Our industry needs to rethink our core mission. Homeownership and owner-occupancy are two different things and it’s time to make that distinction. Here are a few facts that support a broader view of our role in the world:
· If 27% of all the home sales in 2011 were investor purchases, then 27% of all the commission checks earned by NAR members were made possible by non-owner-occupant home buyers (investors).
· We show concern and feel empathy for people who have endured the hardship of foreclosure, or had to sell short. But what is our message to them nowadays? The same as always; “You need to buy a home”. No, they don’t. They should rent. We should help them and appreciate the non-owner-occupant who owns that home and rents it out.
· Consumer confidence in our product is strongest with non-owner-occupant home buyer these days. Investor purchases surged by 65% in 2011, while owner-occupant sales dropped by 16%. Are we doing enough to encourage them? Most of our effort seems to consider them competition to our core constituency. That makes no sense.
As we sit here today, the federal government is inventing new ways of tampering with the housing market by selling foreclosures to cronies on Wall Street who will convert them to rentals. The sweetheart deals being offered to those cronies have strings attached. Namely, to turn some of them into rent-controlled units. Instead of individual investors owning these homes, we will be dealing with Wall Street financiers and their puppet masters in Washington. Does any of this sound like a recurring nightmare?
If there is one thing we can all learn from the debacle of the last decade, it’s that an unholy alliance of Washington and Wall Street can only do bad things for the housing market. Our industry association has done a brilliant job protecting owner-occupants, and proven it has influence over Washington. What power are we bringing to bear to stop this dangerous government intervention? What are we doing to protect individual investors from unfair treatment by government? In my humble view, not nearly enough.
It’s time to take on our rightful role as champions of all housing, and not just owner-occupied homeownership, lest we leave the door wide open for others to control our destiny.
To sign a petition to encourage our leaders to fight for individual investors, please click here.
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