REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-REALTORS® Bring Homes, Hope to New Orleans

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Daily Real Estate News | May 10, 2006 | REALTORS® Bring Homes, Hope to New Orleans This fall some 30,000 REALTORS® will deliver hands-on help to clean up damaged neighborhoods, build 54 new Habitat for Humanity homes, and bring $34 million in badly needed revenue and fresh hope for a brighter future to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The REALTORS® will convene in the Crescent City Nov. 10 through 13 for the 2006 REALTORS® Conference & Expo. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® announced Tuesday that it has formed a new partnership with Habitat for Humanity International to encourage each of the nation’s 54 state and territorial REALTOR® associations to sponsor and build a new Habitat home in the Gulf Coast region. As part of its ongoing collaborative efforts with Habitat for Humanity to make home ownership a reality by partnering with families in need, NAR and its members have built a Habitat for Humanity house in each of the past five years in the city hosting its annual conference. This year, because of the hurricanes that hit the coastal region and the devastation they left behind, the NAR leadership has decided to increase the build to 54 homes. REALTORS® will build the homes. Other opportunities are being developed for REALTORS® to help restore the New Orleans area during the convention. These include bringing a school and other public buildings in need of repair back to life, as well as painting, repairing, and restoring community facilities. “REALTORS® care about communities and homes," says NAR President Tom Stevens of Vienna, Va. "We can set no better example to the nation than by leaving New Orleans and the Gulf Coast better places than they were when we came. NAR’s New Orleans convention will be unlike any other REALTOR® convention ever held.” Despite the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina, NAR’s leaders announced last December that the association will stand by its commitment to the beleaguered city and hold its annual REALTORS® Conference & Expo in New Orleans as originally scheduled. NAR’s convention is expected to bring as much as $35 million-$40 million in convention revenues. As many as 30,000 REALTORS® and exhibitors are expected to attend, making the NAR convention the largest such event scheduled to take place in New Orleans this year. The NAR convention is called “NARdi Gras, a Celebration of REALTORS® coming together to REnew, REconnect, and REenergize their careers and the city of New Orleans.” The meeting will feature more than 200 conference sessions, more than 600 exhibitors, and thousands of real estate professionals from the United States and 60 nations. Visit the Conference & Expo Web site at REALTOR.org for more information and to register. REALTORS®’ support for rebuilding the Gulf Coast began hours after Katrina made landfall. Last year thousands of REALTORS® and REALTOR® organizations across the country contributed more than $4.6 million to help victims of the Gulf Coast hurricanes. Funds were distributed directly to hurricane victims by the Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi REALTOR® associations. Every penny raised went directly to victims in need. —NAR