Realtors head to confab with five-point housing proposal

The National Association of Realtors will gather for its annual convention in Anaheim, California, this weekend armed with a five-point proposal the group believes will jump-start the nation’s housing market.

NAR, the country’s largest trade association with more than 1 million members, worked with two policy think tanks – the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) and the Economic Policies for the 21st Century (e21) – to help create the proposal, New Solutions for America’s Housing Crisis.

“It’s no secret our nation’s housing markets remain depressed and continue to suffer,” the proposal’s introduction reads. “While no one thought the crisis would carry on so long, markets are slowly recovering and are in need of immediate policy solutions to address the myriad challenges in order to stabilize housing and support an economic recovery.”

The proposal includes higher lending limits, no reductions in the mortgage introduce deduction, re-instatement of the FHA 203 (k) program for investors and lower loan fees for investor mortgages.

KIRO-FM’s “Real Estate Today” will be broadcast live from the NAR convention at 9 a.m. Sunday.