Word of the Week
Special Rule – A resolution reported by the Rules Committee that, if agreed to by the House, sets the terms for debating and amending a specified measure or measures.
Save the Date: “Know Before You Go” Webinar for RLM
Please register to join your NAR Advocacy team for this annual Know Before You Go Webinar on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 1pm ET to prepare for the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings in Washington D.C and your Hill visits. During the webinar we will walk through your talking points and FPC E-Packet, review what to expect with the busy RLM schedule and discuss the latest around the NAR settlement. Remember, RLM is the most important Advocacy meeting of the year and we look forward to getting back to regular order with Hill visits.
Please Register for the Know Before You Go Webinar HERE.
VIDEO: Settlement Briefing with NAR President Kevin Sears
On March 22, President Kevin Sears held a webinar with Katie Johnson, NAR’s Chief Legal Officer, further discussing the settlement agreement and what it means for both the association and its members. The webinar highlights additional important content now available on facts.realtor including:
- The latest settlement FAQs
- FAQs focused on financing and interested party contributions
- Slides that cover the key terms of the settlement
- A timeline showing anticipated next steps in the process
- An overview of the scope of the release for NAR members
We encourage you to explore these resources. Please continue to bring any questions you have regarding the settlement agreement to Victoria Givens, your lobbyists or your political directors.
NAR and the Mortgage Bankers Send a Letter to GSEs to Urge Support for Buyer Financing
NAR and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) sent a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac seeking confirmation that sellers can continue to pay compensation to a buyer’s agent and that payment will continue to be excluded from the limits on Interested Party Contributions. This confirmation is a critical piece of the post-settlement puzzle. This letter continues NAR’s efforts to engage the GSEs and regulators to provide near-term clarity to the market and members. This effort is one of several focused on supporting mortgage finance for buyers in the post-settlement environment. Read More…
Download NAR’s Letter to the GSEs
NAR Submits Comments to Veterans Affairs on Allowable Fees
NAR submitted a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), urging the agency to revise its policies pertaining to fees veterans cannot pay when using their VA home loan benefit. Under VA policies, veterans using the home loan benefit are prohibited from compensating their professional representative directly. This puts VA buyers at a disadvantage in situations where offers of compensation are not offered from a seller, potentially forcing them to forego professional representation, choose a different loan product, or exit the market entirely.
NAR wants to ensure veterans maintain their access to the VA home loan program, which has been a significant tool in helping service members achieve the American dream of homeownership. NAR remains committed to working with the department to create solutions for those who served our country.
Download NAR’s Letter to the VA
NAR Meets with DOL on Fair Labor Standards Act, Final Rule is Effective
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) final rule regarding how workers are classified under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) took effect on March 11, 2024. This final rule was issued in January 2024, and now will go into effect. Last week In March, NAR met with officials at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division to discuss the recent rule and its impact on the real estate industry. The meeting focused on the rule’s adoption of the economic realities test, and how the test could impact how real estate professionals are classified. NAR also expressed concerns regarding the preemptive effect of the federal rule and how it may impact state worker classification laws. Read More…
ICYMI: New FPC Webinar Recording
On February 27, the NAR Advocacy team hosted an FPC Training Webinar welcoming our new FPCs and reviewing the nuts and bolts of the role. Joe Harris, NAR’s Vice President of Government Advocacy, gave an update on current issues we’re facing on Capitol Hill and what to expect with Hill visits this year during the REALTOR Legislative Meetings (RLM). It was an important webinar to review the schedule for FPCs around the conference and more broadly, ways FPCs can connect with their members of Congress – both online and offline. Together with our partners at the Congressional Management Foundation, we discussed the Complete Citizen-Advocate’s Toolkit: 15 tools available to every grassroots advocate. You can watch the webinar recording here.
Register for 2024 REALTORS® Legislative Meetings
Registration is open for the 2024 REALTORS® Legislative Meetings May 4-9 in Washington, D.C. Please register ASAP because the FPC room block and other housing fills up quickly. Note that the FPC room block will again be located at the Grand Hyatt. Full details can be found on the event website. Here are some important things to know this year.
**PLEASE PLAN TO ARRIVE IN WASHINGTON SATURDAY MAY 4.**
1. May 5 – The FPC Lobbyist Salons, FPC Advocacy Academy, FPC Roundtable and The Advocacy Scoop will all take place starting at 9am on Sunday. PLEASE FLY IN SATURDAY, MAY 4.
2. May 6 – General Session
3. May 7 – Hill Visits
- FPC 50th Anniversary Celebration will take place on Tuesday night, May 7, at 6:30pm
- The Expo will be open 10:00am-5:00pm, May 6-7
4. May 8 – Regional Caucuses
5. May 9 – Board of Directors
Congressional District and State Reports
Don’t forget that you can easily access your Congressional District and State Economic Reports when preparing for a meeting with your Member of Congress. These reports contain housing and real estate data that you can use to advocate for our policies on the Hill. They provide information about the status of homeownership, trends in the real estate market, and the economic conditions that underlie the demand for housing overall.
FPC Travel Stipend for RLM
Every year, Federal Political Coordinators are afforded a $1000 stipend to defray travel costs to the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings. Please save your hotel and airfare receipts. You will submit them to your state Government Affairs Director and be reimbursed directly by your state. If you have any questions, please reach out to Victoria Givens at vgivens@nar.realtor.
Congress Funds Government Through September
In the early morning hours of Saturday, March 23, Congress passed a $1.2 trillion spending package to fund the government through September 30, 2024. – narrowly averting a partial government shutdown. The spending bill keeps open several agencies which would have otherwise shutdown after the March 8 deadline and sustains their programs, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Transportation, and the Treasury Department. Still left for Congress to fund are the remaining agencies, which have a March 22 deadline to avoid a shutdown. This also included an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)through the end of September.
NAR has advocated through multiple shutdown threats for Congress to pass a long-term spending bill ahead of a government shutdown to keep important federal programs and agencies running as well as to avoid a lapse in the NFIP, which would impact thousands of homeowners living in flood zones for whom the NFIP keeps flood insurance affordable. In addition to keeping the costs of flood insurance down, the NFIP plays a crucial role in home sales for buyers in flood zones.
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