Realtors Celebrate a Centennial
 John K. Glaab - CIPS
| | Seen at the NAR 100th Anniversary Celebrations (l-r): Adrian Arriaga, from McAllen Texas, is the NAR Ambassador to AMPI and recently appointed to the Texas Real Estate Commission; Elena Carillo from NAR International and John Glaab, from AMPI, La Paz. | | |
Before his arrest, Chicagoan Peter van Vlissinngen had been known as a reputable business man and philanthropist. On November 16, 1908 he was charged with forging mortgage documents and title deeds. Turns out, he had defrauded more than 100 people out of $2 million USD.
Just a few months before, van Vlissingen's arrest - and just five blocks from his office - 120 men from around the country gathered to organize what would be become the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Their mission was to advocate for their industry and stamp out the van Vlissingens of the world.
The association is now the largest lobbying group in the United States with more than 1.2 million members. The demographics have also changed. In 1908, only one out of five women worked outside the home. Today NAR΄s current membership is predominately female - 60 percent of Realtors are female.
NAR has gone global. It now has 75 bilateral cooperating association partners in 56 countries. In 2006, NAR signed a joint venture with the Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals (AMPI). Under the agreement, AMPI members are members of NAR and can legally use the word REALTOR and NAR logos.
Recently in Washington, D.C., 9000 Realtors gathered at their annual "mid-Year Meetings" to celebrate a Century of Progress. I was there representing Mexico.
Among the highlights for me were attending the International Second Home Forum, The International Operations Committee meeting; a humorous discourse, "A View from the Left and the Right," featuring Tucker Carlson of MSNBC and Paul Begala from CNN, (of course a lot of their time focused on the U.S. political scene); the MLS Association Committee Meeting, The ARELLO (The Association of Real Estate License Law Officials) Meeting; a visit by a small group of Certified International Property Specialists (CIPS) to the Mexican Embassy; The CIPS Property Specialist breakfast and a presentation by Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for NAR (According to a report in U.S. Today, Dr. Yun is one of the country's top economists.) More below, on the latter two events...
More than 600 "Designees" attended the CIPS breakfast. At that event, 81 Realtors received the prestigious, CIPS pin and certification. New Designees are from China, Latvia, Portugal, Thailand, Spain and Bulgaria. Since the beginning of this program over 2700 world-wide have been awarded the Designation.
Dr. Yun predicted home sales and prices will pick up in the second half of 2008. Following is an excerpt from his speech.
"Home sales and prices, throughout the country are poised for improvement in the second half of 2008, and the recovery will vary by market. Middle-America cities that performed evenly over the past few years-like Cincinnati, Milwaukee and the Kansas City, MO area - are likely to experience home price gains in the 20-30 percent range over the next five years, while markets like Miami, Las Vegas and Phoenix could see increases as much as 50 percent, during that time."
SUBPRIME MESS: Yun blamed most of the softening of the housing market over the last year on the "subprime mess," where consumers with blemished credit records got loans they couldn't afford when the interest rates went to higher levels. In fact, he said, "if you look at where home prices fell most, it's the markets where subprime loans were prevalent He cited Cape Coral, FLA., Detroit, Las Vega, Miami, Orlando FLA., and Riverside California as being among the cities with a high percentage of subprime lending and where the markets suffered the biggest down turn." He advised that it is important to keep things in context."
FORECLOSURES: While much of the media is focusing on the fact that the rate of foreclosure doubled this year from historic averages, the foreclosure rate has gone from 1% of all homeowners with mortgages to 2%. Foreclosures are being driven principally by subprime loans. More than half of today's foreclosures are concentrated in the subprime market.
BRIGHTER SIDE: The great majority of homeowners are making mortgage payments on time," Dr. Yun said. "Now that the subprime market has dried up, and loans insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are making a comeback, the housing markets will strengthen an prices are likely to begin a steady up tick in the coming months."
Fence sitters should start coming into the market. According to Dr. Yun, there are many reasons for people to get into the housing market and very few reasons not to. With a plentiful supply of homes for sale at affordable prices, interest rates approaching 40-year lows and the strong track record of housing as a good long-term investment, conditions are ripe for buyers.
According to Dr. Yun, there exists a "pent up" demand for homes that should see higher sales, later this year. Supporting his thesis are U.S. demographics, a decline in housing starts (new construction is not fulfilling the demand) and the lower prices in most markets.
The NAR Annual Conference will be held in Orlando, Florida this coming November.
 John Glaab has been a member of NAR's International Section for over a decade. He has earned the Certified International Property Specialist designation and is a founding member of AMPI Los Cabos. He spends half the year in La Paz, Baja California Sur and the other half in Uruapan, Michoacan. For further information, contact John at John.Glaab(at)settlement-co.com. |
Vallarta Weddings
Puerto Vallarta Real Estate | May 2008 
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us