Illinois REALTORS® Podcast

This week on the podcast, you might have seen Governor Pritzker’s recent State of the State address delivered to the general assembly on February 20th. In this address the governor specifically called out the current need for more housing in the state. Here to talk to us a bit more about what we’re doing to work with lawmakers to make it a reality, we have our old friend the Vice President of State Government Affairs for your Illinois REALTORS Jimmy Clayton. Jimmy brings to light 2 of our 5 bills currently in the legislature that are truly building up steam to help ease the affordability crisis.

This week on the podcast we're quickly approaching the REengage Winter Conference to help you get you 2025 kicked off with energy! As with our 2024 gatherings we're once again offering Continuing Education courses and we're thrilled to have Lynn Madison once again gracing our stage to teach a 2 hour course on The New Normal: Turning Negotiations Into Transactions on Monday, January 27th from 2:00-4:00pm. To help us break all of this down we welcome back into the studio the VP of Professional Development Young Brockhouse to tell us all about the course. There's still time to register at www.IllinoisRealtors.org!

This week on the podcast we're welcoming back Illinois REALTORS® General Counsel and VP of Legal Services Betsy Urbance to give some vital and quickly-shifting legal updates that pertain to the Real Estate world. The Supreme Court heard arguments about the upcoming ban on TikTok and on the reporting requirements for LLC's to the FINSEN department of the US Treasury. What do these arguments mean or you? Well Betsy and the entire Legal Team have the answers and you cannot afford to miss them!

Happy new year everyone! We're kicking off the brand new year by drawing your attention to the quickly approaching REengage Winter Conference taking place January 27-30 in Bloomington-Normal. This conference is a MUST-ATTEND event for realtors, brokers, appraisers, new agents and everyone in between to make sure you start off the year right and hit the ground running. We're welcoming a full house of guests today including Tommy Choi, Jeff Kolbus, Megan Oswald, Nora Gruenberg, Neeley Erickson and Michael Dobrow to give you 5 MORE REASONS to make sure you're there!

A new year means a slew of new laws that are going into effect and many that pertain to the day-to-day dealings within the Real Estate Industry. It's once again time for our Associate General Counsel Matt Rentschler to give a comprehensive rundown of all of these new laws and what they mean to your businesses. From updates to RELA, new laws about Financial Disclosures and even updates to the Illinois Human Rights Act, Matt has you covered on everything you need to know as we begin 2025.

Happy holidays Illinois REALTORS®! Today our holiday gift to you focuses on the success of three Illinois recipients of NAR REALTOR® Magazine’s 30 Under 30 class for 2024. Join us as we celebrate Brandon Blankenship of Keller Williams Premiere Properties in Wheaton, Viktoriia Kovel of Keller Williams Pinnacle in O’Fallon and Melanie Miller of Keller Williams ONE Chicago. The guest host for today’s conversation is none other than Illinois REALTORS® Immediate Past President Matt Silver.

On this week's episode we welcome two guests to talk about an important part of REALTOR® advocacy that could fly under your radar unless the community you live in or work in is directly affected. Of course, we're talking about local advocacy and the critical role it plays in your business, in the real estate market and defending the rights of private property owners. To talk about it we welcome Illinois REALTORS® government affairs Director Neely Erickson and Ashley Heilman, President of the Northwest Illinois Alliance of REALTORS® and Managing Broker for Welcome Home Northwest Illinois.

On this week's episode of the podcast we’re bringing you a message from Betsy Urbance, the General Counsel and VP of Legal Services for your Illinois REALTORS®. With the NAR Lawsuit settlement getting final approval from the overseeing judge, the practice changes the we have been adhering to since August will now officially be the standard. Still, 48 hours before the final approval the DOJ filed a statement of interest in the case indicating a concern about buyer broker agreements. To make sure you have all the facts about what this means Betsy popped into our studio to give you 5 reason why buyer broker agreements are an important consumer protection.

This week on the podcast we're bringing you the full audio of our 2025 President Tommy Choi appearing on the HOUSESMARTS Radio Show hosted by Lou Manfredini and carried on WGN Radio. In this conversation Tommy talks about the ramifications of the NAR Lawsuit getting final approval of the settlement agreement from earlier this year, how the practice changes from that suit have already been implemented in the industry, and were we can expect the market to go and how REALTORS® will continue to take a pivotal role in making the housing market thrive for all Americans.