ArcadiaREALTOR®The Official Publication of the Arcadia Association of REALTORS®

VOL. 17, NO. 12WWW.THEAAR.COMDECEMBER 2013

PROUDLY SERVING THE REALTORS® OF ARCADIA, BRADBURY, DUARTE, MONROVIA AND SIERRA MADRE

“AAR 2,000 Realtor®Membership Milestone!”

See page 3

C.A.R. Recognizes AAR Members for

ContributionsSee page 5

President’s Farewell and Year in Review

See page 8

2

Arcadia Association of REALTORS®601 South First Avenue

Arcadia, California 91006626.446.2115

626.446.4072 FAXwww.TheAAR.com

2013 ASSOCIATION OFFICERSAndy Bencosme {President}

Mike Vachani {President-Elect}Joe Pacilio {Vice-President}

Jill Nelson {Secretary/Treasurer}

2013 ASSOCIATION DIRECTORSMicah Adams

Ryan AsaoRoy Blume

Kelvin ChangMargaret Garemore

John LeePaulina Lee

Sylvia RamosIrene Yamagata -Bermudez

2013 C.A.R. DIRECTORSRyan Asao

Andy BencosmeMargaret Garemore

George MonteRandall Traw

Mike VachaniKelvin Wong

ARCADIA ASSOCIATION STAFF

Robin Allen Ext. 307 Director of Finance / Office Manager Robin@TheAAR.com

Michael Beltran Ext. 302 IT Director / Webmaster Michael@TheAAR.com Brenda Faltes Ext. 304 Director of MLS Data Integrity, Supra & Social Media Brenda@TheAAR.com Jamie Hu Ext. 309 Administration Jamie.Hu@TheAAR.com

Stephanie Maertens Ext. 303 Director of Education, Publications & MLS Caravan Stephanie@TheAAR.com

Maria Roberts Ext. 305 Director of Membership & Professional Standards Maria@TheAAR.com Jane Shriver Ext. 301 Director of Association Services Jane@TheAAR.com

Andrew Cooper Ext. 308 Chief Executive Officer Andrew@TheAAR.com

{ Arcadia REALTOR® | December | Two Thousand and Thirteen | Volume Seventeen | Number Twelve}12.13

ArcadiaREALTOR®

December 2013

REGULAR FEATURES

4 Events Calendar

4 From the CEO’s Desk Andrew Cooper, Chief Executive Officer

5 Attorney Comments Dave Freeman, AAR Legal Counsel

6 Market Matters

9 Affiliate Corner “The Government is Back to Work! What Can We Expect for 2014?” Anthony Carusa, Logix Federal Credit Union

10 Through the Lens A Look at What’s Happening Around the AAR

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ON THE COVER3 “AAR 2,000 Realtor® Membership Milestone” The AAR is proud to announce its recent membership milestone!

5 C.A.R. Recognizes AAR Members for Contributions A C.A.R. Representative recently attended the MLS Caravan meeting to recognize those who have contributed to the Realtor® Action Fund in 2013.

8 President’s Farewell and Year in Review A look at all that has occured in the AAR this year and a farewell from 2013 AAR President, Andy Bencosme.

ADDITIONAL CONTENT3 John Wuo and Joe Pacilio Recognized at Methodist Hospital Crystal Ball Two AAR members were recently recognized at the Methodist Hospital Annual Fundraising Event.

11 AAR New Members The AAR welcomes its newest REALTOR® Members.

11 George Monte Receives N.A.R. Commercial Award We congratulate AAR Past President, George Monte, on his recent award and recognition through N.A.R. Commercial.

12 2013 Annual Installation & Awards Casino Night The AAR invites you to the Annual Installation of Officers and Directors. This year we will be installing Mike Vachani as AAR 2014 President and saying thank you to 2013 President, Andy Bencosme. This will be a fantastic night you will not want to miss!

