When small businesses and second home owners became targets for major tax hikes in their state, Washington REALTORS® jumped into action. Through a multi-faceted campaign called “Recover Washington” the 17,500-member association was able to defeat a 20 percent increase in the gross receipts tax paid by REALTORS®, as well as…...
Nevada Becomes Fourth State to Ban Use of Eminent Domain to Seize Underwater Mortgages
The REALTORS® of Nevada, one of the states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, joined the states of Alabama, Maryland and Louisiana in amending their state constitutions to ban the use of eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages. The Nevada Association’s success on this issue at the state level will…...
Beverly Hills/Los Angeles REALTORS® Defeat Unfair Transfer Tax Proposed for Santa Monica
In a campaign involving volunteer and professional phone-banking, online advertising, yard signs, direct mailings and door-to-door work, the Beverly Hills/Greater Los Angeles Association of REALTORS® soundly defeated a proposed transfer tax increase that would have hit Santa Monica developers square on the chin. Owners of condos, single-family homes and apartments…...
North Dakota Becomes Sixth State to Constitutionally Ban Real Estate Transfer Taxes
North Dakota recently joined Arizona, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana and Oregon as one of six states that now constitutionally abolish future real estate transfer taxes. The 1,600-member North Dakota Association of REALTORS® (NDAR) used an Issues Mobilization Grant from NAR, funding from its own coffers and plenty of polling, advertising and…...
San Francisco Association Pulls Out All the Stops to Defeat Housing Tax
When the 4,000-member San Francisco Association of REALTORS® (SFAR,) learned about an additional transfer tax proposed for many of the city's multi-unit properties, it launched into action. With the help of an Issues Mobilization Grant from NAR, the association successfully got the proposal defeated. One key to SFAR's campaign was…...
Oklahoma REALTORS® Beat Back Onerous “Abandoned Property” Ordinance
When Oklahoma City passed an “abandoned property” ordinance last November subjecting certain vacant properties to registration requirements, mandated fees, and municipal inspections, the Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® thought the city had gotten too big for its britches. OAR used NAR’s polling services, along with a $95,000 Issues Mobilization Grant, to…...
Wisconsin REALTORS® Win Bipartisan Support to Pass Landmark Property Tax Relief Bill
Wisconsin's notoriously high property tax rate had long been a thorn in the side of the Wisconsin REALTORS® Association (WRA. This past legislative session, with the help of polling services from NAR, the 13,500-member association did something about it. By winning bipartisan support in a statehouse often noted for its…...
REALTORS® in MD & LA Put Halt on Using Eminent Domain to Seize Underwater Mortgages
REALTORS® in Maryland and Louisiana ran successful issue campaigns to stop local governments from using their power of eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages. The Maryland Association got a two-year moratorium on the practice while the state legislature studies the issue. The Louisiana Association got an all-out ban on the…...
Missouri REALTORS® Use Power of Polling to Stop Tax Threat to Real Estate
For the second year in a row, the Missouri REALTORS® (MR) blocked a deep-pocketed individual from advancing his plan to eliminate the state income tax. The burden for filling the revenue void would likely have fallen on real estate sales and services, which would have hit MR’s 18,000 members square…...