Consumer advocate Bruce Hahn defends consumer choice in real estate
Monday, May 16, 2005
By Glenn Roberts Jr.
Inman News
Bruce Hahn is a loud defender of consumer choice in real estate, and he
is not afraid to speak out against real estate collusion, price fixing
and regulatory maneuvering. He has a lot to say about preserving
competition within the real estate industry.
This week, Hahn issued a statement calling upon the National Association
of Realtors to withdraw a policy that he said would stifle Internet real
estate competition and cost home sellers and home buyers "millions of
dollars in unnecessary commissions."
Hahn, as CEO and president of a consumer advocacy organization, tackles
a broad range of other policy positions, too – from anti-spam laws to
the issue of banks offering real estate services. He attempts to
represent the interests of a powerhouse special interest group – the
nation's 75 million homeowners – and he advocates for real estate
consumers on a range of issues, from real estate taxes to antitrust
violations.
In 2000, Hahn and his wife, Beth, formed the American Homeowners
Grassroots Alliance (AHGA) as a consumer advocacy organization for
homeowners. The group is counterpart to the American Homeowners
Foundation, a research and educational organization that they founded in
1983, and both are based in Arlington, Va.
The grassroots group claims about 5,000 members, and while it lacks the
financing and size to be a major lobbying force on Capitol Hill, the
Hahns present homeowners' perspectives on a range of issues where their
voices might otherwise be silent.
The American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance is an independent,
non-partisan advocacy group, and it receives voluntary donations from
its members.
The group maintains a strict privacy policy, and Hahn said he cannot
disclose information about the alliance's members, though he said that
"no companies control our organization." The alliance has not generated
enough money in donations for that money to be reported to the Internal
Revenue Service, he added.
The alliance speaks out on issues relating to alternative real estate
business models, and typically sides with consumer choice and against
government restrictions on new business models.
Earlier this year Hahn criticized a push by Missouri Realtors and
legislators to adopt new legislation requiring real estate brokers to
perform a minimum level of services for consumers. He wrote that
problems with limited-service real estate companies "can be resolved
through mandated disclosure rather than mandated service requirements."
He added, "That route would preserve consumer choice and enhance
competition among business models, allowing those models that best serve
consumers' interest to flourish. This makes more sense than trying to
preserve another real estate dinosaur."
The alliance also promotes a broad dissemination of property listings
information. The group's stance is that "decisions regarding whether
home listings should be placed on real estate brokers' consumer-facing
Web sites, and if so what information is provided, should be made by
home sellers."
Hahn says that according to election polls, homeowners are roughly split
politically, and the alliance attempts to represent this wide spectrum
of views by steering toward the middle. "We believe the majority of
homeowners are fairly close to one side or the other of the political
center," he said.
"That's how AHGA strives to position itself on policy issues: We aren't
far right, we aren't far left, and we aren't reluctant to occasionally
propose a sensible position that is different from those of either major
political party on a particular issue. We focus mostly on issues that
impact the majority of homeowners rather than on any particular
demographic segment."
While there are homeowner groups that seem to focus on a particular
segment of homeowners, such as low-income or otherwise disadvantaged
groups of homeowners, Hahn said that his aim is to represent the
typical, mainstream homeowner.
In some cases, the homeowners' group finds itself in concert with the
policy stances of major real estate industry groups, such as the
National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home
Builders, and at times the group adopts contrary positions with these
organizations.
"We're not opposed to real estate professionals. In fact we think they
add great value to home ownership," he said.
The group promotes increased competition in the industry and advocates
for greater consumer power in the sharing of property listings.
"We look forward to the day when any home buyer can go to the Web site
of their favorite local real estate broker and be able to find all
details about all homes in the local (multiple listing service)
database. This will save real estate agents a lot of time and make the
whole process more efficient for home buyers as well," Hahn said.
"If a broker has the ability to spread their own MLS listings to other
brokers' Web sites, any decision to limit that dissemination should be
made by the home seller." The group is closely watching rules relating
to real estate brokers' ability to restrict the online display of some
property listings.
Also, the alliance has supported the involvement of federal regulators
in eliminating barriers to entry for new and alternative real estate
business models. For example, the group supports a lawsuit by the U.S.
Justice Department over a Kentucky Real Estate Commission restriction on
real estate-related rebates and inducements offered to consumers. And
the group opposes legislation and regulatory initiatives that require
minimum levels of service or other restrictions on discount brokerage
models.
Hahn and his wife first got into real estate as investors in residential
properties during the 1980s. "We never owned more than a few homes at a
time. We both had other jobs, and we did much of the work on remodeling
and upgrading them ourselves on nights and weekends," he said.
"It was a lot of work. We learned much, thanks to the real estate agents
who helped us buy and sell those homes, some good mortgage brokers and
remodeling contractors, and thanks in particular to the home investor's
school of hard knocks," he said. "We learned quickly that we had
significant gaps in our own knowledge about the whole process and we
studied a lot to learn more."
Those knowledge gaps, Hahn said, are what inspired the American
Homeowners Foundation. Under the foundation, the Hahns created a
plain-English remodeling contract that was intended to aid homeowners
who were hiring a contractor to remodel their home.
While Hahn said he tracked some political issues that clearly affected
homeowners, the foundation's educational charter limited its involvement
in policy advocacy. The foundation did take an interest in a debate over
a proposed elimination of the mortgage interest tax deduction, a benefit
enjoyed by homeowners across the country, Hahn said, and it became clear
that another organization was needed to address this and other policy
issues.
The alliance, while addressing some real estate industry policies and
initiatives, also tracks other issues that relate to homeowners. Some
healthcare, international trade, technology and Social Security issues
can have direct and indirect impacts on homeowners, for example.
The group sends out alerts to its members, and also communicates with
the media and to regulators and legislators to voice its policy
positions.
"AHGA is still too young and too small to legitimately claim any major
victories. Nevertheless we are beginning to influence thinking on policy
issues in a positive way," he said.
Hahn is an author who has published four books and numerous other
papers. He wrote "The complete Home Buyers Guide," "How to Sell Your
Home Fast," and "Home Mortgages."
His expertise extends beyond the real estate industry. Hahn managed the
government and public affairs department at the National Tooling and
Machining Association, and held marketing and membership positions with
two other national trade associations. He also serves on the American
Society of Association Executives Government Affairs Committee, and
served as a founder, Ethics Committee chairman and author of the code of
ethics for the American League of Lobbyists.
He is also a cofounder and past chairman of the Small Business
Legislative Council, a coalition of trade associations representing
small businesses, and he served as vice president for public affairs at
the National Association of Manufacturers. He also wrote "Winning at
Public Affairs," a training text for public affairs staff. |