MSN reports that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) spent 6.1 million dollars in the 3’d quarter of 2011 in federal lobbying efforts. This is down from 7.1 million spent in the 2nd quarter, but up from the 4.5 million spent by the group in the 3’d quarter of 2010. NAR lobbied in Washington on a wide range of issues, including health insurance, regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, flood insurance, access to wireless networks, patent reform, data privacy and security, the inclusion of energy costs in mortgage underwriting, limiting homeowner and investor foreclosure losses, protection of the mortgage interest deduction and increasing lending caps on credit unions. NAR successfully helped House and Senate negotiators reach a bi-partisan deal that would allow the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to insure mortgages worth up to $729,750 in the most expensive regions of the country for the next two years.
(Editor’s note: A single quarter of lobbying funds used by the NAR dwarfs all of the lobbying done by every segment of the factory built housing industry in Washington, DC, a point recently stressed to MHProNews by a top factory built housing association leader).
