Celebrating Home Ownership Through Advocacy, By the Numbers, REALTOR® Party Success Stories and More View e-mail in browser June 9, 2016 REALTOR® PARTY | for REALTORS® | RPAC | for ASSOCIATIONS     Celebrating Home Ownership Through Advocacy National Home Ownership Month is a good time to reflect on our commitment to helping others realize the American dream of real property ownership.  Our job as REALTORS® goes beyond listing and selling property.  We protect and promote home ownership and property interest in real and tangible ways through the REALTOR® Party. READ More       Puerto Rico REALTORS® Pull Out All the Stops to Fight a Tax on Services and Win The REALTORS® of Puerto Rico are no strangers to challenge, with a higher than average unemployment rate and foreclosures up almost 90 percent since 2008. But the 350-member association stepped up in a big way, successfully leading the fight to repeal a 10.5 percent tax on services that was going into effect. READ More     By The Numbers   800 million The estimated number of urban dwellers who are practicing some form of backyard farming. Backyard or urban farming has become a significant part of modern living, especially in the U.S. Find out what’s driving this renewed interest in growing food and the laws of backyard farming in the latest Hot Topic Alert. READ MORE   600,000 The number of homeless people on any given night in the U.S . There are success stories coming from local communities, states, nonprofit organizations and REALTOR® Associations.  The summer 2016 issue of On Common Ground reports on many approaches that might be used where you live.    READ More   <10% The percentage of condominiums nationwide that are eligible for purchase with FHA mortgage insurance. This leaves first-time homebuyers, urban dwellers and seniors wanting to downsize without access to what is often the most affordable home ownership option.  H.R. 3700 makes common sense adjustments to these burdensome restrictions, will expand housing opportunities and will protect taxpayers. READ MORE   Success Stories   Highlighted here are a few of the many REALTOR® Party success stories across the nation. These and others are cataloged in the Success Stories section of the REALTOR® Action Center.   MA REALTORS® Plant a Sense of Community with Garden Project The 2,500-member Plymouth and South Shore Association of REALTORS® (PASS) has a strong and vital charitable arm that is accustomed to giving back, but this past April 16, and again on Earth Day, about 20 members couldn’t resist an opportunity to get out in the fresh air and get their hands dirty with a community garden placemaking project. READ More   Austin (TX) REALTORS® Accept Mayor’s Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness Last summer, Mayor Steve Adler issued a challenge to the city of Austin to end homelessness among its U.S. veterans by Veterans Day. The Austin Board of REALTORS® (ABoR) answered the call in a big way. With a $15,000 Housing Opportunity Grant, ABoR was an integral part of transitioning homeless veterans into longer-term housing arrangements.  The association also provided $5,000 to a fund called Housing for Heroes that would mitigate risk for potential landlords. READ More   Wilmington (NC) REALTORS® Know How to Have a “RAD” Day Nearly 600 REALTORS® from the Wilmington Regional Association of REALTORS® (WRAR) participated in its second annual REALTOR® Action Day—aka "RAD." From playing music at senior centers to planting plants and clean-up and landscaping projects, RAD was full of WRAR members working to improve their community. Nearly 100 participants built a community garden with park benches and a tool shed using a $3,000 Placemaking Micro-grant. READ More   Resources & Opportunities     NAR Protecting Commercial Mortgage Availability A rule coming out at the end of the year that will require lenders to retain 5 percent of the money they lend for offices, retail centers and other commercial projects whose mortgages are packaged into securities and sold to investors on Wall Street. The risk-retention requirement is part of the qualified mortgage provisions included in the Dodd-Frank banking reform law enacted in 2010, but its application to commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) raises liquidity concerns. NAR’s effort is a top story in the latest Voice for Real Estate news video. Also covered is NAR’s latest effort to stop patent trolls. NAR has filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office challenging the validity of a patent that a patent troll is using to try to coax money out of real estate businesses. WATCH NOW   Residential Rentals: Housing Market, Regulations & Property Rights From construction and investment to tourism, residential rental homes are an integral part of our economy across the U.S. As long-term residential rental markets expand and certain short-term rental markets explode, local governments are increasing initiatives to regulate them. If rental restriction ordinances arise locally, understanding the implications will better equip REALTORS® and their clients. READ MORE   Share Your Boys & Girls Club Stories with NAR Now that NAR and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) have joined forces to make a difference in communities across America, we want to learn how the REALTOR® family is getting involved and making a difference. Associations and members should send their engagement stories to narbgca@realtors.org. Some stories will be featured on the NAR/BGCA website, providing inspiration for others to get involved with their local Club. The website also has a toolkit on how to get started, a sample press release and photos of involvement in action. For more information, contact Karen Bebart at 312-329-8359. READ MORE   2016 REALTOR® Party Resource Guide Is Available Check out the 2016 REALTOR® Party Association Resource Guide. Get brief descriptions of each REALTOR® Party Association Resource including grants, campaign services, RPAC and grassroots tools and more.  It’s all available for you to download as a PDF. DOWNLOAD   Join the REALTOR® Party Online Are you posting, liking, tweeting or pinning?  So is the REALTOR® Party.  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube to get the latest news, information and resources.

Send us examples of how your association put NAR’s REALTOR® Party resources to work to implement a successful advocacy or community outreach program. Email your stories to: realtorparty@realtors.org See more than 100 stories documenting how REALTOR® associations around the country put REALTOR Party Resources to work at the REALTOR® Party Success Stories page. This newsletter replaces the NAR Weekly Report for this week and the second week of every month. The REALTOR® Party News will publish next on July 14, 2016. If you missed a previous edition check out the REALTOR® Party News Archive. Headquarters: 430 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611 DC Office: 500 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001-2020 | 1-800-874-6500      This message was sent to . Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop receiving this e-mail in the future, click to remove yourself from this list. NAR maintains a separate email system to communicate our national news and programs. If you would like to manage those subscriptions and optin/optout of those communications please click here to login to Realtor.org.