Arcadia REALTOR® Magazine

John Wuo and Joe Pacilio Recognized atMethodist Hospital Crystal Ball

3

AAR member John Wuo and his wife Jane were recently honored at the annual Methodist Hospital Crystal Ball fundraiser in Pasadena in recognition of all the hard work they have done as Co-Chairmen of the fundraiser and the hundreds of thousands of dollars they have helped to raise for the hospital.

Proceeds from this particular year’s event will be used for cardiac care at the hospital. This particular use is near and dear to the heart of AAR member Joe Pacilio. Several years ago, Joe, who was also recognized at the Crystal Ball in an exciting video, had a heart attack and was administered life-saving treatment in the Methodist Hospital Catheterization Laboratory.

Joe Pacilio and his wife Lulu at the Methodist Hospital Crystal Ball.

AAR 2,000 REALTOR®

Member MilestoneFor the first time in our 89 year history,

the Arcadia Association of REALTORS® has surpassed the 2,000  REALTOR® member mark! As we grow we will

continue to add even more education, technology, legislative advocacy and

member services. Thank you to all our members for helping us achieve this

prestigious milestone as recognized by N.A.R.!

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FROM THE CEO’S DESKThe Gift that Keeps On Giving Wealthy and successful entrepreneurs share an important common denominator: they all have written, laser-focused goals and business plans. We can have all the ambition and best intentions in the world, however

without a clear and written plan on how to achieve those ambitions we will surely miss the mark.  There’s a saying you may have heard before, “A goal without a detailed plan is just a wish”. When we take those goals out of our heads and commit them to paper, something transformational happens. It turns something that’s not real into something that we can see and touch and understand.

As an organization, the AAR too is fully committed to detailed business plans. We create clearly defined and written goals each time we put together our Strategic Plan. One of the goals defined in our current plan was to reach 2,000 REALTOR® members by 2014. We’re very proud to announce that we already achieved our goal of over 2,000 REALTOR® members in November. This wasn’t achieved by merely saying we wanted 2,000 members. It was achieved by hard work and executing on the deliverables that were detailed in the plan. It started with a wish, it turned into a written, detailed plan and it culminated in achievement. Think of what your business would look like at the end of 2014 by turning your wishes into reality.

For a great article on how to create a real estate business plan that’s from REALTOR® Magazine, please email me and I’ll be happy to send you the article. My email address is Andrew@TheAAR.com.

To bring full-circle the points of this article, here’s an interesting story I read in a book aptly titled “Goals” written by Brian Tracey: In a 10-year time-lined Harvard University experiment, a graduating class from the university was asked about their goals after graduation. The experiment called for following up with the same graduating class 10 years later. It was determined that those students whose goals were only in their heads were earning twice as much as the students who had zero goals at the time of graduation. However, those students who had clearly defined and written goals were earning an astonishing 10 times as much as the other two groups combined!

This holiday time, why not give yourself the gift that will continue to give back to you for years and years to come by creating that million-dollar business plan.

On behalf of your 2013 Board of Directors and your dedicated AAR staff, we wish you a joyous and healthy holiday season. We’re looking forward to what is already promising to be an exciting 2014.

Cheers to your wealth,

M 2 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - CRMLS Training

T 3 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. - Beginning Zipforms Training 10:00 a.m. - Global Real Estate Comittee Mtg.

W 4 8:30 a.m. - MLS Caravan 9:30 a.m. - Events 4 Charity Auxiliary Mtg.

Th 5 9:30 a.m. - Commercial / Investment Committee Mtg. 11:00 a.m. - Commercial Education & Networking Session

F 6 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 - Toastmasters Year-End Party

M 9 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - “Dealing with Unpermitted Construction” Class

T 10 11:00 a.m. - Tech Committee Mtg. 12:00 p.m. - Committee Chair Thank You Luncheon - By Invitation Only

W 11 8:00 a.m. - Annual Holiday Breakfast @ Masonic Center 8:30 a.m. - MLS Caravan 8:45 a.m. - Affiliate Committee Mtg. 3:30 p.m. - Equal Opportunity / Housing Affordability Committee Mtg.

