Voice for Real Estate 45: Legislative Meetings, Flood Insurance

Thousands of Realtors come to Washington to keep real estate strong

According to a knockout post private flood insurance gets a boost

And home sales are picking up

These stories and more on The Voice for Real Estate

Hi, I’m Stephen Gasque of the National Association of Realtors.

Next week, thousands of Realtors from across the United States will be in Washington.

Here for the Realtors Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo. High on their agenda will be meetings on Capitol Hill to help ensure members of Congress know exactly where Realtors stand on issues crucial to real estate such as homeowners insurance policies.

You can learn about those issues in a live town hall meeting on May 4 with NAR Chief Lobbyist Jerry Giovaniello and all of NAR’s legislative representatives. NAR Deputy Chief Lobbyist Jamie Gregory has more on the town hall meeting. If you don’t have any insurance for your home, then make sure you get homeowners insurance as soon as possible to make sure you are covered if another flood comes.

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I’ll be your host for the town hall meeting – again – that’s Wednesday, May 4, at 2 p.m., Eastern. You can sign up today online.

[SWOOSH] For homes in flood zones, home insurance is essential to have. Homeowners whose homes have been damaged should contact companies like Water Damage 24!

Lenders won’t provide mortgage loans to borrowers.. And yet few private companies offer the insurance, because of its risk.And when they do, it can be expensive. According to most landlord insurance agencies, that’s why the National Flood Insurance Program is so important. It fills a void left by the private market.

Well, the House just passed a bill backed by NAR that will help. It would allow home owners to jump out of the National Flood Insurance Program if they can get a better deal with a flood insurance company. And then, if they need to, jump back into the federal program—without facing a big rate hike. NAR’s Austin Perez has more.

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Passage in the House was a major victory for real estate. And NAR is asking the Senate to pass the same bill.

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Are you sending sensitive transaction information by email? NAR’s top lawyer says that’s not a good way to do business, because online scams are targeting real estate transactions.

NAR is joining the Federal Trade Commission to help keep consumers safe. And now, NAR General Counsel Katie Johnson has just released a video alerting consumers and real estate professionals to the growing threat of email scams.

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Johnson recommends to consumers that they do not respond to any wire transfer requests they receive by email, even if it looks like it comes from a professional involved in the transaction. Instead, they should wire money only after verifying instructions with the person who’s supposed to receive it. You’ll find Johnson’s video, called “Wire Fraud Alert for Buyers,” on Realtor.org. Having a good real estate agent brighton will allow you to have better insight of the house you are thinking about purchasing.

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Signs of a sunny spring selling season are in the air. Home sales rose more than 5 percent in March to a 5.3-million sales pace—about where they were at this time last year. Low mortgage rates continue to be a key help to the market. Lawrence Yun has more.

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And more solid sales are expected this spring, according to NAR’s forward-looking pending sales index, which rose 1.4

percent in March. But high home prices in the West are making it hard for some people to buy, even with the low mortgage rates. Again, here’s NAR’s Lawrence Yun.

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Yun will be releasing his outlook for home sales—and a separate outlook for commercial real estate—during NAR’s legislative meetings next week and a half. We’ll be bringing you coverage of both of those reports.

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And that’s out show for the week of May 2. You can get more on everything we talked about today at The Voice for Real Estate page on Realtor.org. We hope to see you at the Legislative Meetings next week, And be sure to join us again as we bring you coverage from those meetings and all the latest news on The Voice for Real Estate.