August 29, 2008Democratic Convention: Recap Video
Democratic Convention: Obama Accepts Party's Nomination
“It’s time for us to change America,” Obama told a cheering crowd, who waved American flags in the air and created a rumble in the stadium by stomping their feet in agreement. Crowds lined up starting midday, waiting in security lines that at times stretched more than a mile, all so they could watch Obama accept the party’s nomination Thursday night at Invesco’s Mile High Stadium.
Throughout the evening, Obama and other speakers – including Al Gore and Vice President nominee Joe Biden – sought to closely tie the policies of Bush to McCain. would entail and the kind of president he would be. Among his top goals as president, he said, would be to achieve affordable, accessible health care. “If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums,” Obama said. “If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.” He also announced: “I would cut taxes for 95 percent of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.” He called for changes in the tax code. “Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it,” Obama said. He also said he would eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses. Obama also called for ending America’s dependence on oil and vowed that as president he would find fuel alternatives and devote $150 billion in affordable, renewable sources of energy. Read a full transcript of Obama’s speech and share your thoughts of Obama’s speech.
August 28, 2008Democratic Convention: Casting the Vote
DENVER - REALTOR® Michael Eaves, a broker specializing in commercial real estate investments for Long & Foster REALTORS® in Bel Air, Md., is one of nearly 100 delegates who are REALTORS® at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Eaves serves as a delegate in Maryland. Watch some of his video reports from the convention floor on Wednesday. Democratic Convention: NAR Lobbyist Surveys ’09 Agenda
DENVER – No matter who comes out on top in the presidential race, several REALTOR® issues are likely to be at the forefront of the national legislative agenda, NAR Chief Lobbyist Jerry Giovaniello said at the 2008 Democratic National Convention here yesterday. (Hear it in his own words: Watch video highlights of Giovaniello talking about these key REALTOR® issues.) During a housing reception hosted by NAR, the National Association of Home Builders, and the Independent Community Bankers of America, Giovaniello predicted small business health care will be one of the first orders of business in Congress. “Whichever party is elected there’s going to be a lot of resources devoted to coming up with a workable, bipartisan health care plan,” Giovaniello said. The government will also take a closer look at modernizing the financial system for housing. By early 2009, lawmakers will have a clearer picture of what needs to be done based on the success of the housing stimulus bill that Congress passed last month. The law aimed to jump-start the housing market with a new homeownership tax credit, expanded FHA financing, and a permanent increase in the conforming loan limits. Tax reform, particularly if there’s a Democratic administration, will likely be a top agenda item, and that will require careful watching by real estate interests because with “pay-go” rules Congress could look to real estate tax provisions to help offset tax changes elsewhere. “Pay-go” rules refer to budgetary restrictions that require any tax changes that reduce federal tax revenues in one area to be offset by tax-revenue changes elsewhere. “We want to make sure the tax incentives stay for real estate homeownership,” Giovaniello says. As energy costs continue to rise, green topics and urban planning will also continue to be thrust into the political spotlight. “Infrastructure and the environment will be more closely examined and interweaved next year,” Giovaniello predicted. “Congress has already been on a To reinforce the importance of housing being a top priority within government, NAR submits policy statements on key housing issues in the platform proceedings for both Democrat and Republican parties. Each party adopts a national platform, which serves as an official statement of the party’s positions on the issues and is adopted by the party’s national convention delegates every four years. “[Our policy positions submitted to the platform committees are] a gentle reminder of the place of housing in America, with strong communities and incentives for housing,” Giovaniello says. “Both parties have agreed with that over the years. But we think it’s important to be in that platform statement to remind people of what we’re about.”
