By Chris Polychron, 2012First Vice President-Nominee, National Assocation of REALTORS®
Hello, my name is Chris Polychron, and I’m new to the Leadership Team,currently serving as the NAR 2012 First Vice President-Nominee. Manners are important in the South, so since I’m a native Arkansan, I’d like to introduce myself.
I was born in Arkansas, but I’m also first generation Greek. My father had a barbecue restaurant, and I think that’s where I first started to learn what it takes to run a small business.
I still love to cook, when I get a chance. I’ve been married to my wife Janis for 44 years. She’s a wonderful person, an artist who brings much-needed balance to my life. Together we have two daughters and three lively grandchildren.
Before becoming a REALTOR®, I used to be a banker. I took up real estate because I thought I’d be good at it. The man who I went to for my first job didn’t think so. But I kept after him. Finally I said, “Where’s my desk, because I’m coming to work here whether you like it or not.” It turns out that kind of perseverance was just the ticket. It’s something I’ve needed over and over again in my 24-year career as a REALTOR®.
Another skill REALTORS® need is the ability to multi-task. Sometimes we have so many irons in the fire, it’s a wonder the whole thing doesn’t blow up. But it helps to stay calm and focused, which is exactly like hunting quail—a sport I greatly enjoy. You have to keep your eye on the target.
The bulls-eye I am focused on is ensuring that Home Ownership Matters to consumers and to our communities. Because the American Dream of home ownership is under attack like never before from policies that make it harder to buy and keep a home. We are working to defend the American Dream by maintaining tax advantages for home ownership, like the mortgage interest deduction; protecting private property rights; and ensuring consumers have access to mortgage liquidity.
This takes leadership. To be a leader, you have to do everything you ask someone else to do, and then some. With that in mind, I’ll be working hard this year helping our President Moe Veissi accomplish his goals for NAR. I’ll also be traveling around the country visiting with REALTORS® and hearing what’s on your minds.
I admire many of NAR’s leaders, especially our past presidents. Each one has contributed in his or her own way. Dick Gaylord brought in young people. Richard Mendenhall started the REALTOR® Relief Foundation. Ron Phipps inspired us during difficult times. And Moe is just getting started in what I’m sure will be a great year.
With that, I hope to get to meet each one of you personally. Until then, I’m always glad to hear from you, so give me a call or e-mail me at chrispolychron44@gmail.com. Go Razorbacks!
By Gary Thomas, 2012 President-Elect, National Association of REALTORS®
I have some great news to share with everyone! Last night Congress voted to restore loan limits and the maximum cap for Federal Housing Administration loans. Their action reinstates the loan limit at 125 percent of area median price up to $729,750 for two years and extends the National Flood Insurance Program until December 16th, with no lapse.
This is good news! Higher loan limits will make mortgages more accessible for hard-working middle-class families throughout the country. In fact, nearly two-thirds of buyers who will be helped by the loan limits extension have incomes below $100,000. On flood insurance, the extension until December 16th ensures no lapse, but we still need to push for Congress to pass the five-year reauthorization. Contact your representative to reauthorize NFIP for five more years.
Opponents of higher loan limits mistakenly argue that only wealthy borrowers benefit from the maximum cost limits. But in 2010, the FHA was used by 56 percent of all first-time homebuyers, and 85 percent of borrowers obtaining homes at the higher loan limits had incomes below $150,000. In addition, 60 percent of all African-American and Hispanic homebuyers used FHA.
The truth is that it actually depends a lot on where in the country the borrower lives. Geography often dictates what the price of “affordable housing” is. Last month’s reset to 115 percent impacted 669 counties in 42 states and territories, with an average loan limit reduction of more than $68,000. We support giving middle-class borrowers the same access to affordable mortgage financing, no matter where they make their home.
For example, many people think of California as a high cost state, and there are many areas where it is. San Francisco will benefit because many middle class homes bump up against the $729,750 limit. What many people don’t know is there are many counties in California that are not considered high cost and will benefit. Take Fresno County, for example, prices will go from $281,750 to $311,250 to qualify. As you can see, this really benefits consumers no matter where they live.
For a great analysis, see the video below.
Statistics for last year show a decline in mortgages for higher priced homes, in spite of historically low interest rates. This suggests that sales in the higher-priced portion of the markets were stymied relative to the lower price ranges during the period leading up to the change in the conforming loan limits. This negatively impacted our businesses at the very worst time.
Yet, not long ago, the effort to reinstate the loan limits was dead in the water. Several members of Congress let us know it would never happen. But we didn’t give up. We showed Congress what REALTORS® are made of—strength and grit! We sent out a Call for Action on both these matters, and we had an impressive response from members. And you know what? Congress listened! That’s why these Calls for Action are so important, and I thank you for your overwhelming response.
