For my family, the gift of the girls is truly AWESOME. Their birth is the renewal of the cycle of life. And, of course, this reminded me of the cyclical nature of the economy and the housing market in particular. This downturn is part of the normal cycle of business. Our goal is the get through it to enjoy the next real estate renaissance.

It is fitting that this birth is happening at the gloaming of the autumn seasons. Leaves have fallen and are blowing as nature prepares for winter. Time is marked by the seasons. This is a time of harvest, which may be one reason why the REALTORS® Conference and Expo is always held in November. As we gather in San Diego in a few weeks, we will harvest the relationships we have built over the seasons by meeting up, and learning what is working in the market place.

As REALTORS®, we are all professionals at various stages of life’s cycle. Some of us are just starting out in the profession; others have been in the industry for several years, even decades. No matter where we are in the cycle, gathering together is essential to revitalizing ourselves.

We have been through a difficult market, and, more than likely, things will still be bumpy ahead. But, going through this challenging cycle without the support of fellow REALTORS® would make it even more difficult. In the truest sense of the word, we are a family, which means we gather together when times are good and bad.

Last year, the REALTOR® family helped my personal family through a very difficult time. This year, my family is celebrating this blessing of birth. The cycle of life changes, and so will our fortunes as REALTORS®.

Soon, spring will arrive, just as tomorrow the sun will rise. The market will get better. It may not be immediately, but that is why gathering our REALTOR family together is so important during the ebbs and flows of life’s many cycles.

I look forward to seeing everyone in San Diego. – Ron Phipps, NAR 2009 First Vice President

Granted, we get into relationships differently today. We used to jot a note of thanks to someone who referred us. Or called someone up to discuss the properties they wanted to see.

Now we email, video, text, tweet, make friends on Facebook, LinkedIn, and the list goes on and on.

Although ways of communicating and doing business may change, the human need to have a relationship remains timeless. As Maya Angelou observed, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

We needn't be worried about working with future generations, for we can meet their real estate needs on whatever platform they favor. But we can never forget that the most important tool we can offer is a relationship—one that brings knowledge, insight, advice, care, and kindness. Steve Brown, 2009 NAR Vice President and Liaison to Committees

I spent three and a half days with IREM and the CI Institute. These two NAR® affiliates bestow the CPM, AMO and CCIM designations to qualified REALTORS® that have taken copious educational courses and that can demonstrate significant practical experience in the management and investment arenas of real estate.

For the fourth year in a row these two groups have held joint conferences for their membership to learn, listen, rejuvenate their minds and network. This year’s conference was billed as the “2009 Success Series”. Suggesting the meetings were appropriately named would be an understatement. I can’t remember being among a group of more qualified individuals. These (mostly) commercial brokers and real property managers not only met the goals of the conference but also found the time to have fun. I suspect the location of the meetings had something to do with the work and frivolity that went on – for some late into the evening.

I was asked to provide roughly 450 attendees with an update on NAR®’s efforts for commercial members. Given a chance to tell others what NAR® is doing is just plain fun for me. Our Association works hard to help its members – both the residential and commercial specialist alike. Like many others, I often complained (note the past tense) that NAR® doesn’t do enough for those of us in the non-residential fields. Now, I espouse the virtues of what our Association does for us. Let me list a few of items I highlighted during my time with IREM and the CI Institute. It would include the Credit Union (www.RealtorFCU.com) , commercial podcasts, the RCA Committee, lobbying Congress to help with liquidity issues, pressing to retain tax laws and regulations that affect both our members and our clients, countless free or “at cost” economic data and professional help through the Right Tools-Right Now program that is being extended for 2010. Let’s not forget www.CommercialSource.com that provides members interested in commercial efforts a separate website with space for property listings at no cost.

NAR will do the same in another ten days when we all gather in San Diego for the REALTORS® Conference and Expo. Come along with me…network, rejuvenate and enjoy sunny California. It’s all about attitude for me – and I’ve got a new attitude that will carry me through to my next transaction - you’ll see how NAR can help your attitude, your business and you so that you’ll love the now too!! -- Jim Helsel, 2009 NAR Treasurer

Yep, that’s harsh. But NAR is working hard to make sure sound policies are put in place to reinvigorate the commercial sector.

We’ve secured several victories just this year. Among them are gaining an extension on the TALF program and testifying in July front of the House Joint Economic Committee on the condition of the commercial market.

But I want to tell you about two more recent developments. NAR has mobilized a coalition of industry associations and private companies to lobby legislators and regulators on behalf of the commercial industry.

The coalition has already had several meetings and has formed a policy statement to guide its policy recommendations. Listen to 2009 NAR Treasurer and commercial practitioner Jim Helsel’s podcast on Tuesday, October 27th to hear more about them.

