past president of the Asian Real Estate Association of America Silicon Valley (AREAA SV) and a board director of AREAA Global Inc., said home inspection is new in Japanese real estate because typically, when purchasing property, the Japanese buyer will tear down the home and build new.
Yube explained it has been the custom in Japan to build new homes because the Japanese like things new. There is also the traditional belief that bad fortune can transfer from the previous owner to the owner. Because of the preference for new and their beliefs, secondhand homes are not as desirable and are heavily discounted. Homes that are newly constructed begin to depreciate in value from the day they are purchased. Most homes are rebuilt after 25 to 30 years.
“The re-sale market has not been strong historically, so when the age of a property is more than 20 years old, its value drops to zero with the property essentially having no value,” said Yube.
Upon arriving at SILVAR, executive officer Paul Cardus and president-elect Alan Barbic welcomed the visitors and shared some information about organized real estate in the U.S., the difference between a real estate agent and a REALTORS®, the REALTORS® Code of Ethics, and membership in the Association of REALTORS®. The real estate professionals met with board directors Mark Wong, Ryan Nunnally and Joanne Fraser, members of the Global Business Council, and leadership from other real estate associations, including Tess Crescini, chair of SILVAR’s Global Business Council and co-president of the Filipino American Real Estate Professional Association Silicon Valley (FAREPA SV), and Anna Maria Valenzuela and Tracey McNeeley, president and director of membership services, respectively, of the Women’s Council of REALTORS® Silicon Valley (WCR SV).
Introductions were followed by a presentation by Yube on Silicon Valley real estate in Japanese. SILVAR member Chika Mori, a REALTOR® with Keller Williams Realty, presented information about the MLS, also in Japanese. Her presentation was followed by a presentation on home inspection in the U.S. by Frank Lesh, executive director of the American Society of Home Inspectors, who flew all the way from Chicago to speak to the group, and Larry Tringali, with Property Inspection Services.
After the presentations, the visitors, members and guests, met for a special evening mixer. Like many foreign guests that visit Silicon Valley, the Japanese real estate professionals were interested in the giant tech companies and were fortunate to tour Google and Facebook during their visit.
Looking to foster investment opportunities between real estate stakeholders in the Philippines and the U.S., the Filipino American Real Estate Professional Association Silicon Valley (FAREPA SV) chapter is organizing a trade mission to the Philippines on June 16-29. The trade mission will take participants to Manila, the country’s capital, to the island of Palawan, which has the best beaches in the world, and to Vigan, a city known for its preserved Spanish colonial and Asian architecture.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime to learn about real estate opportunities in the Philippines, whose economy is thriving, develop partnerships with builders and developers, and see our beautiful country, especially Palawan, which is a hidden piece of paradise twice named ‘The Best Island In The World’ in Travel + Leisure magazine’s World’s Best Awards, and Vigan, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the few towns left in the Philippines whose old structures have mostly remained intact,” said FAREPA SV co-president Tess Crescini, who also serves as chair of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) Global Business Council.
In each destination the trade mission will provide real estate professionals the opportunity to partner with real estate builders and developers that are building the hottest developments around the country. The itinerary also will include the opportunity to attend the Philippine Economic Zone Authority’s First Global Ecozone Convergence & EXPO on June 18-19, of which the Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations, Inc. (CREBA) is an organizer. SILVAR is the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Ambassador to the Philippines and CREBA is its partner association there. SILVAR, CREBA and NAR President Liaison to the Philippines Jennifer Tasto are helping coordinate FAREPA’s trade mission.
FAREPA is expanding globally. The real estate association’s vision for the trade mission is to form marketing partnerships with top developers and local brokers and get to know the newest thriving areas and latest development amenities. Filipino-American baby boomers and Gen Xers are finding retirement in the Philippines desirable now due to low costs, improving health care, infrastructure, and a booming economy, said FAREPA trade mission committee chair Robert Balina.
“Becoming the go-to experts with marketing partnerships with top Philippine developers and brokers, U.S. clients can list their properties with us and we can help them purchase their retirement home, second home, or cash flow investment properties there,” said Balina.
