I know it may not be PC (in most REALTOR® circles, at least), but this editorial from today’s (March 12) Wall Street Journal makes good sense to me. The gist of it is that helping homebuyers stave off foreclosure (for an additional month or so…) and programs that attempt to keep marginal borrowers in their homes at any cost is actually prolonging the agony. The author argues that the market won’t reach bottom and start back up until the bad credit risks (or at least the worst of them) are out of the homes and bad loans. In particular, he writes:

….Government policy is working against itself. The Fed is pushing on a string — it can’t bring back confidence in specific assets by flooding the market with generalized liquidity, though it can certainly undermine confidence in the dollar and its own anti-inflation credibility. On all sides, meanwhile, the call for a housing bailout is becoming deafening, nigh irresistible. But the seized-up credit markets won’t be unseized by trying to induce debtors to cling to houses they now see as throwing good money after bad.

By definition, the only haircut lenders rationally want to take is the minimum required to keep owners on the fence about walking away. Not much better are bailout plans that try to keep borrowers in their homes by shifting some of their equity losses to the taxpayer. The market has utterly changed from the market in which these recent purchasers made their purchase decisions. They’ve been renting their homes and don’t really lose much through foreclosure. Let them go.

What do you think?

A story in today’s New York Times reports that bankruptcies were up 18 percent in February. Of particular note:

Americans filed for bankruptcy in growing numbers in February, buckling under the combined weight of rising energy prices, a weakening housing market and sky-high personal debts.

An average of 3,960 bankruptcy petitions were filed per day nationwide last month, up 18 percent from January and up 28 percent from a year earlier, according to Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, a bankruptcy data and management company.

 February was the busiest month for filings since Congress overhauled the bankruptcy law in 2005. Bankruptcy experts said the rise was particularly worrisome because those changes made filing for bankruptcy more complicated and expensive.

 “This number of bankruptcies may be under-representative of the true financial distress consumers are feeling because of the steps Congress has taken,” said Jack Williams, a scholar in residence at the American Bankruptcy Institute and a professor at Georgia State University.

The latest figures show the financial pain is spreading from states like California and Florida, which exemplified the housing boom and subsequent bust, to those along the Eastern Seaboard like Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, which were among the 10 states with the largest percentage increase in filings in January and February. “You are seeing a good-size uptick everywhere,” said Mike Bickford, president of Automated Access.

As tempted as I am to fire off a snappy (read: snippy) response to some of the misunderstandings contained in Frank LLosa’s recent post about RPAC, I’m reminded of Seth Godin’s admonition that miscommunication is almost always the fault of the communicator, not the recipient. So if Frank has his facts wrong about something VAR does…especially something so essential to his business as RPAC…it’s likely VAR’s fault for not communicating more thoroughly or frequently or clearly.

So, herewith, a primer on RPAC for them what want or need to know:

1. RPAC is the largest PAC in America. RPAC of Virginia is the biggest business PAC in Virginia. Big deal? Heck, yeah. When it comes to the funding of a Political Action Committee, size matters…at least it does to candidates and elected officials. The better funded your PAC, the more likely elected officials are to think twice before doing something that would negatively impact your real estate business, or more importantly your customers and clients. It’s the “carry a big stick” theory of politics, and it’s effective. That’s why we beg and plead with you to invest every year. Because it’s the only protection you’ve got against bad law and regulation. Sure, you can give individually to whomever you wish…but where’s the big stick? (And yes, that makes it all the more imperative that we consider and develop carefully our policy positions so that they’re about what’s good for Virginia, good for our communities, good for consumers…and not solely self serving).

2. RPAC of Virginia gives fairly evenly to Democrats and Republicans. National RPAC does, too. We’re not affiliated with a political party. We represent candidates who support private property rights and fair land use policies and housing opportunity and free enterprise. In the recent General Assembly election cycle here in Virginia, we supported more Republicans than Democrats…which makes sense, considering the Republicans were the party controlling both houses of the General Assembly at the time. With the Dems now in control in the Senate, I suspect it’ll be different next time around.

3. RPAC is governed by about 20 trustees who are REALTORS just like (most of) you. They run real estate businesses AND they’re active in state and local politics. So when funding decisions are made, do remember that they’re made by folks who do what you do for a living and understand the issues confronting your profession.