Those of you who answered the call helped make a difference, and I urge you to keep up the good work by continuing to respond when asked. And be sure to answer the call for action to reauthorize NFIP, if you haven’t already. Again, thanks for your help!
By Gary Thomas, 2011 First Vice President, National Association of REALTORS®
Just yesterday I attended the Home Ownership Matters bus tour stop in Las Vegas.
It was heartening to see Nevadans’ excitement, including REALTORS®, as the bus rolled into town in the city that has suffered the most over the past several years – a foreclosure rate five times the national average and the highest unemployment in the country. Needless to say, it has hurt our REALTORS® there as well. At two different stops multiple media outlets, as well as civic, state, and local association speakers, and of course REALTORS® and consumers, made for a great turnout to support home ownership. Take a look at this recap from Las Vegas’ 8NewsNow online.
We weren’t the only ones in town to show support for home ownership. President Obama was in Las Vegas this week too to unveil the revamped Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP. We’re glad the Administration is taking steps to address housing by helping home owners who are underwater but current on their payments to refinance into mortgages with lower rates through the enhanced program.
Finally, people, including the President, are listening to what we’ve been saying all along: Housing needs help and we have solutions. Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chairman, is now saying, “We can’t ignore housing anymore.”
More must be done though.
Our country needs housing policies that ensure a robust recovery and do not further weaken the nation’s housing market, like the five-point plan that came out of the bipartisan New Solutions for America’s Housing Crisis forum which NAR endorsed. Specifically it calls for:
- revising high down payment requirements of the proposed Qualified Residential Mortgage rule;
- restoring higher mortgage loan limits supported by the Federal Housing Administration and the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs);
- and preserving the mortgage interest deduction.
Also yesterday, President Ron Phipps embarked on a 26-stop satellite media tour – blanketing television news programs across the country, including Las Vegas, with the message that home ownership matters to people, communities, and the country.
We’re working hard for REALTORS®, to ensure that more does get done for home ownership in this country. For today, though, I was gratified to see hope, laughter, and smiles in a city where they’re needed most.
I just spent the last few days traveling for the Leadership Team out West, first to California’s Legislative meetings and then to the Resort and Second Homes Meeting at Lake Tahoe, Nevada. It was a special trip and very inspiring.
In each of my public presentations, one message was central: The future will be written, and we REALTORS® have a choice: We can be authors of our future, or the object of the future. In other words, we can engage and write our future or we can be spectators.
For the past several years, we have “involved” ourselves by providing solutions to the housing crisis. However, now, there is a new approach REALTORS® across the country are embracing: action and engagement.
Maybe it was wishful thinking (or blind optimism) that led us to believe that the market would self correct and mortgage money would be available to credit worthy consumers. After the bailout of the “Too Big to Fail” banks, REALTORS® assumed that these companies would step up and begin to provide the life blood to our market – mortgage money. We also assumed that the government would step in and solve the problems. I’m not sure why we believed that everyone else would step up and make it right, but we did. And, to be fair, steps were taken, but it has not been enough and it is not right.
The change for us to be more active is a good one. We are relying upon ourselves – our hands and our ingenuity – to figure out the solution AND take control, rather than allowing some else to resolve the problems.
Your NAR leadership team is working within this new understanding and focus. We are no longer stepping. We are marching and running.
Specifically, we are working to create channels of communication between REALTORS® and the big banks. Right now the five largest banks are responsible for 73 percent of all of the mortgages written in the United States. While that fact may be disturbing, particularly considering that 30 years ago the top five banks were responsible for 25 percent of mortgage lending, it does have value. We only need to communicate with those five to resolve many issues in the market.
We have decided we need to be authors of our relationship with these banks. It is easy to blame, but creative problem solving requires focus and discipline. These are skills, traits that REALTORS® know well. We are working to write and define the “new normal.”
Some people suggest that leadership should not tell you what we are attempting to do, but rather tell you after the success has happened. I disagree. By sharing our agenda, we make sure that we are representing you. It is also a way to make leadership accountable. Most importantly, sharing gives you the responsibility and the opportunity to work together to come up with effective solutions.
After all, who has a better vantage point than you, the neighborhood REALTOR®? So, please, share your thoughts and ideas with us.
This initiative is a reach. We are looking to redefine the flow and availability of mortgage money. But our industry cannot operate without it. We need to ensure that the global financial system has a steady, competitive, reliable, and available source of mortgage money.
The American Dream, when realized, is a great thing for American families. While re-thinking what people can afford is appropriate, re-thinking cannot be allowed to eliminate homeownership entirely from the national consciousness.
As authors of our future, we must insure that the American dream is the right size, but still very much a real part of the American experience. — Ron Phipps, 2010 NAR President-Elect
