IAR Capitol Conference

More than 500 Illinois REALTORS® are expected to convene in Springfield March 23 to discuss with state lawmakers issues affecting homeowners and the real estate industry. In addition to participating in briefings on important legislative and regulatory issues facing the industry, attendees will visit personally with their lawmakers to press for passage of the Illinois Association of REALTORS® (IAR) 2010 legislative agenda as part of the 34th Annual IAR Capitol Conference.

A top priority on the REALTOR® agenda is a consumer protection issue. IAR supports Senate Bill 3747 creating the Transfer Fee Covenant Act, which would declare private transfer fees invalid and unenforceable in Illinois. The private transfer fee concept involves a covenant recorded on property requiring future buyers or sellers to pay a transfer fee to whoever is designated in the covenant on all future transfers of the property.

“These transfer fee covenants could require future buyers to pay thousands of dollars to a prior owner or developer of the property every time the property is sold,” said Michael Onorato, GRI, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS®. “We don’t think this is a legitimate estate in real property, and the law of the land in Illinois should make it perfectly clear that this type of covenant is not valid.”

The REALTOR® organization is providing expertise and research to members of the Illinois General Assembly related to how short sales and foreclosures should impact property valuations for property tax purposes. Senate Bill 3334 is moving through the legislative process with input from the bill sponsors, the Illinois Association of REALTORS®, the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Taxpayers Federation of Illinois. Sales of distressed properties via short sale or foreclosure accounted for 36 percent of all sales in 2009, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS® and this has put downward pressure on home prices. At Capitol Conference REALTORS® will remind lawmakers that the housing market plays a key role in strengthening state and local economies.

“REALTORS® understand this challenging housing market and have been in the trenches working with buyers and sellers of distressed properties,” said Onorato. “And we have been working on the local, state and national levels to promote stimulus measures to get the housing market and overall economy back on track as well as programs that will improve the short sale process and provide assistance for homeowners facing foreclosure, which has had such a detrimental effect on neighborhoods and home values.”

Another hot-button issue in the legislature is “Crime Free Housing,” a movement that started in Tempe, Arizona, and has become an issue in Illinois and other states. The REALTOR® position on “Crime Free Housing” initiatives is that they unduly regulate landlords and rental housing in regard to crime prevention. Among the REALTOR® concerns are fees often set at $50 per rental unit per year to fund a municipality’s crime-free program, which is costly for large companies who manage many units as well as the smaller-unit rental property manager.

The Illinois Association of REALTORS® (IAR) is "The Voice for Real Estate in Illinois," and its 50,000 members are engaged in all facets of the real estate industry. In addition to serving the professional needs of its members, IAR works to protect the rights of private property owners in the state by recommending and promoting legislation that safeguards and advances the rights of real property ownership.

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