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Gov. Charlie Baker gives the keynote speech at the 2018 Margaret C. Carlson Realtor Day on Beacon Hill.
More than 450 Realtors visited the State House last week to discuss with legislators the key issues that impact consumers, housing and the economy. Gov. Charlie Baker gave the keynote.
“With so many pressing issues facing the industry, it was more important than ever for Realtors to take a stand for homeowners and private property rights,” Rita Coffey, 2018 MAR president and general manager of Century 21 Tullish & Clancy in Weymouth, said in a statement. “We had one of the greatest turn outs in recent memory because Realtors know the power of grassroots lobbying and believe in protecting the American dream of homeownership.”
Some of the issues upon which Realtors took a stance:
Support for housing production: Realtors have long encouraged housing production in Massachusetts through lobbying and creation of the HOME Bill, and supports Baker’s proposed Act to Promote Housing, as well proposed incentives for communities that build more housing.
“MAR looks forward to working with the governor, the legislature and other housing production proponents to meet a goal of producing 135,000 new housing units by 2025,” the association said in a statement.
Opposition to requiring real estate brokerages that list a short-term rental on their websites to carry liability insurance for rental units: As drafted, sections in the bills that passed the House and Senate would capture real estate brokerages in the definition of “hosting platform,” thereby requiring real estate brokerages that list a short-term rental on their websites to carry liability insurance of $1 million for each rental unit.
“Listing and marketing a homeowner’s property through a broker’s website (including short-term rentals) is a necessary business function of today’s real estate market,” MAR said in a statement.
Opposition to mandatory energy scoring and audits: Bills have been filed that would require sellers or their agents to perform a Mass Save energy audit prior to listing a home for sale and disclose to any prospective buyer the information in the energy audit at the time of the listing. Additionally, the bills commission the design and implementation of an energy scoring and labeling system.
“Over and above having an enormous impact on an individual’s right to freely transfer land, such requirements would negatively affect the real estate industry in the commonwealth,” MAR said. “Massachusetts is home to some of the oldest housing stocks in the country and mandatory energy scoring of such older homes would significantly stigmatize and potentially devalue an individual’s largest investment.”
Opposition to real estate transfer taxes: Realtors strongly oppose real estate transfer taxes, which would authorize the creation of a new transfer tax on the sale of property in a municipality. If allowed, Massachusetts communities facing budgetary deficiencies may seek transfer tax authority to solve local revenue problems.
“Creating an ‘entrance or exit fee’ to homeownership is the wrong way to solve this problem,” MAR said. “Transfer taxes would increase the bottom-line price of many homes by thousands of dollars. These bills single out homebuyers and sellers, and subjecting them to this new tax only further exemplifies the inequitable nature of this taxing scheme.”
