YOUR NAR: Homeownership Month

BY BARBARA BALLINGER

Reach new heights

Celebrate the American dream.

Despite a fear of heights, Rob Cook, ABR®, CRS®, parachuted from an airplane at 13,500 feet last fall to bring attention to his effort to raise funds for a Houston Habitat for Humanity home. Thanks to the feat, Cook, a Houston broker with Robert Cook Properties, raised $10,000 from friends, clients, and colleagues. “The jump received great publicity in print and on TV and radio,” says Cook, who hopes to find a way to reach new heights in giving back this year.

Cook’s zealousness may inspire you to find a way to promote homeownership as part of National Homeownership Month in June.

Although ownership nationwide has increased to 68.6 percent from 55 percent in 1950, according to U.S. Census data, certain segments of the population still post much lower rates. African-American homeownership stands at 49.4 percent, Hispanic at 47.7 percent.

As in years past, The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® is stepping forward to help meet President George W. Bush’s renewed challenge to increase ownership, a key part of the American dream, among all groups. NAR encourages members to raise awareness and become more involved in their communities.

Through its theme for National Homeownership Month, “It’s Good to Get Home,” NAR emphasizes the emotional connection that a home offers its owners. Even more, homeownership helps to stabilize a community as owners put down roots, reach out to neighbors, make friends, and give back, fueling momentum for others to buy and settle in.

NAR also wants to credit you—the REALTOR®—with helping buyers find the right home, in the right location, at the right price.

To jump-start this year’s program, NAR has mailed state and local associations a packet of resources to promote homeownership and community involvement. The packet includes information on technology and education, housing-related Web sites, and ideas for activities—painting city buildings, planting flowers in public spaces, feeding the hungry, or reading to the elderly—you can champion to strengthen your communities.

To get involved in homeownership efforts, contact your local association to see whether it’s planning any events tied to National Homeownership Month. Or brainstorm with colleagues to plan your own events. If you have a success story to share, submit it online to NAR at REALTOR.org/homeownership. NAR will select stories to feature on that Web page.

Your guide to membership

A Membership Reference Guide will soon arrive in your mailbox. The booklet is being mailed this month to renewing members and new members who joined NAR between January and April 2004. It’s a compendium of NAR membership benefits and includes your NAR membership card with your name and NRDS number. Some kits are customized with member benefit information from participating state and local REALTOR® associations. Last year, 30 state and 155 local associations supplied information for the guide. Guides for members who join NAR after May 1 will be mailed the month after they join. For more information, contact Information Central at infocentral@REALTORS.org or call 800/874-6500.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
For more about homeownership opportunities, visit REALTOR.org/homeownership.