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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: redfrecknj who wrote (52551)	2/3/2006 3:37:34 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

National Association of Realtors® 500 New Jersey Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20001-2020 202.383.1194 Fax 202.383.7580 realtors.org Dear Fellow REALTORS®: There They Go Again! During the holiday season five years ago the big banking conglomerates tried to sneak past the will of Congress and enter the real estate business through a hush-hush regulation that would allow them to drive thousands of REALTORS® out of business and control the real estate transaction from start to finish. Only the protests of thousands of REALTORS® and outraged citizens convinced Congress to stop the big grab before our system of homeownership was destroyed forever. And they did. Now they're at it again! This past December while Congress was out of town three of the largest banks in America got permission from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to go into commercial real estate. Now that they can own and develop hotels, build and sell residential condominiums, develop office buildings and even a windmill farm in California, these banks are closer than ever to real estate brokerage and property management. The precedent set by these actions will open the floodgates for every other national bank to follow suit. They are exactly the kind of commercial investments by financial services institutions that led to the collapse of savings and loans, and upset the financial markets and affected housing for years. The savings and loan scandal of the 1980s was caused by federal policies which allowed the mixing of banking and commerce. The same mixing of banking and commercial activities devastated the Japanese banking system and crippled that country's economy for years. If banks are allowed to own and develop commercial real estate, we could face an even greater crisis than we did in 2001. Believe me, it can happen again and it will if we allow this kind of regulation to go unchallenged. Fellow REALTORS®, we've beaten back the banks five years in a row. We can't allow them to succeed at this attempt to sneak into real estate through an obscure regulatory process while no one paid attention. We're working hard in Washington to stop this expansion of bank powers into the real estate business by educating our friends in Congress and questioning the wisdom of these regulatory decisions. As we make progress, I will keep you informed. Should opportunities arise for you to help, I'll be sure to ask for your help. Sincerely, Thomas M. Stevens CRB CRS GRI 2006 President, National Association of REALTORS® Click on the links below to learn more about this issue: naractioncenter.com naractioncenter.com .