California Association of Realtors...another conference in paradise (that's Sacramento, btw)!

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you will already know that this past week was a busy one! In addition to my day-to-day duties as a Realtor, I am member of the Board of Directors for the California Association of Realtors -- and this last week we had our annual mid-year conference and legislative meetings. Thankfully these mid-year meetings are always in Sacramento, which is great so I can still get a lot of work done in addition to attend the numerous committee meetings, forums, and Board of Directors sessions.

I am often asked by my clients, and even other Realtors, why my volunteer service to the Sacramento Association of Realtors and and California Association of Realtors is so important? Well, in short, there is no "California Association of Homeowners." Did you know that the local, state and national associations of Realtors work to defend consumer private property rights? Most people (heck, many Realtors for that matter) are not aware that we do this.

Did you know that in any given legislative cycle, there are well over 1,000 bills introduced that affect real estate ownership or property transfer. We are constantly working hard convince lawmakers that proposing pieces of legislation that do things like add more taxes to real estate transactions, require certain home retrofits at the point of sale, eliminate the mortgage interest tax deduction, and things of that nature are potentially harmful to property ownership and place undue burdens on homeowners, buyers and sellers...while at the same time trying to convince lawmakers that proposing pieces of legislation that do things like prohibit advanced fee loan modification contracts (aka, scams), extend forgiveness of paying income tax on "phantom income" created by short sales, give additional rights to tenants of foreclosed homes, and things of that nature are GOOD ideas. We are a "party neutral" organization...in fact we like to refer to ourselves as "the Realtor Party of California."

So, in short...through lots of meetings and much debate, we strategized the most effective ways to make that happen. I feel we accomplished a lot and have a good road map moving forward....the next round of C.A.R. meetings are in September. So, until then, happy home buying and selling!