On the newswire this morning was a press release announcing the broadcast of an interview with Senators Bob Cocker (R-Tenn) and Mark Warner (D-Va) conducted by Zillow Chief Economist and all-round trend prognosticator, Dr. Stan Humphries. The senators are co-sponsors of Senate Bill 1217, the Housing Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013 which seeks to replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government sponsored enterprises (GSE) that were deeply embroiled in the housing crash of this past decade. Their bill would completely replace F&F with a new system of regulations designed to prevent future housing bubbles and crashes.
To my thinking, this discussion is hugely important to the future of the housing industry. But who is holding it may be as significant or more so in the minds of some. Remember back in August when Zillow hosted a housing conversation with President Obama? Remember the uproar from the REALTOR membership asking why their trade association wasn’t involved? Multiple questions of “Why Zillow and not NAR?” led to the release of an excuse document, called a “Special Report” by NAR explaining that this wasn’t a real serious discussion on housing policy but just a “chat” sponsored by a “housing entertainment website.”
Well, guess what! Things are getting entertaining again. This time Zillow has snagged the two named sponsors of one of the most significant pieces of legislation pending before the otherwise do-nothing congress. And once again, NAR is nowhere to be seen in the discussion.
NAR Spurned Again, With No Spin Available This Time
In pooh-poohing the Zillow-Obama interview, NAR contended that one of the main reasons they were not involved was because NAR is often at odds with the Obama Administration over housing policy. To quote from NAR’s Special Report, “Our defense of issues that directly impact Realtor® business and the ability of Americans to own and invest in real estate sometimes contrasts NAR’s positions with those of the administration. Because of NAR’s leadership in the advocacy arena, our sources tell us that the White House did not want to get caught in a conflict of interest with us.”
But no such conflict of interest exists between NAR and DC over GSE reform. In a position paper published by NAR, the REALTORS organization supports Senate Bill 1217 stating:
In the Senate, S. 1217, the “Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Act” (Corker R-TN; Warner D-VA) offers comprehensive reform of the secondary mortgage market but maintains a government guarantee. Though there are issues that remain to be addressed, NAR is supportive of this bipartisan approach which will accelerate the conversation necessary to reform our housing finance system.
So, without the potential conflict of interest, why is Dr. Humphries hosting this discussion, instead of Dr. Yun, NAR’s Chief Economist? While the video of the discussion hasn’t been released as of this writing (it’s due out tomorrow morning), I doubt NAR can play the same trump card as last time. This isn’t merely a chat done for entertainment purposes. This issue needs a serious policy discussion and supportive action by the leading homeownership lobby in Washington. Seems to me this would have been a perfect opportunity for NAR to seize the moments following the first Zillow interview and line up the senators for a follow-up conversation. That didn’t happen. There was no carpe in NAR’s diem schedule.
Here’s one final suggestion for NAR: host a serious discussion of tax reform, specifically the mortgage interest deduction (preservation of which NAR strongly supports) before Zillow goes three for three – and takes all the joy out of Mudville.
For this post:
Cause: Fool me once . . .
Effect: Fool me twice . . .
~bb
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