4. This is a biggy: RPAC funds can only be used for CANDIDATES. We’re prohibited by law from using it to lobby; we’re prohibited from using it in issues campaigns (say, to support or oppose a grantors tax increase). Lobbying and issues campaigns are funded with your dues dollars, not with RPAC funds. You invest in RPAC so that your association has funds to help elect candidates who support what’s best for your business and for homeownership in Virginia. That’s pretty much all that your RPAC money is used for. The vast majority of RPAC overhead costs — staff, recognition, brochures, etc — are paid for from your VAR dues dollars, not from the PAC.

5. Before the RPAC Trustees decide to support/endorse a candidate (which usually means we give them money or in-kind campaign support, but not always), we interview the candidates to determine which is best for your interests. We don’t pay attention to a candidate’s stand on social issues; instead, we ONLY look at his or her position on real estate issues. We almost always interview in races for an open seat. In races where an incumbent who has supported your issues is running, we’re less likely to interview; after all, such a candidate has a track record, and we can tell if he’s been for us or against us. On the other hand when an incumbent hasn’t supported us, we either stay out of the race, or we look for someone to challenge him/her in the election. Likewise, most local associations interview candidates before they make endorsements in local races.

6. Which reminds me: Of every dollar you invest in RPAC, 30 cents goes to NAR for use in federal (Congress and US Senate) races. The remaining 70 cents is used in Virginia for statewide and General Assembly races AND in local races (and the local portion is controlled by your local association, but their rules and process for candidate contributions are nearly identical to VAR’s)

7. There are serious limits to what National RPAC can give to Federal candidates (Congress and US Senate). I’ll spare you the gory details, but it totals $15,000 per candidate per election cycle. National RPAC does NOT get involved in the presidential race. In Virginia, however, there are no limits. Still, I think you’ll find the size of our contributions to be in line with those of other groups. There’s a limit, of course, to what the market will bear, and any contribution that seems larger than the market will put us in every newspaper in the state, and…let’s just say the coverage wont be flattering. You can find a record of all political contributions in Virginia at http://vpap.org.

8. Despite the conclusion one might draw from the National Home Builders Association’s recent decision to cease all funding of Congressional candidates until Congress does what the builders want, it’s not about buying votes. Sometimes I wish it was that easy, but I’m glad it’s not. What it’s about is electing thoughtful officials who’ll at least listen when we come to them with good, sound policy proposals. It’s an open door. But if we’re not fighting to elect that kind of candidate, there are plenty of other groups out there with different ideas from you who’ll fill the void with their brand of candidate, and you’ll be out in the cold. If we’re not engaged in political advocacy, we can’t effectively represent you. That’s what RPAC is for.

That’s enough for now. Three last things:

> You’ll find a really cool member-produced video about RPAC on VAR’s website. It’s short, it’s current, and it’s worth your time.

> Here’s a list of 2007 VAR legislative successes, powered by VAR’s first rate lobbying team and your support, but undergirded by the “big stick” that is RPAC. Do note how many of the issues we’re invlved in aren’t only about us, about REALTORS®; rather, they’re about better communities and moving Virginia forward.

> Lastly…I do apologize for being so pedantic. I understand that politics can be an unpleasant and divisive business. But to those REALTORS® who would recoil from it and refer to RPAC as something nasty and say that politics is distasteful and REALTORS should have no part of it, I say this: When they declare that ditch on your investment property a wetland, and they put a tax on your commissions, and they decide to fund the bulk of transportation infrastructure on the backs of homebuyers and sellers, and implement all manner of regulation that negatively impacts your bottom line, you’re going to want to say “Where was RPAC?” And I’ll have to bite my tongue to keep from replying, “Where were YOU?”

I read today that rhinotillexis is on the decline, and that’s a good thing.

The term means “picking one’s nose with one’s fingers.” In an article by Jim Shahin in the February 15, 2008 issue of American Way, a Harvard study reveals that rhinotillexis is down 70% from the year before. The decline is attributed to the fact that cameras are everywhere and people are becoming more cautious about the activity for fear of showing up on YouTube and grossing out their friends.

So for you REALTORS® out there, here’s this friendly warning:  Please don’t pick and drive, especially with clients in the car or around cameras. You never know who’s watching. (Chalk this up to more helpful advice from your association.)

> This from the Chicago Trib: Should you buy or should you hold off?

