Local REALTORS® Finally Heard

As an active member and committee Chair of the Government Affairs Committee of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and an active REALTOR® , the message was loud and clear: The low conforming  and FHA loan limits are grossly hurting the middle segment of the Chicago Area real estate market.

This week our concerns were finally heard. According to this post on IARBuzz, the official blog of the Illinois Association of REALTORS®,  IAR and its members took to Capitol Hill and met with legislators to work towards a solution to this issue. The Chicago Area’s loan limits are significantly lower than in many other markets nationwide and this needs to be corrected. Why can you get a higher conventional mortgage in Athens, Ohio than you can in  Chicago, Illinois?

“Unfortunately, for homeowners in Chicago, there is no break whatsoever.  Chicago’s tony neighborhoods — Lake Forest, Lincoln Park, Hinsdale and elsewhere — are stuck at $417,000. This is because each of the Chicagoland counties are a melange of housing types and socioeconomic class” says Dan Green, loan officer with WaterstoneMortgage  and national speaker providing  mortgage insight.

Grassroots Efforts Can Get Your Voice Heard

As complaints and discussions came about into our local association the leadership of the Chicago Association of  REALTORS® saw this issue was quickly becoming a priority issue of its membership. Under the guidance of Brian Bernardoni, Senior Director of Governmental Affairs and Public Policy for the Association, a task force was formed composed of the different real estate professionals that are involved in the real estate transaction including bankers, appraisers, title companies and REALTORS®.

This is an  issue regarding national legislation with a major negative impact on our Chicago members and the clients they serve had to be communicated to the Illinois and then the  National Association of REALTORS®. Our local issue that was decided for us in Washington D.C. seemed to be going nowhere until now.

Thank you to the leadership of REALTOR® Association for finally realizing how hurtful this has been on the Chicago area real estate market. If only it had not taken so long consider this a priority and move this issue forward.  How many more homes could have already been sold and not still be standing vacant? Could an increased loan limit last year saved more families from foreclosure?