A U.S. Senate committee held a hearing Thursday on the proposed Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which targets the independent contractor status of millions of Americans. The National Association of REALTORS® vowed that even though parts of the bill face steep resistance on Capitol Hill, the NAR advocacy team will remain vigilant and engaged with lawmakers on the issue.

“As long as this bill is active, we will work to include language protecting existing state definitions of ‘employer’ and ‘employee’ and ensure our industry is protected,” says Shannon McGahn, NAR’s chief advocacy officer. “Around 87% of NAR’s 1.4 million members are independent contractors, most of whom choose this classification. Congress must recognize real estate’s unique place in the economy and support this longstanding federal recognition.”

Earlier this year, NAR urged members not to panic over the legislation.  Contrary to a report at the time, the PRO Act is not and never has been close to imminent passage in the Senate.

In recent months, NAR has intensified its ongoing educational campaign highlighting how crucial the independent contractor classification is to the real estate industry. NAR’s advocacy team argues that provisions in the PRO Act should not apply to real estate professionals, and bipartisan support for a real estate–specific exemption remains consistent. While securing the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation through the Senate is unlikely, McGahn notes that lawmakers have other avenues to push the legislation forward. “NAR is confident in our position, but we are not letting our guard down given the stakes,” McGahn says. “We raised this issue during our May legislative meetings with more than 500 members of Congress. It was one of our top three legislative priorities this year.”

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is distributing $47.4 million to housing organizations to help promote fair housing nationwide—new funding the National Association of REALTORS® has been advocating for to combat housing discrimination. The grants are being awarded to 120 national and local fair housing organizations.

“The fair housing groups HUD funds are a critical piece of combating housing discrimination,” said Jeanine Worden, HUD’s acting assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity. The new grants would enable 120 fair housing groups to combat housing practices that violate the Fair Housing Act, she said.

The grants will go toward numerous fair housing efforts, including investigating and litigating fair housing complaints, testing to identify discrimination in the rental and sales markets, educating the public and housing providers about the Fair Housing Act, and building on processes and outreach of nonprofit fair housing organizations, particularly those focusing on the rights of underserved populations, including rural and immigrant populations.

NAR has long advocated for additional funding for HUD’s fair housing enforcement and education efforts. “As stewards of the right to own, use, and transfer private property, our livelihoods and businesses as REALTORS® depend upon an open housing market free from discrimination,” NAR has noted in lobbying on Capitol Hill for an increase in funds for these purposes. “NAR is firmly committed to the enforcement of fair housing laws.”

Access NAR’s fair housing resource page.

Also with the goal of promoting fair housing, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced on Tuesday that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will submit equitable housing finance plans to the agency by the end of the year. These plans, which will be updated annually, will identify and seek to address barriers to sustainable housing opportunities. The FHFA will also require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to submit annual progress reports on the action they take on the plans. Read more at FHFA.gov(link is external).

“For generations, discriminatory practices like redlining have prevented communities of color from building wealth through homeownership,” said Sandra L. Thompson, the FHFA’s acting director. “By identifying the barriers to equitable and sustainable housing finance opportunities and setting goals for addressing those barriers, the Enterprises, consistent with safety and ​soundness, can responsibly reduce the racial and ethnic disparities in homeownership and wealth that still exist today.”

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

NAR’s new “Window to the Law” video exposes the red flags buyers’ notes to sellers can raise in a transaction.

The National Association of REALTORS® is continuing to warn its members about the use of buyer love letters to help their clients’ offers stand out from the competition. The letters buyers write to emphasize their desire for a home, in which they often share personal details, are raising fair housing red flags. They can also create potential legal risks for the real estate broker.

That’s why states such as Oregon have banned such buyer letters in transactions. In July, Oregon became the first state to enact a law specifying that seller’s agents must reject buyers’ letters to sellers that contain information outside of the traditional offer.

“The use of a love letter often presents fair housing issues because they often contain personal information about the buyer, such as their race and culture or traditions as a way of appealing to the seller’s emotions,” Charlie Lee, NAR’s senior counsel and director of legal affairs, said during a “Window to the Law” video. “Some buyers even go as far as sending sophisticated packages that include photographs and videos.”

In the latest Window to the Law video, produced by NAR’s legal team, Lee shares various scenarios that could be especially problematic if a buyer shared such information in a letter, such as even including a photo of the family around a Christmas tree.

Lee encouraged real estate professionals to speak to their clients about the risks of buyer love letters and the potential fair housing issues they can raise. Real estate professionals should avoid helping their buyers draft them.

As for seller clients, Lee said they should be instructed to view an offer objectively on pricing and timing. If they insist on receiving buyer love letters, Lee advises real estate pros to urge them to consult legal counsel and to document the seller’s decision-making process in selecting an offer.

