NAR Letter to Realtors "Support NAR's Four-Point Housing Stimulus Plan"

 I think that it is great that I have a voice in government with the NAR but as an individual I don't agree with many things in your 4 point plan. Obviously the NAR thinks that the government should help calm the nerves of the people by creating such incentives to help sell houses and that is a great way to stimulate the economy and that could possibly happen. It would also keep realtors in a job, but many of the people that would be qualified to purchase a home with such incentives plans would find themselves in trouble down the road just like the country is in now. What ever happened to 20% down? If you don't have it then you should wait to purchase your American dream home until you do have it. Our country is on a runaway train with credit. That train is sure to crash if credit is not restrained. It is too easy for mom and dad to go to  Wal-Mart or K-mart and use their charge cards to buy a bunch of crap that is not necessary in their lives. Don't get me wrong using a credit card is a great convenience but pay off the bill in full when it comes to you. If you don't and you only pay the minimum that is what creates the runaway train effect.  If they put themselves in the hole using credit what makes you think that they will be smart enough or less greedy in the future. I have been working pre-foreclosure short sales and selling many homes. Many of my clients got in way over their heads financially with the purchase of their homes. Some have told me that they were duped when it came to the type of mortgage they had. They were not educated in financing and types of mortgages.  They should have known or been counseled before they made the purchase! I always hear that we must educate the consumer but no one is doing it. Dangle that home contract with a shinny new home in front of a buyer and they only see the home not the financial burden that will be theirs once the payments start. Not everyone should have a Dream Home. I am sorry to say that but that is the Department of Commerce's propaganda that got America into the current crisis. Just because I am a member of the NAR does not mean that I agree with all you spew out. I hope for the sake of the country the new administration in the White House and the Congress will be able to put the country on the right path and post haste or our great country may fall like other countries have because of finance.

Rodney Sterne