Did you have a happy Thanksgiving? Hey, this is Gary Edelbrock here, and I've been talking with Josh Lethbridge, the newly chosen President of the Prescott Area Association of Realtors, about his recent opportunity to attend the National Association of Realtors (NAR) meeting. He brought back some tidbits of information I thought you might be interested in.

Although Josh attended several economic forecast seminars offering an optimistic forecast, he wryly noted that they had no concrete reason for such optimism. "The jobs market continues to atrophy, housing prices continue to decline, and the we continue to wait for a truly positive sign in any of the market sectors," he said.

One of the key things that Josh pointed out is the NAR activity in Washington. "As they always have, NAR plays a major role on Capitol Hill, and are key players in real estate legislation. This year, and for the foreseeable future, we face efforts to repeal the Mortgage Interest Deduction, reduce FHA loan limits, restructure the GSE's (Fannie and Freddie), implement the tangle of regulations that make up the Dodd-Frank bill, and define "Qualified" mortgages that would further depress the market. Additionally, Realtors have been instrumental in ensuring that the funding for the FEMA flood insurance is maintained through the National Flood Insurance Program."

NAR's focus for 2012 is to defend private property owner's rights, and protecting the public from the government's interference in the market, "Realtors believe that home ownership matter," Josh said.

"In the next 3-5 years, Realtors will help define what our industry will look like for the next 100 years," Josh predicted.

You can contact Josh Lethbridge at 928.445.1100 if you have any questions.