Ken Fears is the director of conventional housing finance and valuation policy for the National Association of REALTORS®. An economist by training, he has developed expertise in housing market dynamics, taxation and finance. He serves as NAR's internal expert on trends in mortgage finance and lending research. As part of the association's advocacy group, he defends and promotes NAR members' interests in the conventional housing finance, banking and real property valuation arenas. He received his B.A. in economics from Syracuse University and an MSc. (masters of science) in economics from the University of Texas at Austin.