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The latest Voice for Real Estate news video from NAR looks at a scam hitting Florida real estate professionals in which cyber criminals have created a fake real estate group in an effort to collect fees. The video also looks at the return of Gen Xers to the market after being hard hit by the foreclosure crisis, Congress’ effort to reform and reauthorize federal flood insurance, and the Trump administration’s review of an environmental rule NAR would like to see revised.
Featured segments:
- Gen Xers
- Water rule
- Florida scam
- Flood insurance
- Real Estate Today
Transcript
Some good news as more Gen Xers enter the market
The federal government slows down on an NAR-opposed rule
And a new kind of fraud hits the real estate industry
These stories and more on The Voice for Real Estate
Hi, I’m Stephen Gasque with the National Association of Realtors.
No generation of homeowners was harder hit by the economic downturn a decade ago than Gen Xers. This generation, born between the mid-1960s and early 1980s, was hit hard when recession rocked the global economy in 2007. Many lost value in their homes. Not surprisingly, after the recovery began, they stayed out of the housing market in numbers far greater than other generations. But that’s starting to change, according to NAR’s 2017 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report. Jessica Lautz of NAR Research has more.
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In other findings from the report, millennial homebuyers, those born after 1981, were the most likely to use a real estate professional to buy a home. Last year, 92 percent of these buyers used an agent compared to 87 percent of baby boomers and 86 percent of Gen Xers. These youngest buyers were also the most likely to consider buying a foreclosed home. As buyers got older, their interest in buying a foreclosure decreased.
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President Donald Trump has issued an executive order directing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA to review a rule issued two years ago that expands what bodies of water are subject to Clean Water Act regulations.
Environmental reviews are an important part of a development plan, but NAR welcomes the executive order because many real estate professionals, and NAR, believe the new regulations are overreaching. Here’s NAR’s Russell Riggs with more.
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We’ll keep you updated as the agencies take steps to ease restrictions under the executive order.
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For several years NAR has been alerting real estate professionals that transactions are under assault by cyber criminals who try to con home buyers out of their money by posing as agents or other professionals involved in a transaction. But now there’s another scam, and although it’s focused on real estate professionals in Florida, it’s something that everyone in the real estate industry needs to be aware of because it could happen in your state next.
Under this latest scam, cyber criminals have set up a sophisticated, realistic-looking website for a nonexistent organization called the “Florida Board of Realtors.” They’re sending out bogus invoices to real estate professionals, saying their access to listings will be denied if they don’t pay the bill. NAR Associate Counsel Jessica Edgerton has more.
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We’ll be sure to report any other major scams that come to light to help you protect yourself and your clients.
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Up on Capitol Hill issues of importance to real estate are starting to move. In an action supported by NAR, lawmakers have introduced a bill to keep federal flood insurance available in every market that needs it for the next several years. The Flood Insurance Modernization and Parity Act, which would also encourage more private insurers to offer policies, passed the House last year but didn’t became law because a companion bill never made it through the Senate. Here’s Austin Perez of NAR Government Affairs on why it’s important the bill get enacted into law soon.
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Lawmakers have also introduced legislation to change the Affordable Care Act—also known as Obamacare—setting in motion a debate that’s important to sales associates and brokers who are responsible for providing their own health insurance. Here’s NAR’s Marcia Salkin on what NAR is watching for as this legislation makes its way through Congress.
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With so many issues critical to the industry being taken up on Capitol Hill, why not subscribe to the National Association of Realtors channel on YouTube, so you can catch all our “Voice for Real Estate” broadcasts? And lend your voice to promoting the REALTOR agenda.
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And that’s our show for the week of March 13. You can get more on everything we’ve talked about today at The Voice for Real Estate page on nar.realtor. Thank you for joining us and be sure to join us again as we bring you the latest news on The Voice for Real Estate.
