May 22, 2002—Testifying before the U.S. House Judiciary Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee, the president of the National Association of Realtors said that banking conglomerates are trying to gain through regulation that which they cannot gain through legislation in their attempt to get into real estate brokerage and property management.
NAR President Martin Edwards Jr., a partner in Colliers Wilkinson & Snowden Inc., Memphis, Tenn., called on Congress to take action on the Community Choice in Real Estate Act in light of the congressional concerns raised at the hearing and the fact that a majority of the House has cosponsored this legislation that would prohibit the proposed rule from taking effect.
More than 230 members of the House and 11 Senators have signed onto H.R. 3424 and S. 1839 since the bills were introduced last December. Edwards said NAR will continue its campaign to stop the proposed rule, which is still pending before the Federal Reserve Board and Treasury Department, by pushing for the bill’s enactment.
“The bottom line is that bankers, who petitioned the Federal Reserve and Treasury for this proposed rule, should not gain through regulation what they failed to gain by legislation,” he explained. “We believe that letting financial holding companies and national bank subsidiaries enter the real estate brokerage, leasing and property management industries would have wide-ranging, adverse market effects—including a decline in competition, consumer choices and quality of service,” said Edwards.
NAR opposes allowing large banking conglomerates to enter real estate brokerage and property management under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act because it will lead to higher costs to consumers, large scale consolidation in the real estate industry, and potential conflicts of interest should banks be able to steer homebuyers to their own insurance and loan products.
For more information, contact the National Association of Realtors.
