News from Washington D.C.

Greetings. I spent yesterday getting certified to teach the new NAR Green Course. Great class. For any of you who have buyers who are into green building or even just living in an ecologically sound way this is the course for you. It will give you a leg up working with green-minded buyers as well as help you create ways to find them. If you want more information go to www.GreenResourceCouncil.org.

Now for today's Real Estate Summit. Starting at 8:00 this morning and lasting until 5 - we listened to - and had a chance to ask questions of the people who can make a difference in the progress we're making in the recovery of our markets.

Shaun Donovan Secretary of HUD, Dr. Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, Alan Greenspan and Sheila Bair the FDIC Chair - just to name a few. We had economists, redevelopment officials, Harvard professors, mortgage company executives and more giving us not just an overview but a thorough analysis of where we are, where we're going and what we need to do to get there.

Bottom line - it's getting better but we've got a way to go. Everyone agreed we need to get the inventory of foreclosures off the market and not create any more. That said - there will be more because right now over 20 million homes are 'underwater' - that's about 1 out of 5. If we keep seeing job losses and don't see any consumer confidence it's going to take longer.

It was open discussion. We had the opportunity to ask questions and bring up issues. Here's what was addressed:

1. We need to extend the tax credit and remove the income caps.

2. There has to be a shorter time frame for short sales (no pun intended).

3. Need to address FHA not allowing 'right of first refusal' for condos.

4. The system isn't working the way the legislators think it is. The lenders are not lending money to qualified buyers and they are not doing the loan modifications to try to keep people in their houses.

It was as great day - we had the opportunity to speak freely to people who can make a difference. Hang in there - we're working on it.

More tomorrow - will be attending meetings on Risk Management and RESPA plus an update on conventional finance and lending. More then.