President's Perspective

Coming Home

Brad Bennett
President

As you have all seen and read throughout 2007, I, along with the Columbus Board of REALTORS®, have spent hundreds of hours attempting to persuade the public and our members that our real estate market in Central Ohio is sound.have the opportunity to own a home in the United States. He will be loved, fed, clothed, cared for, and educated. I will venture to say that he will benefit from property ownership as his new family has.

As we know, a downturn in housing adversely affects all sectors of our economy. So, not only is the bad press further slowing our recovery, it's adversely affecting the rest of the economy.

Additionally, many buyers, frightened off by the negative news, are missing a great opportunity to invest in their future.

During the recently concluded National Association of REALTORS® convention in Las Vegas, NAR announced that they will be strengthening their campaign to `combat' the negative housing information that permeates the public media.

Although CBR does not have the funds necessary to bring the entire public back to the market, we have appropriated some of our reserves to help kick off the 2008 market with a `buy now' campaign.

However, our success is more dependent on our grassroots efforts -- that's you -- to spread the good news about the stability of real estate ownership.

Recently I spoke with Dr. Bob Weiler, one of the most astute investors in our membership, about the state of our real estate market. He emphatically advised that "now is the best time to buy." In his tenured career, he believes "this may be the best marketplace to buy real estate."

Dr. Bob also reiterated that, in the generation before his, another successful CBR member, John W. Galbreath, became very successful by investing in a difficult real estate climate, when others were not investing.

So how bad are `things' in America?

Every day we hear that `things' are really bad in the United States. And, although we can all attest that this has been a difficult time in our nation with the housing downturn, the good news is the American Dream of Homeownership is alive and well.

Just recently, I was able to make a pretty dramatic comparison of our living conditions.

In early November, my wife Linda and I took a `long weekend' trip to Siberia to meet a two year old boy - Alexey Shabanov - in an orphanage. In 2007 we completed paperwork to apply for an adoption in Russia. We were given a "referral" of this young child and a two week window to travel to meet him.

We were away from Columbus for about 150 hours, of which 80 were in airplanes or airports. We crossed 14 time zones to a mountainous region that originated to supply coal and steel to Stalin's war machine.

From Moscow to Siberia, I saw hundreds of nuclear power reactors, located right in high density housing areas. The afternoon trip from one Moscow air terminal to another, in bumper to bumper traffic was 4.5 hours.

The last leg was a flight through 4 time zones in a plane that didn't feel safe enough to taxi down a runway.

The `mass transit' system was electric trolley cars as old as those I rode in when I was a child.

Judging from the pollution, they don't have the environmental controls that make our living conditions much more pleasant.

We arrived in a town made up of shacks and dilapidated apartment buildings.

Ninety-five percent of Moscow's households are apartments. For the first time in Russian history, it is possible to own a home or apartment.

The average income in Moscow is approximately $1200 per month. The average one bedroom apartment is $180,000. Since it takes years to save enough for a down payment, the borrower will be older; therefore the maximum loan period is 10- 15 years.

Only one percent of Moscow residents own property, contrasted with the 69 percent ownership in the U.S.

No wonder we saw very few smiles in Russia.

Our hotel was the `nicest' in town. But, we certainly felt `violated' when we returned to the room the first afternoon only to find one of the hotel administrators and a well dressed couple in our room supposedly `looking at the electricity'.

Of those fortunate enough to have a job, the average wage is $400 per month. Other than the apartment buildings, there are vast areas of shacks that we would consider to be inhabited by homeless.

In this stark climate where temperatures fall to -30° and -40°, many children are abandoned due to the inability to care for them.

After finding this little boy in a cluster of shacks with no care at 6 months old, he has since resided in the orphanage.

The only positive aspect of the entire trip was that our American money supports the orphanage through the costs paid by Americans to adopt children. And the babushka adorned Russian caregivers keep the orphanage spotless.

So how bad are `things' in America?

Linda and I will return in January or February, once the paperwork is completed, to adopt little Alexey and bring him home.

I have no doubt that Alexey will eventually have the opportunity to own a home in the United States. He will be loved, fed, clothed, cared for, and educated. I will venture to say that he will benefit from property ownershis as his new family has.

Unlike most in other countries, we have choices. We can either view the cup as half empty or half full. It is imperative that we continue to promote freedom and the American Dream of homeownership for all of the residents of our country. I, for one, have seen that our housing in America is, not only half full; it is overflowing.

It has been my great honor to serve you as President of this great real estate association.

Holiday Greetings to you and your families. You have my sincere wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.