Th 12 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Lunch & Learn Series Class

M 16 8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. - AAR Leadership Mtg. - By Invitation Only

T 17 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Intermediate ZipForms6 Training 1:30 p.m. - Budget and Finance Committee Mtg. 2:00 p.m. - Education Committee Mtg.

W 18 8:30 a.m. - MLS Caravan 9:30 a.m. - Public Relations Committee Mtg. 1:30 p.m. - Local Governmental Relations Committee Mtg.

Th 19 8:30 a.m. - Board of Directors Mtg.

F 20 AAR Closes at 2:00 p.m.

T 24 AAR Closes at 12:00 p.m. for Christmas Eve W 25 No MLS Caravan AAR Closed for Christmas Day

T 31 AAR Closes at 12:00 p.m. for New Year’s Eve

December 2013

December Events

Andrew CooperChief Executive Officer

AttorneyComments

By Dave Freeman, Association Counsel

December 2013

1. MOBILE HOME PARK RENTING: Mobile home park owners normally prohibit the renting out of mobile homes in their projects. There are several reasons for this. One of which is so that the manager/operator can acquire older homes that people do not care to, or cannot afford to move to another location. Purchasing these homes at a very low price and renting them out can be quite lucrative to the park manager/operator. The attorney general has recently stated that if a manager/operator prevents the renting of mobile homes by individual mobile home owners, then the manager/operator cannot rent out the mobile homes which they own either. Works both ways.

2. PHONY LANDLORDS / SELLERS: During the recent real estate crash there have been many properties sitting vacant for some period of time. Opportunistic thieves have taken advantage of this situation by posing as the owner/landlord. They will post signs and even

advertisements for rentals or sales. Upon contact with the “buyer” or “tenant”, the unscrupulous person will rent to or sign a contract to sell the property to the unsuspecting person, and take a large deposit from them either for the down payment on the property or the first month’s rent and security deposit. At some point, the purchaser/renter discovers the scam, when the true owner contacts them, or when the attempted purchaser tries to open escrow. Please alert other agents and your clients to this scam. Suggest to your client that the best solution is to work through a licensed real estate agent who can check titles and ask for identification from the owner.

3. QUIET TITLE – DISAPPEARING OWNERS: I recently wrote about dormant liens and loans, which were not removed from title when paid off, and then clouded title when later discovered. A similar situation arises when a co-owner of the property moves away or disappears without

transferring title to his or her interest in the property. We recently had a situation where a co-owner of the property moved away and after 20 years, could not be found. If the co-owner or his relatives or a trust or probate cannot be found, a Quiet Title action will not be sufficient to remove the co-owner from the property (as with paid off loans or liens), because the co-owner is still the rightful owner of his or her share. Therefore, the most practical action may be a Partition and Sale lawsuit to cause the property to be sold and an Interpleader action must be filed to let the court hold the co-owner’s share until and if the co-owner can be found. All the above is quite confusing, utilizes much time and is expensive. Therefore, the best solution is to keep in touch with co-owners, have them sell their interest before leaving town on a permanent basis and/or avoid co-ownership all together.

Arcadia REALTOR® Magazine5

C.A.R. Recognizes AARMembers for Contributions

The California Association of Realtors® recognized your fellow AAR members for the generous donations to the C.A.R. Realtors® Action Fund (RAF).  The RAF is the money raised to advance the goals of our REALTOR® political action committees (PACs) at the local, state and federal levels of government that fight bills and laws that are detrimental to our industry.  Lynn Movroydis, Legislative Director for CAR, helped present the certificates. Those who contributed a minimum of $1,500 to RAF and received Golden R/Sterling R status include: Ryan Asao and Kelvin Wong. Those who contributed $148 to the RAF include: Micah Adams, Chip Ahlswede, Andy Bencosme, Roy Blume, Andrew Cooper, Margaret Garemore, John Lee, George Monte, Joseph Pacilio, Mark Ramos, Jeffrey Russell, Randall Traw, Irene Truong, Mike Vachani and Irene Yamagata. Contributors of $49 to the RAF include: Eugene Alkana, Peggy Allison, Lois Billings, Dhina Kingley, Elmer Black, Ernie Boehr, Melsyne Brown, Guillermo Brunstein, Chris Chan, David Wai Chan, Leo Chang, Jessica Chen, John Chen, Shau-an Chen, Wilson Chen, Xingjian Chen, Xiaobo Cheng, Joyce Cheung, Kelly Chiu, Tony Chiu, Orlando Clarizio, Anitra Clue, James Crawford, Cathie Dang, Stephanie Dang, Michelle Delli Quadri, Art DelRey, Andrew Demopulos, Janice DeNuto, Patricia Dmytrow, Emily Duggan, Peter Fan, Filippo Fanara, Sally Feng, Marsha Fields, Mark Fong, Charline Gallagher, Michael Gallagher, Kan Gay, Karen Gee, Art Giordani, Ryan Go, Ken Haas, Ji Han, Ping-Sh Han, Connie Hanson, Sydnie Ann Harrington, Bin He, (Continued on page 9)

