The Board of Directors of the National Association of REALTORS® in its Monday meeting in Orlando, took actions to keep its members positioned for success in today’s challenging real estate markets.
Economic Stimulus
The Board affirmed a four-point legislative plan that NAR is presenting to Congress as necessary to stimulate housing:
– Make the $7,500 first-time home buyer tax credit, created as part of the housing stimulus bill enacted earlier this year, available to all buyers and eliminate the repayment requirement.
– Make 2008 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits of $729,750 permanent. Without additional legislation as part of a lame-duck Congress in the next several weeks, the high-cost loan limits will drop to $625,000 starting Jan. 1, 2009.
– Get the U.S. Treasury to target funds from the $700 billion rescue of Wall Street financial institutions to mortgage relief and create a mortgage interest-rate buydown program.
– Permanently bar banks from entering real estate brokerage or management, a long-time priority of NAR that has taken on a new urgency with the meltdown among some national banks.
The Board rejected expanding the NAR-backed stimulus plan to incorporate language about commercial real estate but encouraged an effort by NAR leaders to start a process for creating a stimulus plan focused on commercial real estate.
Courtesy of Robert Freedman
