Realtors are Being Heard in Washington

Charles McMillen, President of National Association of Realtors orchestrated an outstanding summit in Washington DC with members of Congress and the Senate on real estate and our current economic situation.  He outlined the four goals to be addressed: 

1. The first goal was to share ideas on what can done on the public policy front to help stimulate real estate and the economy
2. To encourage more advocacy related to current issues pending in Congress
3. Generate more coalition support for key programs that will stimulate housing such as the Homebuyer's Tax Credit and mortgage interest deduction
4. Lastly to help the media to receive insight on what is happening in real estate

 Issues of deregulation, the liquidity standards for bankers and the realization that conversations about the market will continue to be in flux were discussed. 

Dr. Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor was a strong advocate of Home Buyers Tax Credit and stated that it should continue until 2010. He believes that we are coming to the bottom of the financial crisis. However, he stated the main issue is consumers. Consumers need to have higher and better purchasing power and need to be able to afford housing. 

The bottom line is: there's no going back to the economy of 2002-2007. Business is not going to be done as usual. New relationships have to be formed with lenders due to the fact that half of them are out of business and there is a capitalization issue. 

The first part of the summit ended with talks on the urgency of fixing the short sale process. We are all aware of the nightmare short sales present. The competitive nature of short sales serves as a hindrance to the market. For instance while several people are bidding on one home on a short sale and waiting several months for an approval, there are 4-5 other home sales being postponed. Stabilization is urgent and shorter turnover time for approval is critical.

 These are all issues that we as realtors know need to be addressed and resolved. This summit brings a sense of hope that we are being heard.

 View Part 1