Don't Let the NAR Prop Up Fannie and Freddie Again

02-22-2011 • seekingalpha.com

For the last year or so the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has been a bit cagier about their blind devotion to home-ownership, the use of their primary political tool of increasing home ownership rates, and their soulless lack of respect for anything other than their own private industry interests. But now, with the looming restructuring of the nation's housing finance scheme, they are back at it again. Let us recount that it was this very organization that spent 2006 and 2007- the two peak years of the housing boom- urging millions of hapless Americans to embrace homeownership. How? By taking out full page ads in top tier national newspapers and radio and television commercials, all pushing messages with themes like “Buy NOW” and “It’s a Great Time to Buy or to Sell”. Further, recall that during the peak and on into the worst of the housing decline, the NARs own chief economist at the time, David Lereah, worked tirelessly to spin the conditions of the housing market into the best light. He continually insisted that the nation’s housing markets were NOT collapsing but simply taking a healthy tepid breather, only deflating slightly. It’s important to also note that Lereah has since admitted that he was fudging the truth and that he did so because the NAR was his employer. This earned him a spot in Time magazine's lineup of “25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis”.