Across the street from the U.S. Capitol, where thousands of REALTORS® will descend next week for the 2024 REALTORS® Legislative Meetings, is the Supreme Court. And while REALTORS® are known to carry their message to city halls, statehouses and Capitol Hill, their voices also ring inside the nation’s highest court—even if a bit more quietly.
In consultation with the Legal Action Committee and the Amicus Brief Advisory Board, NAR’s advocacy team has been a driving force behind recent legal victories for property owners at the Supreme Court. Two wins in particular underscore the power of NAR’s legal advocacy, which is often the last line of defense on issues that threaten private property rights. NAR filed amicus briefs supporting property owners in both cases, which involved a dispute over hefty property fees and issues around land takings.
There are many more legal cases NAR is involved in, teaming up with state and local REALTOR® associations, as well as other housing organizations, to address expanding fair housing protections, issues stymieing affordable housing and other real estate priorities.
“We need to harness the power of a 115-year-old organization, the biggest lobbying force and largest trade organization in the United States,” Pamela Hanson Carbone, GRI, broker-owner of Domain Properties in Providence, R.I., says of NAR membership. “We need, as an industry, to share with consumers about what we can do and our advocacy wins.”
The Washington Report, published by NAR’s advocacy team, covers the latest legislative and regulatory policy activities. Stay up to date on recent advocacy efforts at nar.realtor/advocacy.
Carbone credits NAR for helping her in 2018 to block a local development plan for a gas station, which would have created complications for homeowners in a nearby neighborhood. With NAR’s guidance, Carbone reached out to HUD for clarification on a rule that stated properties within 300 feet of a gas station are ineligible for FHA loans. After she presented the information to her city council, the gas station proposal was abandoned.
The council also passed a law banning gas stations and fuel storage tanks from being built within 300 feet of residential homes. The law now serves as a model for other municipalities. “We ended up saving 42 homeowners from the building of a new gas station that would’ve prevented all 42 of them from ever selling their home to an FHA buyer,” limiting their future buyer pool, Carbone says.
She retells the story to her clients, an important part of communicating who she is as a REALTOR® and what she does to support home buyers and sellers. She also uses the experience to teach new real estate licensees that they not only represent consumers in a transaction but also serve as a community advocate.
NAR, its partners, and state and local associations are a standing army ready to raise the alarm anywhere property rights are threatened. Here are some of the issues they’re watching closely.
Melissa Dittmann Tracey is a contributing editor for REALTOR® Magazine, editor of the Styled, Staged & Sold blog, and produces a segment called “Hot or Not?” in home design that airs on NAR’s Real Estate Today radio show. Follow Melissa on Instagram and Twitter at @housingmuse.
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