NAR Mid Year Meetings

Four members of the GLAR attended the NAR Mid Year Meeting last week in Washington DC. GLAR President Kevin Goedker, MLS President Sandy Arildsen, MLS President Elect Rob Birkeland and CEO Janie Weston.
The conference, business meetings and Hill visits gave members an opportunity to see how broad the housing market is and the issues facing REALTORS in this market. The mortgage interest deduction is a huge factor in keeping the housing market afloat and Congress is debating its demise. A panel of Housing Officials from CitiMortgage, Center for Responsible Lending, Fannie Mae, Wells Fargo, Bank of America Home Loans, National Urban League gave updates about the housing market from their point of view. The audience was able to ask questions of the panel about specific issues and how they are handling them; i.e. short sale processes.
Members visited Representative Chip Cravaack and with US Senator Al Franken in their Washington D.C. offices to discuss real estate issues. Topics included preserving home ownership tax benefits (mortgage interest deduction), the future of the secondary mortgage market (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), access to affordable mortgage products, affordable and available property insurance, and short sales.

Advertisement