New President Talks Priorities for 2010

SAN DIEGO-During the National Association of Realtors conference in San Diego, which drew more than 19,000 attendees, incoming 2010 president Vicki Cox Golder briefly addressed NAR’s priorities for the coming year. Modernizing the FHA program and reducing restrictions in the mortgage process are top of the list, she explained.

“We want to make sure FHA remains viable and that the accountability is there for future homebuyers,” she explained. She pointed out that the standards are too tough. “It almost became impossible to get an FHA loan,” she said. “We have to get more lenders into that program.” She added that NAR is about “making sure that we not only have safe lending practices, but that people are going into a safe mortgage situation.”

Golder explained that some other NAR priorities include: reducing restrictions in the mortgage process; working to keep big banks out of real estate; getting the kinks out of the appraisal code; and raising NAR’s level of political influence at the federal, state and local levels.