On June 21, GCAR members gathered at the Crowne Plaza Albany for a general membership meeting. CEO, Laura Burns updated attendees on all things GCAR. At the time of the meeting, GCAR had 771 Principal Brokers with 3513 agents working out of approximately 868 offices. Global MLS showed 3,685 active listings and 3,519 pending/contingent continue to show and 4,790 new listings had been added year to date.

Linda Yetto, the President of GCAR, shared information on industry trends and market changes. She highlighted two key issues: rent control/good cause eviction and the recommendations of the NYS Climate Action Council to reduce carbon emissions. Concerning rent control, several industry associations filed a joint amicus brief in support of two cases challenging New York’s Rent Stabilization Law, urging the supreme court to hear the cases. The NYS Climate Action Council’s Scoping Plan was criticized for its lack of thorough analysis of the economic realities faced by New Yorkers and the absence of insights into the fiscal impact on current and future homeowners and commercial property owners. An expansive informational forum is in the works for October 25th at the Crowne Plaza Albany-Desmond Hotel.

The RPAC committee hosted a wine pull fundraiser during the meeting. Attendees were able to contribute twenty dollars to RPAC and receive a mystery bottle of wine in return. Wine for the fundraiser was donated by Jen Vucetic and GCAR. The wine pull raised a total of $1,575 for RPAC and brought in four new RPAC contributors.

In the previous general membership meeting held in March, FBI Field Agent Samantha Baltzersen provided insights into data thieves targeting personal data on phones, laptops, and other mobile devices. In response, the Broker-Owner-Manager Council curated the June meeting to focus on addressing this issue known as the “big steal.”

To guide the members in improving their mobile device security, the meeting featured a guest speaker, attorney Jacki Goralczyk, a data privacy and cybersecurity expert from the law firm of DeAngelus Goralczyk based in Clifton Park. Jacki, who holds a Master of Legal Letters in Cyber Security and Data Privacy and is a Certified Information Privacy Manager designated by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, specializes in financial services, real estate, and title industries. During her presentation, Jacki shared seven essential steps to enhance mobile device security:

1. Make sure your screen is always locked.

2. Install your updates.

3. Don’t charge your phone in public places using the USB.

4. If you question a link, wait until you get to a computer so that you can review the email.

5. Install two-factor authentication on all accounts.

6. Install anti-virus on your phone.

7. Break the email chains.