Why the politics of NAR should matter to you.

By rerockstar • May 18th, 2009

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What a week it has been.

I apologize for my absence. I’ve been busy lately. I’ve had some clients to perform work for, but most of my week seems to have been involved in politics. To be more specific, the politics of being involved in such a huge organization as the National Association Of Realtors® (NAR). It’s been an eye opening experience and I don’t want to rewrite all the details as they have blogged about in many places, including my other blog www.sanantoniorealestaterockstar.com, which is based off of my writings at ActiveRain (which tend to be a bit more Realtor® focused than this site. Regardless, I have been fighting for both agents and consumers this past week by adding my voice to several issues.

Issue #1 – Should Google Be Considered a Scraper?

While the issue of “scraper sites” might not be your biggest concern, it is a big deal for agents. Unfortunately a recent decision by a local board in Indiana (MIBOR) and NAR has resulted in Google being viewed as a scraper. What does that mean to you? Well right now in San Antonio we haven’t seen any of the effects, but the fear is that we will. The effect is simple. I can show my listings on my site via IDX technology as well as other listings from other brokers. You can search through the San Antonio MLS right here on my site. That’s the simple side of it, but what happens when Google can’t index those listings on a site? Because many agents are putting my listings (and everyone else’s) on their sites via IDX, when Google comes through and crawls their site, my listing might appear in Google a few more times than if only I were doing it. It would be associated with another agent’s site, but it would be free advertising for my sellers. If more people can find the home, more people might take an interest in it and we can get it sold. That’s the goal isn’t it?

Every seller I have ever worked with has been more than happy to have their home plastered all over every corner of the internet, but this ruling makes this possibility disappear. Many agents stood up to this ruling and there has been a lot of action on it (emails, phone calls, blogs, comments, etc.). It seems that agents that want things to remain the “old way” want to keep the ruling in effect. Those of us that want to push the internet envelope for our clients want the ruling to change. Many of us are working on it and I hope to have good news some day on the issue. Unfortunately, NAR moves slowly and it will take time.

Issue #2 – Using The First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit As A Downpayment.

The shot heard round the world. On May 12th, HUD Secretary Donovan made the announcement that HUD would be allowing FHA lenders to offer first time home buyers a bridge loan in order to monetize the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. In other words, the lender would issue you a short term loan equalling your tax credit and you could use it as a down payment. This announcement was made at the NAR Midyear Meeting in Washington D.C. and was quickly lauded as a great move. NAR sent out info to Realtors®, it was all over Twitter, and many Realtors® blogged about it. It seemed like great news for all those buyers who wanted to take advantage of the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, but just didn’t have enough for a down payment.

Don’t always believe what you hear. HUD had issued Mortgagee Letter 9-15 (which directs lenders how to deal with new rules put out by FHA), but suddenly – poof – it disappeared. Appears Secretary Donovan wasn’t meant to announce the idea, but rather talk about its possibility. Apparently it’s being talked about in Washington, but the details haven’t been worked out. Once I know for sure that it is or isn’t possible, I will report to you back here. Until then, you can not use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.

The links below are suggested reading if you have questions or just want some more information about what’s been going on. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I find it important to keep you informed of what we’re doing to make the real estate experience better for you. I for one, don’t want my hands tied by my own association, which is why I fight for changes when I think they’re necessary.

photo courtesy of Marshall Astor