NAR presses Congress on housing stimulus package
The National Association of REALTORS® this week sent Congress a letter urging it to pass a housing stimulus package to help stabilize the housing market.
“As home values continue to decrease in many markets and job losses escalate, homeowners needing to refinance their mortgage or sell their home are left with few options and are sometimes forced to walk away from their mortgage responsibilities,” NAR President Charles McMillan said.
NAR says a federal mortgage interest buy-down program is needed. The program, NAR says, should come from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. McMillan says that the buy-down program would offer an incentive for people to buy homes and that would reduce the number of houses on the market. That would make home values more stable, ease foreclosure pressure and increase home sales activity, McMillan says.
NAR also has pushed the federal government to make sure that safe and affordable mortgages are available for homeowners. And, it has advocated that a $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers be extended to all homebuyers.
See Also
- Intero Real Estate Services- Find Real Estate, Property For Sale, Homes For Sale
Intero Real Estate Services is one of the premier real estate brokerages. Find real estate, properties and homes for sale in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada and Texas.
- National Association of REALTORS®, the Voice of Real Estate
NAR is the nation’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.3 million members in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
Blefari among RisMedia’s Power Broker Forum panelists
Intero President and CEO Gino Blefari will be among the panelists at RISMedia’s Power Broker Forum next month during the REALTORS® Conference and Expo in Orlando.
Blefari will participate in a forum called “The Power Broker Perspective: Restoring Real Estate Confidence.” It will be held from 12:30-2 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Orange County Convention Center.
The discussion is expected to focus on today’s market and the economic crisis, as well as provide insight for working with the media and tips on how to work with the “psyche of today’s real estate consumer.”
For more information on the forum, contact Stephanie Andre at Stephanie@rismedia.com
The REALTORS® Conference & Expo, sponsored by the National Association of Realtors® is being held Nov. 7-10. It will include programs for sales agents, brokers, property managers and IT professionals. More than 500 exhibitors will be at the conference.
Cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will give the conference’s General Session presentation on Nov. 8.
More information can be found here.
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Groups applaud passage of economic rescue bill
Praise from real estate and other groups is pouring in over the passage of the economic rescue bill that President Bush has now signed into law.
"This legislation is critical to stopping the economic turmoil that millions of Americans are facing," Dick Gaylord, president of the National Association of Realtors®, said in a statement. "Today’s action will go a long way toward ending the current economic crisis crippling the housing and financial markets."
California Association of Realtors® President William E. Brown said his association applauds the bill’s swift signature by President Bush.
“The health of the nation’s housing market is critical to the financial well being of every household in the country, and is front and center here in California,” Brown said.
Over at the National Association of Home Builders, Chairman Sandy Dunn had this to say: “Hopefully, this (bill) will set the stage for rebuilding confidence, restoring the availability of credit for businesses and consumers, and reversing the downward spiral in home prices and rising foreclosures that are root causes of today’s financial turmoil,” Dunn added.
And, John A. Courson, the chief operating officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association, says the bill “will enable financial institutions to offer credit so individuals can purchase homes and other items and businesses can continue to operate and grow.”
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- Intero Real Estate Services- Find Real Estate, Property For Sale, Homes For Sale
Intero Real Estate Services is one of the premier real estate brokerages, with offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada and Texas.
- National Association of Realtors
The National Association of Realtors is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.3 million members.
- California Association of Realtors
C.A.R. is a statewide trade association dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate.
- National Association of Home Builders
The National Association of Home Builders is a trade association that helps promote the policies that make housing a national priority. Since 1942, NAHB has been serving its members, the housing industry, and the public at large.
- Mortgage Bankers Association
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing the real estate finance industry.
Sept. 14-20 is National Association of Realtors® Safety Week
How safe are you on the job?
The National Association of Realtors has designated Sept. 14-20 as its sixth annual Realtor® Safety Week.
NAR President Dick Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif., says that Realtors® put themselves at risk everyday by welcoming strangers into a home or by getting into a car with someone they just met.
“These everyday occurrences have the potential to turn into a personal nightmare if our members don’t understand and follow the basic tenets of personal, professional and client safety,” Gaylord said.
