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To begin with, the NAR is the National Association of REALTORS®. Their “job” is that they represent real estate agents legislatively. For lack of a better phrase, they are our trade group and kind of like a trade union. I’m not fond of everything that they do, but I do feel that they have a place.
One of the stated missions of the NAR is to protect consumers. There are a few ways that they go about this, including requiring members to live up to a Code of Ethics. And while I think there are some weaknesses in the Code of Ethics, it is something. Another thing that the NAR does is provide (often self-serving) market stats and interpretations to the public… through the media.
Also along the lines of consumer protection, the NAR sometimes mentions… seemingly in passing… cases of Eminent Domain abuse by various federal, state and local governments. Governments abusing their Right of Eminent Domain is something VERY basic… It goes to the heart of Property Rights, that when we purchase a piece of property, we OWN it and can enjoy it as we wish.
Four years ago I had a post about Eminent Domain abuses that were going on at that time. I wish I could say that things are better, but they aren’t. In fact, some localities are looking at their tax base and wondering how they can tweak it in order to bring in more revenues. Unfortunately, for many politicians, that means pushing people out of their homes in order to bring about some grand new plan. And in some cases, there are politicians that are on the receiving end of some generous “thank you notes” from the developers hired to bring about the grand plans.
Related articles
- NAR Chief Economist talks impact of S&P Downgrade of Federal Debt (craigkamman.wordpress.com)
- Existing-home sales slip in April, NAR reports (housingwire.com)