Secondly, NAR has helped protect commercial practitioners from facing increased regulations in their work. The House Financial Services Committee exempted real estate brokerages and management firms from being subjected to financial services reform.

The exemption for real estate brokerages included commercial practitioners. This is an important win for commercial practitioners.

We are making steady progress in the commercial sector. In fact, the office sector has seen a 24 percent increase in sales compared to the second quarter. Prices also saw a boost. So far in the third quarter, prices have hovered around $215 per square foot, compared to $145 in the second quarter.

NAR is doing everything it can to organize our members and promote smart policies that will boost commercial business.

A great way to boost your own business is by coming to the 2009 REALTORS® Conference and EXPO. There’s a fantastic line up of networking opportunities and educational sessions for commercial practitioners as well as all NAR members.

Condoleezza Rice, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Reba McIntire are just some of the special guests joining us.

There’s no better time than now for all members to be coming together to talk about how to reinvigorate our industry. I look forward to seeing you there! – Gary Thomas, 2009 NAR Vice President and Liaison to Government Affairs

So we talked about the economy and how so many people were hurting. But as we talked, I realized this conversation was not helping him feel better in any way. That's when I said, "But you're a doctor...you have helped heal people. You have helped give birth to hundreds of babies. You have saved lives. Yes, money is down right now, but you must feel a sense of accomplishment and pride in your service to humanity."

His answer was "not really". With insurance costs and all the changes in the medical field, he said he could make more money as a bartender than as a doctor.

Don't get me wrong. I am not judging my client. Financial strain can take a devastating toll on any person. It just struck me that this fellow had lost sight of other forms of compensation we receive from our work...compensation for the untold hours we spend day in and day out, for the risk s we take in setting up our businesses, for the heartache we have when something goes wrong....

Yes, my monetary compensation is down this year in real estate sales, but my sense of satisfaction in knowing I have helped a fellow human being find a home is not at all down.

How can you not feel successful and fulfilled when you sell first-time homebuyers their first home, and they shake your hand as though they just won the lottery? Or when you can sell a widow back the house she abandoned years earlier after her husband died suddenly? What more satisfaction is there than selling that retiree's condo so they can now move closer to their children and grandchildren?

Profit is essential to what we do, but it is not the only reason real estate is in the blood of so many REALTORS®. Look around. Successful agents are the ones who are passionate, not only about the money, but about the joy they have when they help someone realize their dreams.

NAR is there to help give us the tools to succeed. But NAR can't give us the passion to serve our fellow human beings. That's something each of us individually has to bring to the table. Ultimately, this is what makes our work so rewarding and fulfilling and gives the money real meaning. -- Steve Brown, 2009 NAR Vice President and Liaison to Committees

The self-employed and small employers, such as REALTORS® and realty firms, would benefit from the significant changes that the amended Finance bill makes to traditional insurance underwriting and rating practices, including bans on the use of pre-existing conditions, health status and a number of other rating factors that have made coverage costly or unavailable. Self-employed individuals would be given an added advantage in that they could choose to purchase private health insurance as an individual or as a small business through the new health insurance exchanges.

Before the Finance measure goes to the Senate floor, it will be melded with the Senate Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill, which passed earlier this year. The melding will be done by the Senate and committee leadership. Once melded, the combined bill will go to the Senate for a vote. Then, the House has three committee versions of its bill, HR 3200, that are also going through the melding process so that a single House bill will emerge for approval by the entire House.

In short, the legislation is moving forward, but has many steep hurdles to clear before it becomes law. It is important to remember that we are still in the early innings of health reform, which means the actual language that will be in any final bill is very fluid right now. Because of this, your National Association has not taken a position on the bill.

What your Leadership Team and staff have done is to work through the entire process, without a respite, to make sure that any legislative proposal includes provisions that take into account the unique challenges of the self-employed and independent contractors. Moreover, NAR has also been both visible and vocal about its opposition to any proposal that would limit the mortgage interest deduction (MID) as a means of "paying for" health reforms. You can be sure that we continue to be vigilant in that commitment.

We understand how important this issue is to the members. Last week, I traveled to the Maine Annual Convention in Rockport. Much of the conversation focused on health care. What was striking is the calmness of the conversation and the desire to understand and be understood. Over 20,000 people in Maine have lost their jobs over the past year. Its economy is a mirror of much of the country. Generally, the perspective was one of value. If we are going to have a national health insurance program it should have cost controls, be portable, be available to people with pre-existing conditions, and provide quality care. It should have ‘common sense.’ Does this sound familiar? It should. These are the National Association of REALTORS® priorities on health care reform.