Realtors® can attend trainings to learn ways to avoid risky situations as part of Safety Week. Plus, the association is offering a 3-D online safety course through Realtor® University and it has safety CDs and DVDs that can be shown during office meetings, safety training seminars and educational programs.
In this month’s issue of REALTOR® Magazine, Christine Vyborny, a broker with Century 21 Country North in Roscoe, Ill., shares some safety tips she learned at a safety course for real estate professionals.
Here are a few:
- Meet potential clients in the office first, rather than at a property.
- Always use your own car when showing a property. If your client insists on driving, then have him or her follow behind you.
- Create a code that you can use to tip off coworkers, family or friends when you feel threatened.
You can find more tips in the full story in the magazine.
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Lower home prices help sales of existing homes rise in 13 states
The National Association of Realtors® is reporting that sales of existing homes rose in the first quarter in 13 states.
The association attributes the rise to homebuyers’ interest in lower home prices.
The group also reports that home prices rose in the second quarter from a year ago in nearly 25 percent of metropolitan areas.
“In many areas with large concentrations of foreclosure sales, homes are being purchased below replacement cost values,” said NAR President Richard Gaylord. “Many buyers with long-term expectations are getting exceptional value in the current market. Once the inventory is drawn down, price pressure will return because the costs of construction are rising.”
According to the association, existing-home sales grew 25.8 percent in California, 25 percent in Nevada, 20.5 percent in Arizona and 10.1 percent in Florida compared with the first quarter.
“The biggest home-sales gains over the previous quarter have been in some of the markets with the steepest and fastest price drops,” said Lawrence Yun, the chief economist at NAR.
The Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville area of California saw the sharpest fall in single-family home prices in the second quarter. In that area, the median price of $229,500 dropped 35.6 percent from a year ago, the association said.
See Also
- Intero Client Services
Intero Real Estate Services is one of the premier real estate brokerages in the nation. It has 60 offices with more than 2,200 sales associates serving Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada and Texas.
- National Association of REALTORS®
NAR represents 1.2 million members involved in the residential and commercial real estate industries
The suggestions are in this month’s issue of REALTOR® Magazine
Photography and, increasingly, video are two important ways to draw customers to a new property. This month’s issue of REALTOR® Magazine features tips on both. REALTOR® Magazine is the official magazine of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.
The magazine offers photography tips from photographer Barbara Lane, author of How to Photograph Interiors When You Barely Know How to Work a Camera. For example, Lane addresses how to lighten photographs taken from inside a home. Lane suggests that you frame the photo in the viewfinder and then move the camera to focus away from the windows. Lock the exposure in at that point by pressing the camera’s shutter button halfway down before moving the camera back to the original view to take the picture.
For more tips, please click here to view the complete article.
In another article in the magazine, journalist and technology expert Michael Antoniak offers some suggestions on how to make video part of your marketing mix. For example, after you’ve selected the equipment you will use, he suggests making a list or a presentation of the shots that you would like to appear in the video and describe what each frame should show. He also recommends writing down what you would like to say in the voiceovers that go with each shot.
For the full article, please click here.
See Also
- REALTOR® Magazine
The official magazine of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
- How to Photograph Interiors
How to photograph interiors when you barely know how to work a camera. How to easily take great interior photographs if you are a real estate agent, realtor, interior designer, decorator, or other home improvement specialist. The best source for learning interior photography without becoming a professional architectural photographer.
- RealTechTools
Blog by journalist and technology expert Michael Antoniak.
- Intero Real Estate Services
A premier real estate brokerage that has over 60 offices with more than 2,200 sales associates serving Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada and Texas.
NAR President Dick Gaylord gives video podcast on how this helps the real estate industryLast week, NAR President Dick Gaylord did a video podcast explaining why the NAR is excited about the economic stimulus package President Bush recently signed. We’re including a link to the video here, with a brief description from the NAR web site. Tell us what you think? Is Gaylord on the mark? Do you agree?
In this special video edition of the NAR President’s Podcast, 2008 NAR President Dick Gaylord explains how the economic stimulus package will give housing a big boost, and why we need to pass FHA and GSE Reform now.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO
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