August 27, 2008Democratic Convention: Housing, Without Walls
These three and others have gathered in this restaurant about half a mile from the national democratic convention center to participate in a town hall meeting about the other housing crisis, the one hitting low- and moderate-income renter households (Watch some video highlights.) More than six million renter households must pay more than 50 percent of their monthly income for rent, leaving them little for food, transportation, and health care. Cisneros, who now heads up a company that develops housing for working families, says lawmakers in 2009 must address the homeownership slowdown without ignoring the ongoing, yet far less visible, crisis in the rental world. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, another participant, agreed that the challenge for housing advocates is to keep him and other lawmakers on top of both problems at once, an admittedly tough task given the primacy of the homeownership market to the overall U.S. economy. “Housing is the economic crisis of the country,” he says. “But you need to keep us honest. We need to stay focused on rental housing.” It might seem incongruous to have a discussion about low-income rental housing at a swanky bistro but this incongruence is part of what makes the town hall discussion effective; it’s bringing together the high-profile world of Hollywood and New York City with the high-power world of Washington. You see this dynamic in the event’s two hosts: the Washington-based National Apartment Association, which represents owners of multifamily housing, and the New York City-based Creative Coalition, which serves as the social advocacy arm for our county’s motion picture elite like Spike Lee and Susan Sarandon. Like other events in this convention-mad city, the town hall meeting gives delegates and ordinary citizens a chance to talk one-on-one with lawmakers like Sen. Casey and celebrities like Sarandon with no barriers between them, creating opportunities for exchanges that are far less possible in Washington and, for that matter, any other place outside this convention setting. “It’s like the wall comes down here,” says NAR Past President Pat V. Combs, who I talked with later at a housing-issues reception hosted by NAR, the National Association of Home Builders, and the Independent Community Bankers of America. “In Washington when we meet with members of Congress there’s often a separation. They’re busy, their time is limited, and they’re on one side of their desk and we’re on another. But here there are no barriers and it really gives us a chance to let them know what’s happening in our communities, and they remember that when they go back to Washington.” There definitely were no walls between Sarandon and Sen. Casey. At Osterio Marco, Sarandon grilled Casey about the housing bill Congress passed about a month ago. Why is there so little in there for rental housing? How will it ensure we won’t face another mortgage meltdown in the future? What accountability measures were put into place to hold short-sighted actors in the mortgage market accountable for their actions? Why was the mortgage crisis allowed to get to the point it did? “We have no one to blame but ourselves,” says Casey. Then Cisneros steps in with a comment. “The point of having discussions like these is to get affordable housing on the agenda,” he says, so that next year when Congress meets and there’s a new administration in office, rental housing will be on top of lawmakers’ minds. He might have added that that’s why its good REALTORS have such a strong presence at this convention: it gives them the opportunity to make the case for housing one-on-one with lawmakers, with no walls between them.
August 26, 2008Democrats Meet in Denver, Amidst is the REALTOR® RRobert Freedman, Senior Editor DENVER – Sixteenth Street is packed beyond imagination. This wide boulevard, redeveloped by the city about two dozen years ago into a downtown pedestrian mall with service by a cheery electric streetcar , is where you find much of the throng that’s gathered in this city to attend the 2008 Democratic National Convention. You have protest groups in which everyone is dressed in black, and those in which everyone is dressed in pink; you have vendors hawking a dizzying array of stickers, buttons, and T-shirts of the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, Barack Obama; you have an even dizzier array of people with their credentials hanging prominently around their necks; and you have security personnel, many armed with black and glistening automatic weapons, on every street corner and in the doorways to the restaurants and stores. But amidst this chaos it’s the truck that’s been making a loop up and down 16th Street and around the delegate headquarters at the nearby Colorado Convention Center that attracts my attention: It’s a sign truck with a gigantic REALTOR® R and the message “Make sure you use a REALTOR® to get real results,” sponsored by the Colorado Association of REALTORS®. I know I’m not the only one here who takes a professional interest in this friendly reminder of what sets REALTORS® apart from others who sell real estate; out of 4,233 delegates in town, more than 90 of them, representing almost 30 states, are REALTORS®, making real estate surely one of the best-represented professions at the convention. I’ll be talking with several of them over the next three days of the convention to find out how and why they became delegates, what they hope to accomplish, and how the industry benefits from their political involvement. The last question I’ll ask them is why they think REALTORS® comprise such a large contingent of the decision-makers at this convention. But I think I know the answer already. When your profession is about building communities, how can you not be involved in politics at the most grassroots level? I know from listening to the speeches on this first day of the convention at the Pepsi Center half a mile away that the concerns of REALTORS® get attention. In her remarks opening the convention, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California ticked off a list of bills Congress passed over the last two years. At the top of the list were the NAR-backed economic stimulus bill and the sweeping housing stimulus bill, which was signed by the president in July. When the ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts made a surprise appearance later in the program, one of NAR’s top priorities—health insurance—was his big topic. And Patricia Madrid, the New Mexico attorney general and a co-chair of the Democratic Platform Committee, talked about how her party’s priorities include “keeping families in their homes,” investing in infrastructure, and jumpstarting the economy. “The American Dream is at risk,” she said. Next week, when I’m in Minneapolis covering the Republican National Convention, where more than 220 delegates will be REALTORS®, many of the top goals will be the same. But, as they say, the devil is in the details. The Republican approaches to helping home owners, building infrastructure, shoring up the economy, and providing health insurance will surely be very different. But that’s the democratic way, and this week and next are our democracy’s moment in the sun. If you have a question or two that you’d like to ask the REALTOR® delegates—of either the Democrat or Republican camp—please send it in as a comment, and I'll be sure to pose the question during my interviews over the next two weeks. August 19, 2008Accompanied Showings ... A Disservice to EveryoneJohn Capomaccio, Guest Blogger Do listing agents need to be at showings? John Capomaccio, a broker with New Age Real Estate in Haverhill, Mass., says emphatically no.
