What Will NAR’s Political Strength Be in 5 Years?

By Robert Freedman, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

Heather Smith knows how to get young professionals engaged in our political process. She founded an initiative called Young Voter Strategies as a way to reinvigorate our democracy by making clear to young people the importance of their political involvement. One outcome of that, arguably, is the success of Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy. Whatever your views of his politics, his camapign was built on a massive influx of young Americans who had little or no involvement in politics before. That can only be healthy for a democracy, regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum. She’s now head of an initiative called Rock the Vote. You might have heard of that: It works through rock acts like the Fall Out Boy and entertainers like Zach Braff to reach out to young adults about voting.

I mention Smith because she’s one of the speakers at a forum called Rock the REALTOR® at the 2009 REALTORS® Conference & Expo on Friday that touches on an important topic for the health of real estate in the years ahead: getting today’s young real estate professionals to take an interest in the politics of real estate.

What are the politics of real estate? Getting the home buyer tax credit extended and expanded is a good example. If you don’t follow the day-to-day machinations of the legislative process—hopefully you’re too busy cultivating customers and closing deals to do that—it might seem like there was little controversy behind the effort to get the credit extension passed (which happened last week). After all, the Senate passed the credit without a single “no” vote. But in fact passage of that law was in some sense years in the making. That’s because it’s taken years for NAR (and other real estate associations, for that matter) to develop the ability to energize its members on behalf of what’s best for real estate.

You should know that NAR broke all records on its Call for Action to extend and expand the tax credit. I don’t have the latest figure, but the last time I checked NAR had an 18 percent response rate. Compare that to just two years ago, when the typical response rate was 3 percent. That kind of turnout is crucial, because lawmakers respond when thousands of real estate professionals in their district or state contact them about an issue. Read more

Lawmakers Who Went the Distance on Banks

By Robert Freedman, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

Today, with the financial crisis still very much with us, it would be a hard sell for federal banking companies to get the go-ahead to own real estate brokerages and property management companies. It’s safe to say that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department would take a hard look at whether the business lines of federally chartered banking companies should extend so far into the commercial sector like that.

But eight years ago, when banks sought to get the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve to let them do that, they came just shy of succeeding. What stopped them was the action of a few determined members of Congress. Read more

What Can the Government Do to Boost the Housing Industry?

Is the first-time home buyer tax credit enough to kick-start home sales? Should banks do more to make mortgages available? Recent government action aims to help housing–but are the measures enough?

We put these questions to you. REALTOR® Magazine asked attendees at NAR’s 2009 Midyear Legislative Meetings to share their views on what more the federal government can do to help the sluggish housing industry. Watch the video below and then share your thoughts!

Bridging the Divide on Health Care

By Wendy Cole, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

Health care reform is on the way. And with 28% of REALTORS® currently uninsured, the time is ripe for a major fix. President Obama has put insurance reform at the top of his legislative agenda, and heated debates in Congress are sure to follow. But what will reform look like and who will pay for it? Most Americans — and REALTORS® — agree that the current system demands an overhaul. Real estate practitioners. however, are much more divided about what the federal government’s role should be in developing a new system that makes insurance available and affordable for all.

A recent poll sponsored by NAR has found that 53% of REALTORS® are concerned that Congress won’t do enough to reform the health care system, while 47% shared the opposite concern: that Congress may go too far. The pros and cons of government-mandated health insurance were the subject of rich debate today during NAR’s Midyear Legislative Meetings.

What’s your view? How should the government address the insurance gap?