Savannah Area REALTORS®: July 2012

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

SABOR Presents TSPLOST Checks to Local Chambers of Commerce

The Savannah Board of REALTORS® has donated $6,000 to local chambers of commerce in a show of support for the new TSPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax) legislation. The Board serves three counties—Bryan, Chatham, and Effingham—and split the money evenly among the chambers in each of the three regions. The money will be used to fund local campaigns encouraging the passage of the TSPLOST.

The Georgia Regional Commission estimates that the TSPLOST will inject over $19 billion in direct investment into the state’s economy and create more than 200,000 jobs in Georgia during the next thirty years. Bill Boatman, 2012 Georgia Association of REALTORS® President, said, “Investing in critical transportation infrastructure projects equals more economic opportunity and a better quality of life for Georgia, which reverberates through every sector of our economy, including real estate.”

Yesterday, Board Vice President of Government Affairs Linda King, President-Elect Donna Davis, and RPAC (REALTOR® Political Action Committee) Chairman Bill Miltiades traveled to the Effingham Chamber of Commerce and the Richmond Hill-Bryan County Chamber of Commerce to present each chamber with a check for $2,000. Effingham Executive Director Rick Lott met the delegation to accept the check on the Effingham Chamber’s behalf. In Richmond Hill, John Reynolds, Chairman of the Richmond Hill-Bryan County Chamber of Commerce, and Mike Sisco, Co-Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce’s TSPLOST Committee, participated in the check presentation. They were joined by Courtney Hester, the Coastal Georgia Regional Director for Connect Georgia. Connect Georgia is a campaign organization designed to educate the public and push for the passage of TSPLOST by combining the efforts of bipartisan political strategists with local leaders in each region of Georgia.

The TSPLOST vote will be included in the July 31^st election. For more information on TSPLOST, check out Connect Georgia’s fact sheet: http://www.t-splost.com/connectgeorgia.pdf.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Congress Reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program!

In a major victory for REALTORS®, Congress has reauthorized the National Flood Insurance Program for five years. Moe Veissi, 2012 NAR President, sent the following email announcing the program's passage and recommitting NAR to advocating for your interests:

You did it! All the DC pundits said that nothing would be accomplished in an election year! Late last week Congress finally acted on one of your key legislative priorities, a 5-year reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). You just proved them wrong because you didn’t give up, and now you have the victory to confirm it!

The 5-year reauthorization will finally bring certainty to real estate transactions in more than 21,000 communities nationwide where flood insurance is required for a mortgage. The bill ensures the program will continue long-term for more than 5.6 million business- and home owners who rely on it.

This has been a long and arduous battle. The NFIP suffered through 20 short-term extensions and hobbled along for over four years without a long-term reauthorization. But, because of your resolve and with your help and influence, NAR’s management and leadership over the past many years, and most importantly, you, our members, stayed the course to give lenders and homeowners more certainty confidence in the mortgage and real estate market place with available flood insurance for existing homeowners and those buying and selling.

I’m sending you this email to reinforce the commitment NAR makes to you - our key activists - and to every other member who expects us to persevere on issues of importance to our members and your clients – the consumers, homeowners, and future homeowners. It was your charge to us not to give up, not to accept anything less than a long-term reauthorization of NFIP. So, we battled to get every short-term extension until the full 5-year reauthorization was approved.

I’m very proud of you. When called upon to respond with calls to action, you did. When asked to invest in your business you have. And, when asked to step up and participate you did that, too.

New battles surely lay ahead, and on-going ones continue to draw our staunch efforts! There will be few easy victories. Now more than ever, it is our responsibility to be steadfast protectors of the American Dream of homeownership. If not us who? If not now when? So, when we call on you like we did to rally, when we call on you like we do to respond to the calls for action, and when we ask for you to invest in RPAC, please, continue to show your commitment. This latest legislative victory shows what the REALTOR® Party can and will accomplish when you choose not to give up or give in.
Finally, make an effort to bring along more of our members who may not know how important it is to invest $50 dollars or more a year insuring that the American dream stays alive and well. Tell them what you have accomplished and why it’s important for each of us to act when called upon.