Competition in residential real estate has
never been greater
The new banking law could help provide more
homes for sale
And your association can now take a much tougher
line on ethics violations
These stories and more on The Voice for Real
Estate
(swoosh)
Consumers today have more choice than ever
in the type of brokerage they work with.
From full-service brokers who negotiate a
percentage-based commission, to brokers who
charge a flat fee to those who state up front
what services THEY will provide and what part
of the work CONSUMERS will do themselves.
That’s a message that came out of a workshop
in Washington last week with the U.S. Department
of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
They looked at the state of competition in
the residential real estate brokerage business.
[QUOTE]
You can learn more about the workshop and
the state of competition in real estate at
the new competition page at nar.realtor.
[SWOOSH]
And now - The sweeping law enacted by Congress
last month to improve the regulatory landscape
for our nation’s community banks.
That law is expected to have an important
effect on residential real estate, because
it could lead to an increase in badly-needed
construction starts.
Here’s NAR’s Vijay Yadlapati with more.
[QUOTE]
The new law could also help renters become
homebuyers, because it includes a way to increase
the use of rental and utility payment histories,
along with other alternative credit scoring
criteria, when evaluating loan applicants’
credit worthiness.
[SWOOSH]
Thousands of Realtors were in Washington last
month for the 2018 Legislative Meetings & Trade
Expo.
If you were there, thank you for taking time
out of your business to support your industry.
In hundreds of meetings on Capitol Hill, Realtors
met with their members of Congress to talk
about the need to improve the tax law that
was enacted last year and also ensure federal
flood insurance remains in place and made
more effective.
Two other legislative priorities were discussed,
too: the need to keep the Internet a free
and neutral platform for
everybody and also to keep our Fair Housing
laws effective for everyone.
The NAR Board of Directors met, as well, and
in a key action, they approved stepped-up
enforcement of our industry’s Code of Ethics.
Under that change, associations can now publicly
disclose the names of members after their
second ethics violation.
They can also disclose the nature of the violations
and release a photograph of the repeat violator.
Here’s Colin Mullane, broker-owner of Full
Circle Real Estate in Ashland, Ore., and an
NAR regional vice president, on the change.
Here’s Deborah Dwyer, chair of NAR’s professional
standards committee, with more.
[QUOTE]
You can get more on all the actions taken
by the NAR Board of Directors by searching
the May 19 Special INS Report on nar.realtor.
[SWOOSH]
No one knows better than you how important
an attractive, well-maintained yard is when
it comes to selling a house.
New research from NAR and the National Association
of Landscape Professionals just came out with
a report that quantifies just how important
that is.
The
report found that sellers who use a standard
landscaping service to keep their yard in
tip-top shape recoup 267 percent of that cost
when they sell their house.
Here’s NAR’s Jessica Lautz with more.
[QUOTE]
Access that report by searching outdoor remodeling
projects on nar.realtor.
[SWOODH]
And now a home sales update.
NAR’s latest home sales and contract closing
figures are down, and NAR Chief Economist
Lawrence Yun says low inventories continue
to plague makers across
the country.
[QUOTE]
The good news is people want to buy and they’re
keeping demand strong.
So once more inventory gets on the market,
sales could pick up.
[SWOOSH]
And that’s our show for the week of June
11.
You can get more on everything we talked about
today at The Voice for Real Estate page on
nar.realtor.
Thank you for joining us and be sure to join
us again as we bring you the latest news on
The Voice for Real Estate.