AAR leadership members who contributed toward the RAF fund this year with C.A.R. Political Affairs Representative, Lynn Movroydis at a

recent MLS Caravan meeting.

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MarketMatters

Market Statistics for the San Gabriel ValleySingle Family Homes Condominiums SFR Only

City Zip Code

Sales of Single Family

HomesPrice Median SFR ($1,000)

Price % Chg from October

2012

Sales Count

Condos

Price Median Condo

($1,000)

Price & Chg from October

2012

Median Home Price/

Sq. Ft.Alhambra 91801 10 $588 10.8% 17 $393 3.3% $462Alhambra 91803 11 $580 33.3% 4 $417 60.4% $342Altadena 91001 34 $540 10.2% 2 $830 n/a $413Arcadia 91006 25 $950 -13.4% 10 $688 6.3% $473Arcadia 91007 28 $1,189 2.8% 16 $464 1.1% $551Azusa 91702 26 $350 25.0% 13 $229 43.0% $248Duarte 91010 17 $344 20.7% 6 $300 27.1% $319El Monte 91731 6 $395 25.4% n/a n/a n/a $357El Monte 91732 17 $343 2.1% 10 $370 6.5% $290El Monte - South 91733 10 $418 52.0% 2 $369 n/a $323Glendora 91740 16 $411 26.5% 2 $328 45.9% $345Glendora 91741 25 $509 21.5% 5 $384 -13.4% $319La Cañada Flintridge 91011 23 $1,177 8.2% n/a n/a n/a $560La Verne 91750 34 $490 7.1% 8 $347 54.9% $275Monrovia 91016 27 $560 12.0% 5 $510 51.1% $411Pasadena 91101 1 $380 n/a 16 $508 14.3% $376Pasadena 91103 15 $620 28.7% 9 $530 n/a $413Pasadena 91104 30 $635 26.9% 4 $350 -1.4% $429Pasadena 91105 12 $1,015 20.8% 7 $630 -6.0% $543Pasadena 91106 6 $815 45.5% 19 $423 0.7% $556Pasadena 91107 50 $722 3.4% 4 $483 -2.6% $442Rosemead 91770 18 $444 17.5% 1 $415 26.7% $337San Gabriel 91775 12 $708 20.9% n/a n/a n/a $442San Gabriel 91776 20 $488 25.1% 8 $505 5.8% $357San Marino 91108 15 $1,725 2.1% n/a n/a n/a $777Sierra Madre 91024 12 $863 33.6% 2 $593 26.6% $455Temple City 91780 36 $650 17.4% 5 $665 58.7% $406

Source: DQNews.com

October 2013

December 2013

7Arcadia REALTOR® Magazine

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December 20138

President’s Farewell Message & Year In ReviewBy Andy Bencosme, 2013 AAR President

This was a year that saw the real estate market heat up and brought many new agents to our ranks. After several years of a tough market and even tougher lending standards, we finally saw a seller’s market return and loosening credit standards while interest rates remained at all-time lows. This presented different challenges for REALTORS®. As

more and more new members joined, education and professional standards became a greater focus for the association.