This has happened to me a number of times: A listing agent insists on being present at showings but can’t make it when my buyers want to see the property. So, I show the buyers similar properties, and they make an offer on one of those properties that’s accepted and eventually closes. The property with the accompanied showing was never viewed by my buyers. I wonder if the sellers of that property realize that if their property was on a lockbox it would have been shown. Do the listing broker or the home seller believes they have a better chance of selling the property if the listing agent is there? Not only do I think it doesn’t help, I believe it hurts. Many buyers have told me they are uncomfortable with the listing agent there. I have had a few buyers tell me not to make appointments with properties where the listing agent is present. Let buyers’ agents do their job! They know the buyers’ wants and needs. Buyers tend to stay longer in a property when they are with their agent alone. They pay more attention to the details. If they have any questions, they can always have their agent contact the listing agent. Accompanied showings limit the number of times a property can be shown, and in this market they’re a big disservice to sellers. Now that sub agency is almost totally eliminated, liability should not be an issue. And, personally, when I list a property, I don’t want to do buyer’s agents’ job for them. August 14, 2008Good Neighbor Finalists AnnouncedREALTOR® Magazine has named 10 finalists for the 2008 Good Neighbor Awards, which recognizes REALTORS® whose volunteer efforts have vastly improved the quality of life in their communities. Five winners will be selected from the pool of finalists in October, and will receive a $10,000 grant for their charity. Five honorable mentions will receive a $2,500 grant. The REALTOR® Good Neighbor Awards finalists are: - Mary E. Bacon, Bob Parks Realty, LLC, Mt. Juliet, Tenn., Mt. Juliet Help Center Read more about this year's finalists and their volunteer efforts. August 11, 2008Do Blogs Generate Business? Take the SurveyBy Stacey Moncrieff
In its second blogging survey this year, the Virginia Association of REALTORS® is asking real estate bloggers answer questions about their use of social media. The link takes you to the survey posted at the association’s blog, VAR buzz. (I enjoy visiting VAR buzz, because it’s an engaging, positive venue for REALTORS® without being sugarcoated.) VAR's blogging survey isn’t just for Virginians. If you’re a real estate blogger who hasn’t yet responded, you have until 9 a.m. EDT on Thursday, August 21. When you click on go to the survey, you’ll also be able to access highlights of the first blogging survey, which was released earlier this summer. Among the findings: The new survey focuses on whether practitioners are seeing business from their blogs. Over time, VAR’s Center for Real Estate and Social Technologies (CREST) is working to identify best practices for social networking, blogging, and social media marketing. If you’re a blogger, I encourage you to take the time to answer CREST’s second survey. The results should be worth the effort! August 08, 2008Top 5 Real Estate Stories for the Week (8/08/08)
1. How the New First-Time Buyer Tax Credit Works 2. Real Estate Pro to Lose Home From Tax Evasion 3. Economists: Housing Declines to Remain Small 4. Getting a Mortgage Tougher for Buyers 5. Greenspan Calls for 'Nationalization' of GSEs
August 01, 2008Top 5 Real Estate Stories for the Week (8/01/08)
1. 'Extreme Makeover' House Faces Foreclosure 2. Neighborhoods Where the Bubble Hasn't Burst 3. President Signs Housing Rescue Bill 4. The Four Types of Buyers: Get to Know Them 5. Banks to Get a Boost From FHA Refinancing
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DENVER – Obamamania was in full force tonight as Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in front of a thunderous crowd of 80,000. 
“We meet at one of those defining moments - a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more,” Obama said.
”Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit card bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach. These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.”
DENVER - It’s too dark to see clearly in Osteria Marco, one of Denver’s trendy bistros, but the person sitting against the back wall is definitely Spike Lee, the famed movie director, and in the center of the room actress Susan Sarandon. And not far from the two of them is Henry Cisneros, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during President Bill Clinton’s first term. 
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