Charlotte-area Realtors meet with D.C. lawmakers

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Charlotte Regional Realtor Association members traveled to Washington last week for the National Association of Realtors annual party convention and trade expo.

As part of the visit to the nation’s capital, delegates from Charlotte met with North Carolina congressional leaders to discuss issues of importance to the housing industry.

Among those attending an hour-long breakfast meeting with Senators Richard Burr, a Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Democrat, were Carolina Multiple Listing Services Inc. President Joe Rempson, President-Elect Maren Brisson-Kuester, and Past President Eric Locher; Charlotte Regional Realtor Association Secretary Scott Wurtzbacher and Treasurer Roger Parham; and Joe Padilla, executive director of the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition. The breakfast was hosted by the North Carolina Association of Realtors.

One of the key housing items for the NAR is the preservation of the Federal Housing Finance Administration programs that, according to the NAR, provide safe and affordable mortgage financing to qualified consumers without cumbersome qualifications and the imposition of additional costs.

As Congressional leaders undertake reforming the tax code, the association advocates for the preservation of the mortgage interest deduction, which it says is utilized by more than 75 percent of homeowners. Eliminating the deduction would have a devastating consequence on struggling homeowners, many of whom are still underwater in their mortgage, and could impact the value of all homes in the country, according to the NAR.

A third area of interest for the housing industry is reform of the secondary mortgage market. As Congress works to restructure the mortgage industry, real estate professionals are lobbying for finance reform efforts to guarantee a role for the federal government in ensuring and protecting affordable home loans even as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are restructured.

Burr and Hagan spoke to North Carolina real estate professionals at the breakfast for about 30 minutes each and took questions from the audience on bills under consideration in Congress.The take-away from the meeting, said Padilla of REBIC, was that “no one expects tax reform to get done this year.”

Carolina MLS President Rempson said he doesn’t expect much in the way of reform to the current tax or financing systems given that it’s an election year.

The mortgage interest deduction is one of the sacred cows of the real estate industry.

“It’s not a tax loophole,” said Padilla. Padilla thinks that tampering with the deduction, which is widely used by millions of Americans, “would do more harm than good.”

On May 15, the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee approved a housing finance reform bill in a 13-9 vote that would essentially wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and replace them with a new system guaranteed by private capital but backstopped by the federal government.

Known as the Johnson-Crapo bill, the legislation in unlikely to make it to the full Senate, but it is supported by the real estate industry, said Padilla.

Last year, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee passed the PATH, or Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act, which would end the federal guarantee for secondary mortgages as well as dissolve Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The real estate industry is against this bill, believing that Fannie and Freddie’s role in securitizing loans have helped make homeownership so accessible to Americans, said Padilla.

Outside of the Washington trip, Padilla said, the industry aims to keep an open dialogue with congressional members in the Charlotte region. Regular meetings are held with North Carolina’s U.S. Reps. Robert Pittenger and Richard Hudson, republicans representing the 9th and 8th congressional districts respectively, and Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a Republican from the 5^th District of South Carolina.

Padilla calls that process “valuable.”

“We like them to know where we are.”