> This from Inman: Realtors question Web site name restrictions, about concerns some are raising about a new Code of Ethics standard of practice that says REALTORS shall not “use URLs or domain names that present less than a true picture.” The new SOP, approved last November, is the result of the use, by some members, of domain names that suggest that the REALTOR is actually the MLS (for instance, a broker whose website is “VirginiaMLS.com”). Seems to me such usages are misleading at best…and therefore the new NAR SOP is appropriate. Or in other words, just because it’s legal and you own it doesn’t mean it’s ethical. What do you think?

Admittedly, our National Association has been taken a beating of late for its adjusting and re-adjusting (and re-re-adjusting) of its 2007 homes sales forecasts. That, along with the seeming “It’s Always Sunny in Real Estate” spin that many critics read into the latest iteration of its public awareness initiative, have gotten us to the point that many in the press and the RE.net are questioning NAR’s credibility, both as a distiller of housing industry economic data and a truth teller when it comes to what’s really in consumers’ best interests in today’s real estate markets.

While NAR (or VAR either, for that matter) is not above criticism, there are always (at least) two sides to every story. There are even multiple facets to the same story. And there are certainly multiple ways of collecting and analyzing data, and multiple, sometimes contradictory, conclusions that can be drawn from that analysis. I’ll not belabor the point, except to say this: In particular, I believe that NAR’s Chief Economist Lawrence Yun has gotten a bad rap for what some see as his too-rosy forecasts and well-spun public comments about the health of the real estate economy.

Thankfully, he now has a new platform for explaining himself and the inner workings of NAR’s econometrics, and it’s worth a read. It’s not a blog (yet), but NAR has begun to post commentaries by Yun at realtor.org behind the “research” tab. In particular, his recent post on some of the reasons for divergent home price trends is a spin-free, must-read.

I’m glad Lawrence is finding his voice. He’s a fresh, thoughtful, truth-telling asset to NAR. Would that more in the media (and, yes, the real estate blogosphere) were as thoughtful.

Now if they’d just turn his commentaries into a blog, we could all comment….

(I’m told Lawrence’s commentaries will be posted with some frequency at http://www.realtor.org/research, in case you want to bookmark it.)

This, from Seth Godin’s blog:

The posture of a communicator

If you buy my product but don’t read the instructions, that’s not your fault, it’s mine.
If you read a blog post and misinterpret what I said, that’s my choice, not your error.
If you attend my presentation and you’re bored, that’s my failure.
If you are a student in my class and you don’t learn what I’m teaching, I’ve let you down.

It’s really easy to insist that people read the friggin manual. It’s really easy to blame the user/student/prospect/customer for not trying hard, for being too stupid to get it or for not caring enough to pay attention. Sometimes (often) that might even be a valid complaint. But it’s not helpful.

What’s helpful is to realize that you have a choice when you communicate. You can design your products to be easy to use. You can write so your audience hears you. You can present in a place and in a way that guarantees that the people you want to listen will hear you. Most of all, you get to choose who will understand (and who won’t).

It’s an important point: miscommunication or failure to engage is pretty much ALWAYS the fault of the communicator, not the recipient/listener. As we association leaders strategize about how we can better communicate with and engage our members, it’s something we must keep in mind. If REALTORS aren’t reading / buying / wanting / benefitting from it – presuming what we have to offer is truly valuable – it’s likely because we’re not packaging / positioning / communicating it correctly.

– Scott Brunner, CAE

My name is Scott, and I’m a control freak. Or rather, I can occasionally be a control freak. Or rather, when I’m really passionate about something I can tend to overwhelm my fellow staffers with all my incredibly creative (??!) and insightful (???) ideas and guidance. Does that a control freak make? (The insecure side of me envisions VAR staff members nodding vigorously.)

As a leader, I’m learning that passion and creativity can be blessings and curses. They’re blessings when leaders channel them to spur individuals, teams and organizations to attempt new things, to be proactive and audacious and excellent in achieving their goals. But they can be curses when leaders – for all the best reasons, mind you – mistake their own ideas for the only ideas, and fail to trust in the inherent talent and creativity of the teams they’ve assembled to take a decent idea, make it better, and own and implement it without excessive oversight or…control.