The Education Committee, chaired by Kenny Watanabe, led our offerings with 64 classes reaching 1,800 attendees in those classes. This is a proud accomplishment as education leads the list of services our members want every time we conduct a membership survey. The Education Committee and the Association Staff have worked hard to keep pace with the demands of our members and deserve to be applauded for the outstanding job done this year. They have brought both quantity and quality, offering designation classes such as ABR and SRES to our members.

The Commercial Committee, chaired by Roy Blume, also adds some educational value to your membership. They put on 16 classes with 700 attendees this year. They also held a first ever Commercial Real Estate Day at the Races at Santa Anita Park and attendance was sold out! Our own Past-President, George Monte, who has been a great leader for us in the commercial area was named a 2013 N.A.R. National Commercial Award Winner for all of his hard work. Congratulations!

In the international area, the Global Committee, chaired by Nick Zigic, held a CIPS Institute and a TRC Certification for 19 attendees. This adds to our already strong group of internationally focused REALTORS®. At the N.A.R. November Meeting in San Francisco, the AAR won GOLD STATUS in NAR’s Global Achievement Program Awards. This was a huge honor considering the AAR beat out many much-larger Associations to earn Gold Status, including some state Associations. The AAR won this honor for many reasons including our dedication to international business through education, advocacy and our

hugely successful CIPS Institute.

Another core strength of the Arcadia Association of REALTORS® is political advocacy. This is the hard, boots to the ground work we must do to keep Government out of our pockets and protect our clients’ property rights. This year we had a contingency of 21 REALTOR® members attend C.A.R. Legislative Day in Sacramento. While there we met with our state representatives and lobbied for our clients and industries interests. The sheer number of REALTORS® in Sacramento made quite an impression and helped us fight off legislation detrimental to our industry. The Local Government Relations Committee, chaired by Kelvin Wong, brought issues home and put on 3 PEPster Luncheons which included guest speakers from State, County and Local Government.

We also tried to add value to your membership dues by using our size to add perks like our new discounted Disneyland tickets for AAR Members. We held a Valentine’s Day sale at the AAR store for 2 weeks in February to help you get the tools of the trade you need at a discounted rate. A big hit this year was our 1st ever AAR Paper Shred Day in the AAR parking lot. Judging by the number of people who took advantage of it, the event was a huge success and what our members need and want. We collected 22,360 lbs of shred, 850 lbs of cardboard, and 853 boxes shredded. We look forward to continue that for years to come.

The Arcadia Association of REALTORS® has a tradition of reaching out to both the community and our members. We continued this by partnering with the City of Duarte to hold a Duarte Homebuyer’s Fair in April. We also partnered with the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) for the first time to hold a combined conference at the Monrovia Doubletree Hotel.

In an effort to get our new Members involved we held three

New Member Receptions. One in Arcadia and two in Monrovia to welcome our newest members and encourage their involvement.

In reaching out to our community, one of the things the Arcadia Association of REALTORS® does that is close to my heart is raise money for our local charities. This year was a home run in that department. The Events 4 Charity

(Continued on page 11)

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Affiliate Corner“The Government is Back to Work! What Can We

Expect for 2014?”By Anthony Carusa, Logix Federal Credit Union

Prepare yourself for big changes in the economic climate in the coming months. The national budget deadline was delayed until February 2014 but decisions still have to be made regarding our increasing debt and the implementation of Obamacare, which doesn’t appear to have bipartisan support. So what does this mean for you, your business and your clients?

Janet Yellen, the nominee to be the next Federal Chief when Bernanke steps down January 31st has revealed strong support for the Federal bond buying program. Yellen recently testified that the Federal government will continue the policies still in place. She emphasized that the monetary stimulus is appropriate to help boost the economy. In short, her comments suggested that the Federal government is in no rush to tighten monetary policy.

Investors have viewed Yellen’s comments as good news and it’s reflected in the markets. At its current pace, the Federal government is purchasing the majority of newly issued Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) each month. Since mortgage rates are determined in large part by MBS prices, this enormous added demand from the Federal government for MBS has helped keep mortgage rates historically low. This is great for continuing the recent real estate growth we have been seeing. However that is what the left hand is doing and it’s what the right hand is doing that has some of us concerned.

