FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

By Ruth Briggs King

If you want to know how a bill becomes a law - at least any bill that could impact the local real estate market - you can be certain the REALTORS^® are on alert. In fact, REALTORS^® take pride in being your legislative watchdogs in Sussex County.

I recently returned from a week long trip with other REALTORS^® to Washington, D.C., where we had the opportunity to discuss matters of real estate-affected law with members of our legislative team on Capitol Hill.

The trip also marked the end of a long, three-year journey for many of us as we saw the long-awaited passage - out of committee, at least - of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) reform bill we have stringently supported.

We've lobbied in support of that bill since 2005 and are encouraged by the Senate Banking Committee's 19-2 vote on May 20 to approve it. This should provide prospective homebuyers in Delaware with more financial flexibility when they are out shopping for a new home.

If approved by the full Senate, the legislation would authorize the FHA to help at-risk borrowers trade exotic mortgages with escalating monthly payments for more affordable loans backed by the federal government. Back at home, there are many potential pieces of legislation we have our eyes on, including the right of eminent domain and the proposed transfer tax increase being proposed by Delaware Technical & Community College.

On the latter, while we at the Sussex County Association of REALTORS^® fully support Delaware Tech and believe in their mission of affording every Delawarean the right to a quality education, we cannot support potential homebuyers bearing any added costs associated with that goal.

Times are tough right now - gas prices continue to skyrocket, grocery bills are increasingly higher and, yes, education costs are increasing.

But we would like to see Delaware Tech find another solution to funding their current and future needs. We will continue to promote home ownership in our state and will continue to see that home prices stay within reach for our local populace. Not increasing the state's transfer tax - already one of the highest in the nation - is part of that goal.

We realize many people are concerned with rising land rents in some of our coastal communities, but we also can't, in good faith, support any type of rent control legislation.

That being said, we want to continue to see landlords and tenants work together responsibility and for the greater good of all concerned.

The bottom line is this - we have always worked, and will continue to work, to protect property and homeowner rights in our wonderful state.

If you're a homeowner in Delaware, we want to know what you think about any pending or potential legislation, or even laws already passed that you have strong convictions either for or against.

We continue to reach out for your opinions on the job we do and we thank everyone who participated in the survey our office conducted last year in coordination with a professional polling group.

We garnered a lot of information through this endeavor. We discovered we're doing a lot of things right and the things we need to work on - rest assured they will be tackled diligently.

Some of the things we learned through the survey are:

• 59 percent of those polled find Sussex County REALTORS^® to be totally credible for representing the rights of homeowners.
• 49 percent of those polled find Sussex County REALTORS^® to be totally credible for holding the line on real estate taxes on homes.
• 46 percent of those polled find Sussex County REALTORS^® totally credible for improving our local economy and jobs.
• 46 percent of those polled find Sussex County REALTORS^® to be totally credible on the rising cost of housing and representing the rights of renters.
• 49 percent of those polled say they have seen, read or heard articles or advertisements that have been in the local newspapers and sponsored by Sussex County REALTORS^®.

The key word on many of these points is "totally." In other words, that percentage of Sussex County residents polled find us absolutely and 100 percent credible on those issues. We love to see that - it's what we strive for.

And we will work to make those numbers even higher in the future.

"If real estate is your profession, then politics is your business," is a mantra we hold near and dear to our hearts here at SCAOR. We are your watchdog - we are here for you and we want to protect your rights. It's our business to stay up-to-date on laws in the areas we serve. That's why you see many of us elected to town councils, to school boards and to the legislature.

We are informed and we are passionate about property rights and homeownership in Sussex County. And we will continue to keep the well-being of local homeowners first and foremost on our priority lists. If you need us, we're here. We work for you and we listen to you. For more information on the Sussex County Association of REALTORS^® and to visit our public Multiple Listings Service, log on to www.scaor.com.