All of this was in contrast to my personal experience in Rhode Island. Our small office obtains health insurance through Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Rhode Island. This month’s premium is $3,600. Over the past two years we have cut our overhead by 50 percent, but our costs of health care have increased by 25 percent. This has been necessary and I am confident you have been engaged in the same process. It is frustrating to see my premiums increase in part to fund a beautiful new glass skyscraper in Providence.

Nevertheless, please know that NAR is actively engaged in bringing common sense to the conversation. As Brokers, agents, support staff and Americans, this is a critical debate. -- Ron Phipps, 2009 NAR First Vice President

SECOVI invited me to deliver an industry address to an international real estate audience, and I talked to them about what is happening here in the U.S. market and economy. The audience hung on every word. They LOVE talking to a representative of NAR, and when we speak, they are looking for ideas that can help them address similar challenges and opportunities in their own markets.

In fact, my first meeting in Brazil was with another international group, FENACI, who wanted to know all about NAR’s history, structure and how we serve our members. You see, we are so highly respected and regarded that they want to learn from us.

This is not the first time I have experienced the “international effect” when traveling for NAR. When I went to Mexico last year to speak to our partners at AMPI, the high regard and respect were clear there, too.

But the highlight of the trip came during the Inaugural ceremony for the new President of SECOVI. When he stepped to the podium to deliver his remarks, he announced to the audience that he borrowed a number of themes from my recent address at the NAR Leadership Summit for his own Inaugural speech. Now, that’s flattery!

I share this with you because I want you to know that, while things may not be perfect in the U.S. market, we continue to set a high bar for real estate practitioners around the world. We should all be proud of the work we do, and I thank all of you for electing me to represent you as your 2010 President. – Vicki Cox Golder, 2009 NAR President-Elect

I have been hearing about appraisal problems from my agents and in every state I have visited this past year. Now, I can relate to the appraisal debacle first hand.

I recently sold a builder's spec home in a beautiful subdivision comprised of two distinct areas: One area of "production" type homes on small lots and the other area comprised of custom homes on "estate-sized" lots.

After two weeks, my clients and I found just the right home for them. In the right setting. At the right price. The buyers were thrilled when we negotiated a final price of $678,000.

The buyers processed a loan through an out-of-state bank, even though the offer to purchase was written not subject to mortgage financing. The bank ordered an appraisal through an appraisal management company in yet another state. The appraiser selected was from another city, not the city in which the house was located.

The appraiser then appraised the home for $420,000.

Let me repeat that: The house appraised for $420,000. That is $258,000 less than the contract price.

In all fairness, comparable sales were relatively few. But the disparity was not because of the lack of comps but because the wrong comps were cited in the appraisal report. There were comps that justified the price paid, not to mention that the buyers themselves felt the price they paid was in line with what they had seen after two weeks in the market.

But after 34 years in the business, for the first time ever, an appraiser was suggesting that I had just oversold a property to two "suckers" by $258,000.

WRONG!

The appraiser was out of his area. He never should have agreed to take on the appraisal of a property not in his area of geographic expertise. He was unable to properly discern the information he pulled from the MLS.

Of course, we immediately submitted other, more relevant comps. We were promptly told they would not be considered. But we were sent the Certificate of Compliance with HVCC and Non-Influence that said these " ....written policies and procedures comply with the requirements related to Appraisal Management Companies as set out in the Home Valuation Code of Conduct."

The appraisal system created to help the consumer is clearly broken. We need a moratorium on the implementation of the HVCC. NAR is working on this right now as well as other means of resolving the issue. You can write to your state leaders in Congress and ask them to support a moratorium.

My story, fortunately, had a happy ending. My buyers were able to make up the cash differential as a result of this shoddy appraisal and were able to close. But most buyers can't come up with this kind of money all the time.

Let's hope good sense kicks in before this flawed code further harms the market it was meant to protect. – Steve Brown, 2009 NAR Vice President and Liaison to Committees

But FHA has been very clear that it still holds more than $30 billion dollars in its reserves, which is enough to cover any future losses. FHA’s credit insurance also means that homeowners and bond holders are at zero risk, even if the reserves do fall below two percent.

Dave Stevens, FHA’s commissioner, has acted quickly and is appointing a Chief Risk Officer and is implementing a set of policy changes focused on ensuring responsible lending and risk management for FHA-approved lenders. You can read FHA’s statement here for yourself.

In 2007, FHA serviced three percent of home loans. Today, they service 28 percent. FHA is VITAL to our industry.

The good news is that Stevens has said he does not foresee a need for a federal bailout, unlike private banks and Fannie and Freddie.

NAR continues to support FHA’s mission. NAR President Charles McMillan and Stevens have met several times in the past few weeks to discuss the Home Valuation Code of Conduct.

