FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

By Ruth Briggs King

With our nation fighting through its worst financial crisis in decades and with lawmakers in Washington continuing to look for answers, we here at the Sussex County Association of REALTORS^® have three words for them: the housing market.

Yes, the housing market. Nationally, it is struggling, but any long-term plan to boost the American economy must include the real estate markets.

They are an essential cog in the American financial system that simply cannot be ignored, one that can play a vital role in helping our economy rebound in the months and years ahead.

At our 2008 meeting in Orlando, the National Association of REALTORS^® adopted a four-point plan we feel needs to be part of any stimulus activity Congress adopts in the coming months.

As REALTORS^®, we know that the current downtown in the nation's housing markets have everything to do with the crisis in the world's financial markets. But we can also see a way out, and we feel the four action items we've proposed will help us come a little bit closer to spotting the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

In a document posted on its Web site spurring our members to take action, NAR officials stress the importance of the real estate markets in spurring economic growth and helping return the U.S. economy to a position of worldwide strength.

The four issues we feel deserve the most attention are as follows:

• First, we need to make the $7,500 first time homebuyers' tax credit available to all purchasers and eliminate the repayment requirement. While it was begun with good intentions, we feel the stringent requirements tied to the tax credit have severely limited its appeal to potential homebuyers. Thus, it has not been particularly effective at stimulating sales.
• Secondly, make the loan limits placed on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac permanent. Now is not the time to limit the availability of affordable mortgages. They must be kept in place for years to come in order to be effective.
• Thirdly, we feel the Emergency Treasury bank relief program should be adjusted in order to target more funds for mortgage relief efforts and increase efforts to mitigate foreclosures. Instead of giving banks unrestricted cash, we need to make the program work to improve our mortgage and housing markets, as it was originally intended to do.
• Lastly, we need to permanently bar banks and banking conglomerates from engaging in real estate brokerage and management. The banks have enough to do without managing the home buying process. Let them manage their current lines of business without dipping into management practices.

Throughout history, purchasing your own home has proven to be one of the biggest, and the best, investments an individual or family will ever make. It also stimulates economic growth on both the local and national levels.

But what happens when potential buyers become scared of the process and chose not to enter the world of homeownership?

The answer is clear: economic turmoil.

"The only way to overcome today's economic turmoil is to motivate and encourage worried or cautious housing consumers to enter the marketplace," says Charles McMillan, president of NAR^®. "Stabilizing the housing market will lead to a quicker and greater economic recovery. Our goal is to ensure there is a healthy market and sufficient capital to support mortgage lending to qualified borrowers."

As is the case nationally, the real estate market here in southern Delaware is going through challenges. Though we are sheltered from the downturn, to a point, because of our designation as a resort destination, these challenges are unlike any we've faced in a long time in Sussex County.

But we as REALTORS^® feel the economy, both locally and nationally, can be reinvigorated if our leaders in Washington look to the real estate markets for leadership.

Reading, thoughtfully considering and quickly enacting the NAR's four-point housing stimulus plan can go a long way toward making that happen.

Let's do more than just talk about it; let's do it - a brighter future awaits all of us if we do.