Housing is back! So says the media and Lawrence Yun of NAR. 872,000 new housing starts in September. Prices are up some 11.7% in September. And Lawrence Yun is projecting 15% increase in home values over the next three years. So… what the hell is going on over at the FHA? The Federal Housing Agency, … Read more
Earlier today, I got a press release from the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS (r) (MAAR) about an official stance of the organization on a statewide ballot initiative: Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS® Opposes Minnesota Marriage Amendment Proposal The Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS® (MAAR) officially announces its opposition to the proposed state constitutional … Read more
I recently had the privilege of attending an event in Southern California with the Pacific West Association of REALTORS(r) at which a California state legislator spoke on issues facing the state. There were some really interesting Q&A with the brokers in attendance, ranging from property tax issues to whether brokers would be paying payroll … Read more
So the Democratic Party’s 2012 Platform is somewhat in the news these days. But that whole kerfuffle reminded me that I hadn’t looked through either party’s platform to see what they said about real estate, the industry in which I work and cover and opine. Since it’s highly unlikely that anyone with a sense of … Read more
So the Democratic Party’s 2012 Platform is somewhat in the news these days. But that whole kerfuffle reminded me that I hadn’t looked through either party’s platform to see what they said about real estate, the industry in which I work and cover and opine. Since it’s highly unlikely that anyone with a sense of … Read more
I’ve been having a twitter conversation (remember those?) with my good friend Mike Pennington, who is not only one of the guys behind RETSO, but is an active member of his local and state Association of REALTORS, about NAR and political power. I assume it’s because of either the Trialogues podcast in which we discussed … Read more
This is a tough post to write. I’m actually debating for the first time while typing this into the little WordPress window whether I would actually hit “Publish” at the end of it. If you’re reading this, it means that I’ve overcome whatever hesitation I’ve had, but I want you to understand how hard it … Read more
A few weeks back, Bill Lublin and I engaged in a spirited debate about the future of the Association, stemming from this post of mine from March. Bill’s initial response is here. Well, my post then became the basis for my presentation at RETSO, which gave me impetus to expand on the topic. During … Read more
I’ve been traveling pretty much nonstop since attending the best event on the real estate conference calendar: RETechSouth (or RETSO for short). As always, Brad Nix, Mike Pennington, and Ben Carter (with an amazing team of people) put on a fantastic event. I did a little debate on syndication with Jay Thompson, leveraging my … Read more