ACAR Watercooler

Who’d you say we were again…?

Posted on December 30, 2011. Filed under: Committee Updates, Ethics, Legislative Update, Market Update, Member Benefits, President Post, Uncategorized |

Who’d you say we were again…?

I called a friend at NAR earlier this week.  Frederik Heller is an archivist with NAR’s library and has been working on a project to record the contributions of REALTORS® to American history.

I told him I wanted to add something special to my end of year retrospective and asked if he could send me “a couple of anecdotes that I could include”….Boy did I get more than I expected.

Here then, courtesy of Frederik, a look back at the role we’ve played…enjoy.

1908: NAR’s first political act was taken on May 13, 1908, one day after the association had been created.   The members of the newly-formed organization passed & sent to the White House a resolution expressing support for President Theodore Roosevelt’s environmental conservation measures:

“…We view with dismay and alarm the present needless waste of our natural resources.  We are also displeased with the unnecessary slowness with which our legislators grasp the great importance of the development of our waterways and harbors. We are pleased and delighted with the broad view and the comprehensive grasp of these matters with which our President in endowed….  Resolved, that the members of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges, without regard to party affiliations, do pledge to our President, our Governors and legislators, our hearty and unqualified support, and we do urge and entreat our representatives to do all in their power to speedily bring about such legislation as will conserve our resources, develop our waterways, and improve our harbors.”

1912: Nathan William MacChesney, NAR’s general counsel from 1908-1942, wrote the first model real estate license law, which was eventually (beginning in 1919) adopted by nearly all of the state legislatures.

1912: Three NAR members, all from Winnipeg, perish in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

1917: The association offers the services of its members to the federal government for the purposes of procuring land for the war effort. President Woodrow Wilson later sent a letter to NAR thanking Realtors for their services to the country.

1930: Real estate associations around the country organize special divisions to work towards establishing fairer property tax laws.

1931:  NAR published an article in the Magazine of Wall Street calling for the creation of a central mortgage bank to help stabilize long-term mortgage credit.  The idea caught the attention of President Hoover and eventually went on to become the Federal Home Loan Bank Law of 1932, creating the Federal Home Loan Bank System.

1934:  The NAR-backed Federal Housing Administration is created.

1938:  NAR lobbies Congress to pass amendments to the Federal Housing Act of 1934, creating the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and ensure a steady flow of low-cost funds for mortgage lending.

1945:  By the end of World War II, 1,143 Realtors had served in the armed forces and 19 died while in military service.

1952:  NAR establishes the Build America Better program to help revitalize depressed urban neighborhoods.

1953:  Ronald Chinnock, NAR president in 1954, establishes a committee within NAR to assist cities in preparing for the hydrogen bomb.

1961:  As the Berlin Wall is being built, NAR sends a call to action to its 70,000 members to contact the government expressing their support to “help our President act in confidence to ‘Break Down the Wall.’”

1965:  NAR President Maurice Read speaks out on the beginnings of a new problem affecting many areas, urban sprawl.

1975:  President Art Leitch and other NAR leaders work with HUD officials to clarify REALTORS’ responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act.

1976:  In honor of the U.S. bicentennial, NAR leaders present an original painting of Uncle Sam to President Ford for exhibition at the Smithsonian.

1977:  During the national energy crisis, NAR begins a program to promote energy conservation in the home.

1989:  NAR begins lobbying state legislatures to establish seller disclosure and agency disclosure laws.

1999:  ”Within These Walls,” an exhibition on the history of housing at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is sponsored by NAR.

2001:  Within 48 hours of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, NAR establishes the Housing Relief Fund, which raises and distributes over $8 million to assist with housing costs for families of the victims.

2004:  NAR opens its new Washington building, the first newly constructed, LEED-certified green building in the capital city.

2006:  15 months after Hurricane Katrina, NAR holds its annual conference in New Orleans, where thousands of REALTORS take part in rebuilding projects around the city.

…and my own postscript…

2011:  NAR redefines its mission…”We will save housing and homeownership in America”.

Happy New Year!

Make a Comment