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Somebody in a troubled industry not seeking a government bailout

By adamg on Sun, 12/21/2008 - 11:17am

John Keith, who sells real estate, notices the National Association of Realtors wants the government to subsidize mortgages by paying a point or so of the cost of each mortgage. But Keith writes that if the NAR is really that concerned about the sluggish housing market, it should put its money where its mouth is:

... Your typical real estate agent makes 5-6% in commission on a home sale. (This amount is split, 50-50, between buyer's agent and seller's agent, and the agents' companies get a big chunk of this, but ignore that for now).

What the National Association of Realtors should do is ask each of its one million members to kick in 1 percentage point from their commissions toward lower loan rates for every one of their clients. ...

Free tagging: 
housing prices
economy


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Comments

By MT on Sun, 12/21/2008 - 12:23pm.

http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/20...

David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, said market fundamentals are improving. "... After a period of price adjustment, we'll see more confidence in the market and a lift to home sales should be apparent in the first quarter of 2007."

http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/20...

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the worst part of the credit crunch has already worked its way through the data.

http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/20...

Over the next few months, existing-home sales are expected to hold fairly steady as indicated by pending sales activity, then rise later in the year and continue to improve in 2009, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®.

http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/20...

"Problems in the subprime mortgage market will become more apparent over time, and they will modestly depress the overall level of improvement in existing-home sales we expect as the year progresses," Lereah said.

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By neilv on Sun, 12/21/2008 - 2:29pm.

"The [National Association of Realtors (NAR)] wields substantial power as a lobbying organization on behalf of agents and brokers; in 2005, NAR had the largest Political Action Committee in the United States. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the association is the United States' third-largest donor to political campaigns, having given since 1990 more than US$30 million. Of this sum, an average of 47% has gone to Democrats and 53% to Republicans.[15] Key political issues for the group revolve around federal regulation of the financial services industry."

-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realtor

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