Cost of the trade mission based on double occupancy is $3,075 all inclusive. The price includes round trip airfare via Philippine Airlines from San Francisco to Manila and back, two domestic flights, 11-night hotel stay, daily breakfast, lunch tour packages, airport transportation, and an option for an open-ended return flight. A non-refundable deposit is due by March 16, 2018. Full payment is due by May 1, 2018.
For more details, visit http://farepa.org/manila-trade-mission, or the SILVAR website at http://www.silvar.org, or contact Crescini at tess@heritagehi.com or (408) 781-0949; Balina at robert@synergizerealty.com or (408) 750-6425; or Wilma Baltar at wilmabaltar@kw.com or (408) 781-5300.
For the fifth straight year, the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) Global Business Council (GBC) has earned the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Platinum Award for Global Achievement. The platinum award is the highest distinction presented by NAR to an association for having demonstrated through its global business council exceptional commitment to building member awareness of global and multicultural business opportunities in their local markets.
SILVAR is the only association in Northern California to achieve platinum council status since the program’s inception in 2011. NAR stated SILVAR’s global council “has shown the highest level of service to its global members by consistently providing them with the tools they need to handle international real estate in addition to connecting your council to the global community in your area.”
Under the leadership of 2017 Global Business Council chair Tess Crescini, a broker with Heritage Homes & Investments, SILVAR GBC this year presented two programs on immigration and types of visas for foreign buyers and investors, the “Learning from Leaders” program in partnership with Silicon Valley YPN, and the “Learn to be a Leader” workshop. Both leadership programs were made possible in part by a NAR Diversity Initiative grant.
The GBC helped promote NAR’s At Home with Diversity certification course and SILVAR’s sixth Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) Institute. The GBC also coordinated a visit to SILVAR by young professionals from Secovi, a Brazilian real estate organization. The trade mission included engineers, real estate attorneys, developers, property managers, economists and real estate agents.
SILVAR partners with other real estate associations throughout the year to promote awareness and education in global real estate. As NAR Ambassador Association to the Philippines, SILVAR partners with the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations Inc., the largest real estate umbrella organization in that country. SILVAR member and past GBC chair Jennifer Tasto is NAR’s President Liaison to the Philippines.
SILVAR GBC is one of a select few Platinum Councils in the country in 2017. Reaching the Platinum award level places SILVAR in the top 11 percent of councils operating nationwide. The prestigious award will be presented at the Nov. 3-6 NAR Conference & Expo in Chicago.
SILVAR President Denise Welsh administers the oath of office to FAREPA Co-presidents Tess Crescini and Wilma Baltar, Vice President Cheryl (CJ) Javier, treasurer Mark Taylan; and secretary Gelda Lopez.
The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® congratulated the 2017-2018 co-presidents, officers and board directors of the Filipino American Real Estate Professional Association (FAREPA) Silicon Valley yesterday at a luncheon ceremony at David’s Restaurant in Santa Clara.
Members of the 2017-2018 FAREPA leadership team include SILVAR Global Business Council chair Tess Crescini (Heritage Homes & Investments) and Wilma Baltar (Keller Williams Silicon City), co-presidents; Cheryl (CJ) Javier (CBC Realty), vice president; Mark Taylan (Direct Mortgage Funding), treasurer; Gelda Lopez (Wells Fargo Home Mortgage), secretary. The co-presidents and other officers were installed by SILVAR President Denise Welsh.
2017-2018 FAREPA Board of Directors, installed by Rick Smith, president of the Santa Clara County Association of REALTORS® (SCCAOR), included Dexter Lat (Realty World Alliance), Tessie Figueroa (Akimax Realty), Dan Ramas (Keller Williams Silicon City), Robert Balina (Synergize Realty), Anna Truong Lopez (Bank of America Home Mortgage), Divina Parreno (WFG National Title Insurance Co.) and Edelith Obas (WEST).
Co-emcees for the event were Hilda Ramirez, SCCAOR director of PR, Communications & Education, and Fremont City Council Member David Bonaccorsi. SILVAR Public Affairs & Communications Director Rose Meily delivered the invocation and Ben Menor, executive director of the Federation of Philippine American Chamber of Commerce, delivered the Heritage Message.
Keynote speakers were Bureau of Real Estate Commissioner Wayne Bell and California State Senator Jim Beall. Bell thanked REALTORS® for raising the standard of the real estate profession, noting, “It’s a team that makes real estate work in California.”
Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® says ... 