Another change to be aware of is the recent amendment to

Regulation Z of TILA (Truth In Lending Act). Regulation Z currently prohibits a creditor from making mortgage loans without regard to the consumer’s ability to repay the loan. The Dodd-Frank Act also requires creditors to make a reasonable, good faith determination of a consumer’s ability to repay any consumer credit transaction secured by a dwelling and establishes certain protections from liability under this requirement for “qualified mortgages.” This would go into effect starting January 10, 2014.

What all of this means for many of us is that a lot of the programs that are available now for purchase and refinance transactions may no longer be offered by lenders, that guidelines which seemed to have started relaxing will again be more restrictive. Now the amendment isn’t saying those programs are no longer legal, but it will impose substantial penalties for loans that are originated outside the newly defined “box” and go bad. This will change the way lenders do business and in turn, deter lenders from making any sort of exceptions for transactions regardless of how small they may appear. This will be implemented across the board and affect the vast majority of financial institutions that originate mortgages with the exception of certain non-profit organizations such as certain credit unions.

So with contradicting efforts, this means there is a greater importance to align yourself with individuals and companies that stay abreast with these changes and clearly understand what options are viable for your clients.

For more information, please contact Anthony Carusa at (626) 254-3497 or at acarusa@lfcu.com

9

Rui Xia Herbst, Fran Hermann, Hernan Hernandez, Vidal Hernandez, Jin Ho, Diane Holguin, Ae-Kyong Hong, John Hsieh, Philip Hsu, Frank Hu, Shaw Hua Huang, Frances Hui, Alex Jimenez, Eunice Kang, Almon Kao, Carol Kennedy, Li Kingsberg, Grace Kwok, Linda Kwong, Chung-Yi Lai, Dorothy Lee, Florence Lee, Jeff Lee, Ming Lee, Nancy Lee, Winnie Leong, Fanny Leung, Benjamin Lin, Hsing-Liang Lin, Irene Lin, Henry Liu, Jie Liu, Schola Liu, Chring Sze Louie, Danny Lu, Alan Luu, Austin Ma, Jenny Ma, Len Ma, James Maceo III, Gordon Maddock, Fred Madjar, Gordon McIntosh, Jeri Miller, Yu Tu Milton, Mitra Mirage, Rosanna Morrison, Joseph Muljana, Gerard Myles, Giuseppe Napoli, Jill Nelson, Eddie New man, Nga Nguyen, Kevin Ong, Maurice Orme, Sue Orme, James Yu Pai, Tania Painter, Carolyn Papp, Yvonne Petty, Kathleen Pierce, Sandra Radey, Brigitta Radielovic, Amy Reed, Martin Rodriguez, Reni Rose, Phyllis Sang, David Scarminach, Ada Scofield, Paul Shih, Judy Skiff, Rosemary Skillman, Alma Smith, Janie Steckenrider, David Stewart, Mary Sun, Ting Sun, Tin-Jon Syiau, James Thomas, Sheila Trigon, Luther Tsinoglou, George Voigt, Chung Ping Wang, Louis Wang, Nan Wang, Sen Wang, Judy Webb-Martin, Paul Whang, Adam Wong, Diana Wong, Judy Wong, Frank Sheng Wu, Vicky Wu, Ai Wen Xu, Min Xu, Patricia Yau, Anna Yeh, Kay Yoon, Andrew Yu, Crystal Zheng, Tiffany Zheng, Tina Zheng, Yan Zheng and Grace Zhu.

C.A.R. Recognizes AAR Members for Contributions (Continued from page 5)

10

A Look at What’s Happening Around the AARthroughthe lens

10December 2013

AAR leadership at the N.A.R. International Night Out. (L to R): Charles Gabriels, Mike Vachani, Kelvin Wong, Andrew Cooper, Fred Madjar, Randall Traw and Nick Zigic.

