STATE NEWS

Vol. 9 www.ndrealtors.comom April, 2007

Deducting Rent and Lease payments You can look up the “Do’s and Don’ts” of deducting rent and lease payment as expenses connected to your business. For details go to: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=168009,00.html

IR 2007-058 IRS Often imitated, never duplicated... The IRS reminded taxpayers that the address of the official IRS government Web site is www.irs.gov. Taxpayers may be confused by Internet sites that contain some form of the Internal Revenue Service name acronym with a .com, .net, .org or other designation in the address instead of .gov. These sites are not the official IRS Web site. Also, Taxpayers who receive an unsolicited e-mail purporting to be from the IRS should never click on any links in the message, open any attachments or provide any personal or financial information to the sender.

® ND REALTORS to Help Rebuild Homes in Mobile, Alabama ® Teams of REALTOR volunteers nationwide once again joined Habitat for Humanity to rebuild homes in the Gulf Coast for families displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The volunteer groups are part of the ® ® REALTOR -Habitat Partnership for Gulf Coast Recovery program, in which NAR and state and local REALTOR associations have committed to generate more than $4 million to build as many as 54 houses along the Gulf Coast. Construction is currently under way on 24 of the homes. President Joe Frenzel has appointed Claus Lembke to lead a North Dakota team of volunteers for a 7-day trip to Mobile Alabama. The dates are set for ® October 14 to 20. The team must consist of at least 8 ND REALTORS and no more than 15. Details for this volunteer program will be presented at the April 18-19 NDAR Membership Committee and Board of Directors meetings in Dickinson. For more info, contact [email protected] or dial 800-279-2361.

Live Webinar about Taxes April 10 The SBA and the IRS are sponsoring a free WEBINAR next week on Tuesday. Please share this information with your members. They'll be talking about common mistakes and updates the first 1/2 hour and showing how to navigate the IRS web page the second 1/2 hour. There will be the ability to attend in person in Fargo, Grand Forks, or Bismarck if the participant does not have access to the internet and a separate phone line. Click here for details and registration info.

LEGAL Brokerage Not Liable for Prospective Buyer's Injuries A brokerage is not liable for injuries suffered by a prospective buyer during her unaccompanied tour of a partially built home, ruled the Court of Appeals of Ohio for the Sixth District, affirming the trial court's decision. The prospective buyer argued she was not provided with a safe exit from the home, after falling when stepping onto an upside-down bucket. Ohio law does not require an owner or occupier of land to warn people invited to the property about "open and obvious" dangers, since people are expected to assess possible dangerous situations themselves. For a summary, click here.

Counteroffer Is a Rejection of Earlier Offer A prospective buyer can't choose to accept a seller's counter offer after the buyer had already countered the seller's counter offer, the District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District, ruled, reversing the trial court and finding in favor of the seller. To read a summary of the case, click here.

Chris Matthews to Speak at NAR Midyear Meetings The host of MSNBC's "Hardball With " and NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" presents his insider's views during the 2007 NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings & Expo in Washington, D.C., in mid-May. Matthews will appear before the Legislative and Political Forum on May 15, 7:30-9 a.m., in the Marriott Wardman Park. Hear what makes Chris Matthews' shows lively and thought-provoking as he draws on his experience as a broadcast journalist, a newspaper bureau chief, a presidential speechwriter, and a best-selling author. For more info, click here

NDAR committee and BOD meetings April 18/19 NDAR is holding state meetings on April 18 & 19 in Dickinson at the Days Inn. A representative from NAR, Scott MacIntosch, will be there and giving an economic update. The following committees will be meeting: Education Committee, Equal Opportunity Task Force, Technology Task Force, Membership Committee, Nominating Committee, Political Affairs Committee, RPAC Fundraising Task Force, Washington Briefing, Executive Committee, and Board of Directors. Check www.ndrealtors.com for a detailed meeting schedule. Meetings are open to all members—you are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Technology Tip How do you choose a good password? Most people use passwords that are based on personal information and are easy to remember. However, that also makes it easier for an attacker to guess or "crack" them. Consider a four-digit PIN number. Is yours a combination of the month, day, or year of your birthday? Or the last four digits of your social security number? Or your address or phone number? Think about how easily it is to find this information out about somebody. What about your email password—is it a word that can be found in the dictionary? If so, it may be susceptible to "dictionary" attacks, which attempt to guess passwords based on words in the dictionary.

Although intentionally misspelling a word ("daytt" instead of "date") may offer some protection against dictionary attacks, an even better method is to rely on a series of words and use memory techniques, or mnemonics, to help you remember how to decode it. For example, instead of the password "hoops," use "IlTpbb" for "[I] [l]ike [T]o [p]lay [b]asket[b]all." Using both lowercase and capital letters adds another layer of obscurity. Your best defense, though, is to use a combination of numbers, special characters, and both lowercase and capital letters. Change the same example we used above to "Il!2pBb." and see how much more complicated it has become just by adding numbers and special characters.

Don't assume that now that you've developed a strong password you should use it for every system or program you log into. If an attacker does guess it, he would have access to all of your accounts. You should use these techniques to develop unique passwords for each of your accounts.

Here is a review of tactics to use when choosing a password: • Don't use passwords that are based on personal information that can be easily accessed or guessed • Don't use words that can be found in any dictionary of any language • Develop a mnemonic for remembering complex passwords • Use both lowercase and capital letters • Use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters • Use different passwords on different systems

Mark Your Calendar for… NDAR Office Closed, Good Friday, April 6 NDAR Committee and Board of Directors Meetings, Dickinson, April 18-19 Fair Housing Workshop, Bismarck, 1:00 pm, April 24 NDAR Leadership Retreat, Mandan, May 2-3 Contract Law Course, Grand Forks, May 10 NAR Midyear Meetings, Washington, DC, May 14-19 Check www.ndrealtors.com for more events and updates!