NAR and FHA continue to work together to make the housing market as safe and functional as possible. Charles will be blogging about his meetings in the next few days so keep checking back to hear his update. -- Gary Thomas, 2009 NAR Vice President and Liaison to Government Affairs

First, people are people. Regardless of language, race, color, heritage, baseball teaming branding, people are people. We were warmly received by our Eastern European hosts. It seems that a smile needs no translation. It was surprising to hear many of the attendees
tell us that they were impressed that we were so human, open, and engaged. (We are REALTORS®…that is what we are.) Dale Stinton and I both did formal presentations. As we talked translators simultaneously spoke in Greek and Russian. At first it was distracting, as you wondered how precisely your words were communicated. After listening to English translations of other presenters’ Greek and Russian presentations, it becomes ‘normal.’

Secondly, the importance of engaging international partners became so obvious. The earth may not be getting smaller, but the globe is. The Ukrainians were expressing frustration about buyer’s agents being able to collect a fee. The Romanians were complaining about government interference in real estate transactions. The Bulgarians were frustrated about the lack of mortgage money and credit. Does it sound familiar? One of the best parts of the conversation is it reminds one of how great our ‘system’ of real estate works.

In many parts of the world, there is no MLS system. There is no system of ‘cooperation and compensation.’ The lack of licensing, training, code of ethics, are challenging in the ‘emerging profession.’ It is to our advantage to share our systems and experience to benefit our members. It would be great to know that a referral to Greece would result in a referral fee. It would great to know that the investment our buyers are making in other markets would be with reliable professional advice. The international market is a huge market with exceptional opportunities for our members.

Finally, the international interchange of our organization leads to trust and understanding beyond real estate. It leads to understanding among different people. Its advantage goes way beyond real estate. – Ron Phipps, 2009 NAR First Vice President

Well - another summer and now Labor Day has come and gone. I spent September 3rd (when I should have been writing this blog) at …yes… another Jimmy Buffet concert in the Washington, DC area. If you’ve read any my blogs you know I have an affinity for JB (all his good friends call him JB) but this time I found this one song to hit Realtors® in the today of reality.

The last 18 months have been difficult for our residential members and now the second shoe has dropped squarely on our commercial practitioners. Over the next 18 months or so we have approximately $1.3 trillion of re-financing to be completed but we have commercial mortgage backed security issues that aren’t being “fixed” and we have lots of us trying to place new financing on commercial property that we’ve been asked to market. Decorate these issues any way you’d like and it’s not a pretty package.

To be sure, NAR is working on these issues. President McMillan and the Leadership Team continually meet with the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac , the Treasury Department, FDIC, the Federal Reserve Chairman and anyone else that will listen. We are being heard but the fact is that the “fix” isn’t an easy one. Most agree that until unemployment begins to fall that commercial tenants and businesses won’t see a major turn around. Prognosticators predict it will be the end of the first quarter or more likely the second quarter of 2010 until there is any significant uptick in activity. Ten days ago at the Leadership Summit 1800 Local and State Association Leaders came together. There was optimism about the market – it felt good and it was good.

So, why would I quote Jimmy Buffet you ask!! What I’ve found as I travel on NAR’s behalf is that REALTORS® willing to work – willing to look and find a way to get around the walls that preclude us from doing business do exactly that. There is still money to be made. I have completed two transactions in the last month that I just wasn’t willing to give up on. I finally found a bank willing to listen and they helped with financing for a purchaser and tenant improvement money for the tenant that made the investment property a worthwhile investment. The second transaction was completed with the help of a credit union that saw the value of re-financing a building that had a long track record of being successful. Neither transactions were easy but I found a way to make them work with persistence, some new strategies and by working with a vengeance. I actually made money doing it too.

Our Association is doing more now for the commercial member than we ever have. With blogs, monthly commercial podcasts, commercialsource.com, e-property data, Congressional testimony, a four point plan presented to the Administration in Washington, DC as well as the GSEs and the Treasury we have pushed and pressed as much as anyone – actually more!!

The problems before we commercial practitioners are huge. Giving in is giving up – that just isn’t an option for you or for NAR. You can’t do that either. Find a way to “get around the wall” that is making our lives a little tougher than it was three or four years ago but don’t give in. JB’s song is about finding a way to make a love work that has had problems. Let’s face it – if we didn’t love this profession we wouldn’t be here working, struggling and finding ways to survive….and we will.

Summer is nearly gone but I am optimistic – eternally so. Ninety-five percent of our success is attitude. Don’t give in... the REALTORS® Conference & Expo is in San Diego just over two months from now. Come to the meetings –learn, network, re-energize and take a break for a few days from the rigors of what we do for a living and learn what others have done to “decorate the wall or get around it”. I’ll be there and I sure hope you’ll be there too! -- Jim Helsel, CCIM, SIOR, CRE, CPM, 2009 NAR Treasurer