C.A.R. Political AffairsRepresentative visits the MLS Caravan meeting to recognize

RAF 2013 contributors

Board of Directors

meeting at Sierra Madre

Search & Rescue

Education Courses and Halloween Visitors

Broker/Manager Lunch featuring Jennifer McLain, BusinessDevelopment Director, SGVEP and DaveFreeman, AAR Legal Counsel

11Arcadia REALTOR® Magazine

11

George Monte Receives N.A.R. Commercial Award

AAR New MembersThe Arcadia Association of REALTORS® formally welcomes our newest REALTOR® members!

The Arcadia Association of REALTORS® would like to formally welcome our newest REALTOR® members!

AAR new members with Membership Committee Vice-Chairman, Cindy Shiao; Committee Chairman, Alma Aguilar and AAR 2013 President, Andy Bencosme are (in no particular order): Eric Chan, Coldwell Banker Dynasty Arcadia; Arun Chillar, Coldwell Banker Arcadia; Richard Chow, Keller Williams West Foothills; Jenny Chui, IRN Realty; Denyse Guthrie, James Moran Jr. Brokerage; Wilson Hoang, RE/MAX 6000 Realty; Cheng Hung, IRN Realty; Betty Jong, Re/Max Advanced Realty; Gretchen Lastra, Castleton Real Estate and Development; Wen Lei, Coldwell Banker George; Chungping Li, Coldwell Banker Dynasty Temple City; Ruken Li, Coldwell Banker George; Xianghong Li, US National Realty; Xiang Ma, Highland Real Estate; Jimmy Qiu, Wilshire Investments Capital; Baulio Silva, Global Realty; Joe Sira, Dilbeck Real Estate; Guo Su, Highland Real Estate; Zhongmin Su, IRN Realty; Ching Sung, Kingston Realty; Michael Wang, RE/Max Omega Monrovia; Autumn Wilkins, James Moran Jr. Brokerage; Andrew Worley, Global Realty; Harry Wu, Kingston Realty; Bing Xu, Highland Real Estate; Jun Yan, Treeling Realty & Investment; Xiao Ye, Grandmark Realty Inc. and Yu Zhang, RE/MAX 6000 Realty.

Committee, Co-Chaired by Julie Muttavangkul and Jeanne Keating, did an incredible job putting on several charitable events, some new, some old, and all a lot of fun! They continued with our tradition of a Day at the Races, Bingo and Golf, but they also added 2 new events – a Wine and Cheese tasting and a Cigar and Whiskey tasting event. These events and your participation in them allowed us to donate $25,000 to many local charities in our community. Fantastic job!

All of our efforts do not go unnoticed, the AAR was awarded the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce Corporate Citizen of the Year Award in April - a very high honor which shows our standing in the community. A lot of weight was placed on our charitable giving when winning this award. We were also the recipient of N.A.R.’s 2013 Innovation Grant. The Arcadia Association of REALTORS® was awarded $3,000, which was used for our Commercial Real Estate Day at the Races event in October.

In the end, I think the greatest testament to the accomplishments and the value of the Association is the membership growth. Our services, education, professionalism and value continue to attract new membership that surpasses many other Associations. As of mid-November, we surpassed the 2,000 member mark for the first time in our 89 year history. It is exciting to think of where we will go next!

I want to thank everyone for their support, time and most of all their friendship. It was truly an honor to serve as your President in 2013 and represent this Association on your behalf.

President’s Farewell Message & Year In Review(Continued from page 8)

The Arcadia Association of REALTORS® would like to extend a sincere congratulations to Past President, George Monte, who was recently named a 2013 National Association of REALTORS® Commercial Award winner! He is among a select group of individuals to be recognized for his outstanding professional achievements in commercial real estate. Congratulations George!

12

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12

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Friday, January 10, 20146:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Noor Banquet RoomPaseo Colorado

Pasadena, California 91101

Tickets are on sale now for $65 each and can bepurchased by calling the AAR at (626) 446-2115 or

online at www.TheAAR.com

This will be an event that you will not want to miss!

2014 AARInstallation, Awards

& Casino Night