Consider the CO$T of New Regulations $$$$$$$$$$

Remember when the No Child Let Behind law was introduced and we saw our local real estate taxes double over night?  The major idea behind that law was to shift the responsibility for learning disabilities from the state and federal tax roles to the local municipalities.  If it only involved taxes we may have been able to live with the change. In the infinite wisdom of the federal government, they decided to hire hundreds or thousands of people to write a new set of rules and regulations for the local school systems.  Teachers were required to have a higher degree of learning, class sizes were reduced, courses were outlined for students, and a number of restrictions created. 

There are good points to new rules and bad points.  The higher the need for a special education and services, the greater the amount of information needs to be reported.  Students most mentally challenged may require as many as 21 pages of information, to be reported on a weekly basis.  Based on the law, we now have teachers with a higher degree of education spending more time filing paperwork than they have to work with the students. 

It may take weeks or months to teach one of these students how to tie their shoes.  The people who wrote these regulations have no idea what the teachers face on a daily basis, but they feel they need to dictate the majority of the teacher's time.  After spending eight hours in the classroom, 40 hours a week, the teachers must spend an additional 6 hours a day, plus weekends to keep up with the paperwork. 

The army or rules writers for the federal government must have run out of regulations to write for the schools, and shifted their efforts to real estate.  I remember faxing in an offer to purchase used to be 13 pages.  The minimum is now up to 19 pages, and the number increases for foreclosures and short sales.  The amount of paperwork has more than doubled. Factor in the extra time required for education on the new forms, filing, faxing, and retrieval, and the hours continue to add up. 

The federal government has stated a number of times, the key to economic recovery lies in the housing market.  It is the major indicator.  Once again in their infinite wisdom, they have decided the best results come from regulation.  How many additional hours does the average Real Estate Agent spend doing paperwork? 

This results in less time spent marketing, and selling Real Estate.  It leaves less time to find, and qualify buyers.  Less time to generate and track leads.  Less time to educate the public in market conditions, first time home buyers, and a host of other services Real Estate Agents provide to the public.  Less time to do what needs to be done, help turn this economy around. 

This comes at a time when commissions are reduced based on lower market prices, greater expenses, and concessions required by a number of factors. 

First the schools, now the banking, appraisal, and Real Estate systems.  I shutter to think where the fingers of the federal government will reach next.