The REALTOR® In Your Corner
by Blanche Evans

If you are buying a home with an federally insured loan and were able to borrow up to $125,000, you can thank a REALTOR®. The National Association of REALTORS® (N.A.R.) lobbyists, among the most powerful in the nation's capital, successfully fought to have the borrowing ceiling raised from $87,000 in 1997.

If you were able to sell your home last year and keep up to $250,000 of the money tax-free, again, you can thank the NAR, which was instrumental in raising your tax-free net from a one time gain of $125,000 to giving you the ability to purchase and occupy your home for up to two years, sell the home and keep up to $250,000 tax-free, every two years.

Do you like deducting your mortgage interest rate off of your federal i.nete taxes? Once, again, Realtors and their lobbyists are in your corner. Legislators constantly propose the elimination of the mortgage interest deduction, but the NAR and its lobbyists beat it back on your behalf.

So you didn't know that Realtors put money in your pocket? They do. They are dedicated to protecting you - the home owner, buyer and seller.
Realtors and the NAR spends millions of dollars promoting home ownership annually in promotional campaigns and by taking political action. RPAC donates millions annually to federal candidates and political committees, making it one of the top twenty-five most influential lobbying groups on Capital Hill. Lobbying to protect homeowner rights is the number one legislative focus of the NAR and puts the NAR at the forefront of many economic issues.

In fact, the NAR is the only trade organization whose purpose is to watch over the rights of homeowners, buyers and sellers, and the only organization to actively lobby to protect those rights. Thousands of home owners today owe their ability to qualify for a home, the ability to buy a better home, and the ability to afford more than one home to the NAR and its lobbying efforts.

Yet, despite these tremendous accomplishments on your behalf, the NAR and its members, are often misunderstood and under appreciated. Only members of the National Association of Realtors have the right to call themselves Realtors. Realtors must be licensed and meet continuing professional requirements to stay in business. As members of the NAR, Realtors are held to an even higher code of ethics and standards of practice. The NAR membership is government-regulated, unlike the membership of many other organizations associated with the real estate transaction. Its members are subject to internal and state-regulated disciplines.

So when you choose to work with a real estate professional, remember to choose a REALTOR®.

By hiring a Realtor, you'll put 730,000 Realtors in your corner.

Published: May 23, 2000