President's message: First meeting to be held Jan. 17

The first meeting of the year for the NYSCAR Board of Governors will be held January 17, 2008 at the Craftsman Inn in Fayetteville, New York. The Board will review and act on the proposed slate of committee volunteers for the year as well as the 2008 budget. The announcement of the 2007 NYSCAR Realtor of the Year will be made and the governors and officers will be officially installed. I am looking forward to a very productive first meeting. NYSCAR, in conjunction with the Ulster County Board of Realtors recently offered the 15 hour Commercial Basics Course, instructed by Joseph Deegan, CCIM of Kingston, New York. The course was well received by 19 students. The education schedule for the upcoming year will be announced shortly. Please be sure to mark your calendar for the Seventh Annual New York State Commercial Real Estate Conference, June 16-18 at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York. The event is sponsored by the New York State Commercial Association of Realtors, the New York State Chapters of CCIM and SIOR and the Society of Exchange Counselors. The event has attracted attendees from across the country As in the past, there will be continuing education courses, a marketing session, golf outing, welcome reception and outstanding networking! News from the National Association of Realtors The National Association of Realtors said, "The commercial real estate market and the health of the nation's economy as a whole will benefit from the reauthorization of the federal government's terrorism risk insurance program, which President George Bush signed into law December 26, 2007. The National Association of Realtors has long advocated for passage of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision Extension Act to maintain a strong commercial market.As the leading advocate for real estate issues, NAR commends President Bush and Congress for enacting the federal terrorism insurance backstop," said NAR president Richard Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, California. The potential unavailability of terrorism risk insurance would have had a devastating impact on many commercial financing agreements and could have negatively affected the commercial real estate market. The terrorism insurance program, initiated after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has helped stabilize the commercial real estate industry. The new law will extend the program for seven years, covers both foreign and domestic acts of terrorism, retains the "trigger level" at $100 million of damages at which point federal assistance kicks in and establishes a blue ribbon commission tasked with recommending a long-term private market solution. Maureen Wilson is 2008 president of NYSCAR, New York, N.Y.