The trick, of course, is that word trust. Trust means understanding you don’t have all the answers…and don’t have to. It means building the right team, equipping them with all the right tools and skills, and letting them go. Sometimes, it even means following them to places and outcomes you’d never have considered on your own (like this blog, for instance….).

Maybe that’s just common sense, but for an old control freak like me, it’s a lesson that’s been a long time coming. I bring it up now, as I watch your VAR staff execute preparations for our Legislative & Education Conference held this week in Richmond, because now that I see it, I’m starting to get it. I’ve never seen such a well-oiled machine as this group of folks (led expertly, on this conference project, by VAR’s cool and unflappable meeting planner Tracey Floridia, and supported by 25 other capable team members).

We started in the fall with a few ideas for this conference, a focus on content that contributed to strategic outcomes, and the sense (on my part at least) that we had exactly the right assets in place to prepare and execute this event with more polish and professionalism and style than ever before. We all contributed ideas, and then…I got out of the way. I hit the road. Traveling. All over the place, visiting members and local associations and attending NAR meetings, being about the business of Virginia REALTORS – and hoping that out-of-sight, out-of-mind would help temper my control-freakiness.

And you know what? To my amazement, it sort of did. Oh, my team was never really out-of-mind; they offered me abundant opportunities for input and feedback. But danged if they haven’t dazzled me with what they’ve accomplished…not only on this event, but myriad other projects in the works.

How easy it is for leaders like me to slip into the mindset that our performance will be evaluated based on how many good ideas we have, how many of our own ideas we implement. Or perhaps we lapse into thinking that the association will go into a holding pattern if we aren’t right there every minute shouting orders, contributing. But those aren’t good measures of effectiveness. They sound more like more insecurity than leadership. In contrast, real leadership mans establishing direction, building and equipping a team, removing obstacles from their paths, and letting them do what they’re good at, what you hired them to do in the first place.

Here at VAR, as leadership development goes, I’m still a work-in-progress. But this week in particular, I’m feeling mighty proud of this remarkable staff team and the work they’re doing on your behalf. And that feeling of pride trumps my insecurities any old day.

– Scott Brunner, CAE

I just finished a delightful/grueling couple of days in Lexington facilitating the Strategic Planning process for one of the smallest local associations of REALTORS® in Virginia (one with quite possibly the longest name….take a deep breath): the Lexington /Buena Vista /Rockbridge Association of REALTORS®. It’s an association of about 120 – an association that’s never had a strategic plan – and it was quite possibly one of the most personally rewarding (to me, I mean) sessions I’ve ever been a part of. In Lexington, and found a committee of 16 energetic, well informed REALTORS® of every demographic stripe who were passionate in their desire to chart a new course for their association. In two days, they managed to challenge my assumptions about what makes an association great (it’s NOT its size; bigger isn’t always better), about the nature of association cultures (insularity is always a risk, but there’s something to be said about the warmth and familiarity of a close-knit community), and about the power of new ideas to energize organization leaders (wait ’til you see their plan!). The proof will be in the implementation, of course, but I suspect Lexington REALTOR® leaders can serve as role models for other local associations of REALTORS® who want to improve the value proposition they offer members…and who are willing to commit themselves to a plan for doing so.

The LBVRAR membership will get a first peek at the proposed plan in a series of upcoming Town Hall meetings and can offer input; the final proposed plan will be voted on in April. For now, here’s a sneak peek at sme parts of the plan…the mission, envisioned future and broad goals their Strat Planning Committee will propose (wish I could take credit for it, but I can’t):

MISSION (Why we exist):
The LBVR promotes its members’ success by providing quality services and support that enable its members to serve our community with professionalism and integrity.

ENVISIONED FUTURE (What the future will look like with the implementation of this plan):
• Members are actively involved in and proud of their local association
• Members trust and support LBVR leadership.
• The public values and respects the services LBVR members provide.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES (Our plan of work):

1. COMMUNITY PRESENCE AND INFLUENCE / LBVR actively participates in the community in ways that benefit its members and their customers and clients.

2. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT / LBVR will provide educational and professional development opportunities for its members in order for them to demonstrate competence and integrity to their customers and clients.

3. BUSINESS TOOLS / LBVR will provide business tools and resources to optimize its members’ business effectiveness.

4. EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATION / LBVR maintains a viable organizational structure and systems that benefit its members and encourages member engagement.

Stay tuned. This is an association that’s going places….