Many decisions made at NAR Convention to enhance and promote the REALTOR® and Real Estate Industry
A record number of more than 30,000 attended the National Association of REALTORS® annual meeting in Las Vegas last month. Following is a summary. For a detailed report, visit Realtor.org.
The Housing Market & the Media
NAR leadership, including outgoing President Pat V. Combs performed a spoof on the hit TV show CSI, "dispatching her trusted advisors" to find out why homebuyers are "staying on the fence" despite "solid U.S. economic performance. Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, incoming President Dick Gaylord and others "reported" back that other national sales downturns were driven by broad economic problems, but not this year. Despite a "solid" economy, sales are slower but will still reach a fifth-year record, and home prices are remaining at near record highs. This suggests that the national media, misled "by a few vocal but misinformed analysts, have been painting the U.S. housing markets in the clutches of a meltdown, even though the facts paint a very different picture."
NAR launched a new campaign targeting buyers, urging them to get the facts by contacting a REALTOR®. (See ad in the December In Contract.)
NAR's newly appointed chief economist, Lawrence Yun, announced that even with relatively low fourth quarter sales, 2007 will be the fifth highest year on record for existing-home sales. The median existinghome price in 2007 will have fallen by less than 2 percent from an all-time high set in 2006.
- The small decline in home prices nationwide is "no big deal" after years of rapid appreciation.
- Subprime loans account for only about 10 percent of loans but are 40 percent of current foreclosures.
- Gross Domestic product is expected to be 2.8 percent and job growth will be 1.1 percent in 2008 after 2 million job gains in 2006.
- Inflation should remain under 3 percent. These are all good conditions for home buying.
Further, the Federal Housing
Administration (FHA) has doubled its loan volume in the last 12 months, and is on track to reach some 240,000 borrowers in 2007, including 80,000 refinancings by borrowers with troubled subprime loans, said Fannie Mae at the Regulatory Issues Forum.
REALTORS® Federal Credit Union
Recognizing the disadvantages that real estate professionals face in credit markets because of their irregular, commissionbased income, the board gave NAR the goahead to launch a REALTOR®-friendly credit union. The credit union, which will be Internet-based with U.S. call center operations, will use underwriting standards that recognize the irregular cash flow of real estate professionals and will handle loan applications and account transactions on a 24/7 basis. All earnings will flow back to credit union members in the form of beneficial interest rates and dividends.
Legislative
- Declared support for a national affordable housing trust fund that doesn't take away from other federal, state, and local housing programs or negatively impact real estate prices, transaction fees, or loan costs;
- Supported FHA risk-based pricing with the caveat that the new flexibility not leave traditional FHA borrowers at a disadvantage for financing
- Opposed changes to like-kind exchange tax rules that would make certain types of property ineligible (swapping improved real estate with unimproved agricultural real estate)
- Opposed tax rule changes that would convert the carried interest in a real estate partnership of the general partner from a capital gains rate to an ordinary income rate
- Supported voluntary (rather than mandatory) "visibility" requirements. Visibility refers to making homes accessible to visitors with mobility impairments
- Supported adding wind damage to coverage under the National Flood Insurance Program, among other land use policy changes.
Code of Ethics
Amended the NAR Code of Ethics to ensure the "true picture" test in Article 12 applies to electronic communications such as e-mail and text messages, and added a Standard of Practice to ensure that REALTORS® present a true picture in their URLs and domain names.
Realtor.com
Today, the REALTOR®-owned site hosts an average of 4.3 million listings a day and sees monthly traffic of about 5 million to 6 million consumers. The site boasts a new interface for the popular Apple iPhone digital device and has rolled out an enhanced Find a Neighborhood search feature that enables consumers to search by the kind of neighborhood they're looking for, such as "family friendly" or "hip and cool." The search results provide detailed information through maps, photos, and narrative descriptions posted by residents.
MLS
NAR approved a provision that allows REALTOR®-affiliated multiple listing services to ban members' use of the terms "MLS" and "Multiple Listing Service" in Web site addresses, company names, e-mail addresses and in other marketing materials.
NAR directors also approved a change to the standard of conduct for MLS participants that requires participants' and affiliates'Web sites to clearly state the name of the firm and the state of licensure.
Other
Celebrating its first 100 years, NAR launched its Face of Real Estate, a mosaic of hundreds of thousands snapshots of working REALTORS®. These will be used in NAR's public awareness campaigns and other places. If you haven't added your photo yet, visit http://216.104.43.254/offsite/step/1/.
Richard F. "Dick" Gaylord, from Long Beach, Calif., was installed as the 2008 president of the National Association of REALTORS®. He comes with a long history of association service including past president of the California Association of REALTORS® and the same year was named CAR's "REALTOR® of the Year."
In an effort to reach out to younger practitioners in the industry, NAR has created the Young Professionals Network, a newly formed organization that grew out of REALTOR® Magazine's annual "30 under 30" feature.
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