When NAR Lobbys - You, the real estate Consumer, You lose
April 29, 2009
" The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has dramatically increased its lobbying expenditures (and influence) in Washington in the wake of the bursting of the housing bubble. The first chart shows the lobbying expenditures of the NAR over the past five quarters. As you can see the NAR has greatly ramped up its lobbying expenditures in the past couple of quarters. The Q1′09 expenditures represent an increase of more than 82% over Q1′08 expenditures. In the past two quarters the NAR has spent $12.25 million on lobbying in Washington."
The purpose of the next two charts is to give you some perspective on the amount of money that NAR / the National Association of Realtors is spending on lobbying. The second chart shows how much that NAR spent per business day on lobbying during each of the past five quarters. During the past couple of quarters on average the NAR has spent roughly $100,000 per business day on lobbying expenditures. This is a mind numbing number.
$100,000 A Day ~ Anti-Consumer Lobbying in My Opinion.
This is YOUR money, you the Realtors in the Field - you the Real Estate Consumer and I am Highly Doubtful that it is really in ANY best interest of the Public.
So NAR can Seemingly justify their expenditures by saying it was (is) necessary to help educate public officals on the complex issues facing the nation during the housing crisis.
This is a ridiculous argument. Having educational meetings with policy makers is important, but it doesn’t need to be an expensive process. How do I know this? Because I was a corporate lobbyist in Washington years ago.
I had many meetings on Capitol Hill, and it just doesn’t cost much. How much does it cost to meet over a cup of coffee and exchange some ideas? My expenses were always small (a few bucks). As a former lobbyist it blows my mind to think of spending $100,000 every business day on expenses. It would be work just trying to spend the money.
As far as having the NAR educating our public officals, that scares me too. The forth chart (below) shows what the NAR was saying about housing during the past few years as the housing market was collapsing. I took the quotes directly from the titles of NAR press releases. Is this the organization that we want educating our public officals on how to fix the housing crisis?
.... it serves an important part in the American political process. The problem is the excessive amounts of money that have become commonplace in Washington lobbying circles. Excessive levels of lobbying expenditures serve to distort politics and not to advance the political process.
On a positive note the disclosure and reporting on lobbying has become better. The next step is to put controls in place on lobbying expenditures.
Note: The lobbying expenditures covered in this report are from U.S. Congress disclosures (and cover just the federal government). It should be noted that there are many state and local realtor associations in the U.S. that also lobby state and local officals. Those expenditures are not included in this report.
Data Source: U.S. Congress
Various National Association of Realtors Press Releases
http://chartingtheeconomy.com/?p=839
r
This is VERY, Very bad for the Real Estate Consumer. Realtors, NAR - lobbying your government why ? Sure must be on behalf of the Realtor. Why Not Just Get Back to Buyers Buying and Sellers Selling and Get Rid of all the Mumbo Jumbo.
r
Lobbying is a way to FORCE Realtors into Consumers lives on as many levels as they can. Money Talks, the Realtors Lobby about an Issue that you, the Real Estate Consumer don't even know about. So you don't get a vote, but you get to Pay for It... for the Realtors, and for the Politicians they lobby and "Contribute" to. In the Real World of Real Estate, you, the Real Estate Consumer - You Lose.
r
