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Marilyn D. Glazer, GRI, CRS, CRB, M.S.Ed.

Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana have signed real estate license reciprocity agreements that will allow brokers and sales associates licensed in any of the three states to do business in the other states if they meet certain requirements. To obtain license reciprocity, a licensee must pass the state portion of the licensing examination in a state, pay a licensing fee and have the license issued. No pre-license education is required if an applicant holds a license in one state. For more information, contact the Ill. Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Real Estate , 217-782-3000.

The Illinois legislature passed a landmark bill this month prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations and access to credit. Gov. Blagojevich has indicated he will sign it into law, making Illinois the 15th state to prohibit such discrimination in these critical areas of daily life.

When signed by the Governor, this will be an addition to the Illinois Law, which already has the following as protected classes:  Age (over the age of 40), marital status, military status, ancestry, less than honorable military discharge.

Federal law remains the same protected classes:  Race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and handicap.

Local protected classes vary:  Chicago:  Source of income (includes Section 8 certificate holders).  Cook County: Souce of income (which DOES NOT include Section 8 certificate holders), and housing status.

I was looking for a topic for this column when I started reading Troubleshooting Your PC . This is a manual written to help diagnose and solve problems with your computer hardware. On page 2 (Computer Crashes), I read, “... telltale signs of a computer crash are a screen with black lines, or a blank screen…” Didn't I turn on my computer last evening and find a screen with black lines rolling across it?

I was out of town over the weekend and brought along my laptop which I used several times without any difficulty. At home, that laptop connects to a docking station. If you don't know, a docking station is a platform that you slip your computer into which includes hookups to other devices such as a printer, speakers, scanner or mouse, eliminating the need to constantly reconnect them. Docking stations enable a laptop computer user to have the feel of a desktop when at the office or at home.

You can imagine that seeing the black lines on my screen, which I had just hours before read about, sent me into a panic. I removed my computer from the docking station, hoping I could set up my computer independently from this device. But the same screen reappeared. I began asking myself things like: When was the last time I backed up the data on my computer? (Not as recently as I should have!) Why didn't I purchase a new computer? (My son, the computer expert, had been reminding me how old my computer was getting.) How long will it take to fix my computer or purchase a new one and have it up and running? (Weeks, at the least.) Will my data be recovered? (My updated customer mailing list is on the hard drive.) I really get a sick feeling when I ask myself that last question.

I have come to depend on this machine, using it to organize this real estate business, which creates so much paper. How will I survive? The first thing I do before making coffee in the morning is turn on my computer. I check my email, then the MLS, then the Hot sheet, then my calendar to view my appointments for the day and I then begin answering my email….

Next month I will have a computer and be back on track. I hope to continue this topic with no other (bad) first hand experiences.

Please forward your questions to Chris Puszynski: Chris@Concare.com.