NAR Legislative Conference

Following is a summary of actions were taken and items addressed at the May 15, 2004 NAR Board of Directors meeting in Washington D.C.  Click here for complete report.

• Voted to continue the REALTORS® Public Awareness Campaign for 2005 through 2007, adding $5 million per year in funding to allow the campaign to continue at its current level of television and radio exposure, despite rising advertising costs. For 2005, the additional funds will come from a combination of carryover of surplus money from the awareness campaign fund and contributions from NAR reserves. In 2006, the additional $5 million will come solely from reserves. And in 2007, the special member assessment will increase from $20 to $25.
  
• Committed the association to support development of a zero-downpayment FHA product that includes both single-family and two- to four-unit properties.
  
• Adopted a policy to support liberalization of real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC) rules to make commercial loan securitization more attractive to borrowers.
  
• Amended NAR environmental policy to encourage active forest management practices, including forest thinning, that reduce the likelihood of catastrophic fires.
  
• Elected its 2005 slate of NAR officers: President, Al Mansell, CRB, Salt Lake City; President-elect, Thomas Stevens, CRB, CRS, GRI, Vienna, Va.; First Vice President, Patricia Vredevoogd, ABR, CRS, GRI, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Treasurer, Mike Brodie, ABR, Plano, Texas. The election included a competitive race for the first-vice-president post between Vredevoogd and Patricia Kaplan, CIPS, CRB, GRI, e-PRO, of Portland, Ore., NAR’s treasurer in 2002 and 2003. It was the first contested election since 1988, when Harley Rouda, CRB, GRI, of Columbus, Ohio, was elected over Carl Storey, CCIM, SIOR, of Nashville, Tenn.

In changes to the association’s professional standards, the board:

• Added a new Standard of Practice 10-3 (relating to Article 10 of the Code of Ethics) to allow practitioners involved in a non-residential transaction to provide demographic information on an area if such information is critical to completion of the sale and is obtained from a recognized and impartial source.
  
• Adopted a policy allowing a local board’s grievance committee to take up complaints against a practitioner if the original complainants withdraw their case at any time before an ethics hearing if the committee determines a potential violation of public trust may have occurred.

Other reports:

• NAR expects to reach 1,025,000 members by the end of 2004.
  
• The REALTORS® Political Action Committee doubled its contributions over the last five years. RPAC raised $2.8 million in the first five months of this year, putting it on track to surpass its 2004 goal of $4.5 million. REALTOR® participation in the PAC was at 30 percent as of mid-May. 
  
• REALTOR.com. The site attracted nine million unique visitors last month, generating 14 million e-mails. REALTOR.com President Allan Dalton encouraged members to maximize their opportunities by responding to e-mail inquires they receive from consumers. Currently, 50 percent of e-mail inquiries to real estate associates aren’t opened, and fewer than 10 percent of associates are putting up multiple photos of their clients’ property, even though 70 percent of consumers want multiple photos, he said.