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Reprinted with permission

The National Association of REALTORS® today filed a petition in federal district court in Washington, D.C., to quash a U.S. Department of Justice request that reneges on the terms of a settlement agreement. The agreement, focused on various multiple listing service policies, was approved by the Justice Department in November 2020. In a news release issued today, NAR called the department’s attempt to withdraw from the agreement—after NAR had already begun to implement its terms—“a breach of the agreement and the law.”

NAR’s guidance for MLSs has long been recognized by courts as fostering fair and competitive real estate markets for home buyers and sellers. Having buyer brokers’ compensation come from the listing broker’s commission “increases competition by allowing small brokerages to compete on a level playing field with large brokerages and promotes equitable homeownership opportunities for all consumers,” the association said in today’s release.

Read the full news release.

NAR President Charlie Oppler, a CEO of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, Franklin Lakes, N.J., said, “The DOJ action should be considered null and invalid based on legal precedent alone. The DOJ must be governed by principle, and NAR simply expects the department to live up to its commitments.”

Read an op-ed from Charlie Oppler, published by RISMedia in July after the DOJ announced its intention to withdraw from the agreement.

Oppler said NAR remained committed to “advancing and defending independent and local real estate organizations that provide for greater economic opportunity and equity for small businesses and consumers of all backgrounds and financial means.”

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

Implicit bias and the historically difficult path to homeownership for communities of color will be highlighted at the REALTORS® Conference & Expo.

The National Association of REALTORS®’ fair housing team will present two sessions at the 2021 REALTORS® Conference & Expo(link is external) that offer attendees the opportunity to explore the history of racial discrimination in real estate and to examine and overcome their own hidden biases.

“Bias Override: Overcoming Barriers to Fair Housing,” new implicit bias classroom training that will be offered next year by NAR, helps real estate professionals learn tactics to interrupt stereotypical thinking so that they can provide equal professional service to every prospect or client. A preview of the training, presented by Afua Addo(link is external), deputy director of programs and training at the Perception Institute(link is external), will engage participants in exercises to build new habits of equitable behavior.

The course, which expands on the 50-minute implicit bias training video released by NAR in 2020, was piloted in New York, Washington, and Texas this summer. It aims to help real estate professionals explore the assumptions they don’t know they’re making, examine their ideas about people from other identity groups, and learn how to be more comfortable working across lines of difference.

The three-hour classroom course will qualify for CE credit and will be offered by the Center for REALTOR® Development and taught by experienced At Home With Diversity instructors. Any REALTOR® association that is a licensed provider of CRD content will be eligible to provide the training.

“The Past and Future of Family Properties: Overcoming Real Estate’s Historic Harms to Communities of Color” session will feature Dr. Beryl Satter(link is external), professor of history at Rutgers University, who tells a deeply personal story of the ways Black Americans in 1960s Chicago were not only excluded from building intergenerational wealth through homeownership but also preyed upon by unscrupulous real estate operators who drained billions of dollars from their community. Dr. Satter’s father was a lawyer who owned rental properties and defended Black clients from these practices. Mabél Guzmán, a broker from Chicago and 2020 vice president of association affairs for NAR, will join Dr. Satter to examine the obstacles this history still creates today and what REALTORS® are doing to ensure that their profession helps all Americans build wealth and community.

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Reprinted with permission

Victims of the recent Colorado blaze, which was the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history, may soon learn that rising construction costs have increased the cost of rebuilding beyond what their insurance coverage allows.

About 1,000 homes were destroyed in Colorado’s Marshall Fire, which destroyed homes and businesses in the suburbs between Denver and Boulder. Losses from the wildfire are expected to reach $1 billion.

While most homeowner victims are believed to have insurance, observers say many may not have enough to cover the extent of their losses.

“There are individuals in both impacted areas that are either uninsured or did not have adequate coverage in place to compensate for their losses,” Erin Collins, a senior vice president at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Cos., told The Wall Street Journal.

In general, about two-thirds of fire victims nationally tend to be underinsured, according to United Policyholders surveys.

Many homeowners are unsure of how much coverage they need. Also, some may opt for cheaper policies to keep annual premiums lower.

“There is likely going to be an issue about underinsurance” from inadequate coverage and continuing inflation, Michael Conway, Colorado insurance commissioner, told The Wall Street Journal. “There is so much that will be in flux about inflation, building costs, labor costs that when we get to the point we are rebuilding these homes, the world will likely look much different.” Construction will likely not get underway for another two years.

Also, the Federal Emergency Management Agency provides some financial assistance for underinsurance to help homeowners, Conway said.

The magnitude of the home repairs likely will further strain both builder supply chains and builders who had already been stretched thin as they tried to meet the region’s buyer demand, experts note.

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission