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If you haven’t seen it already, the National Association of Realtors has issued a Call for Action to protect the mortgage interest deduction. 

The California Association of Realtors web site says the President’s Deficit Reduction Commission has released preliminary recommendations to change how the country spends money and collects taxes. One of its provisions calls for dramatically limiting the mortgage interest deduction.

NAR has issued a Call-for-Action and is asking all REALTORS® to call their members of Congress and urge him or her to preserve the MID. As the housing market continues to recover from the worst financial crisis in recent history, any change that reduces the ability of the market to heal is misguided and must be rejected.

Please contact your member of Congress today. When you connect to NAR’s Action Center, enter your name, e-mail address, and your phone number. NAR’s phone system will immediately contact that phone number. You will hear some brief talking points and then be connected to your representative’s office. It’s a quick and easy call. Please make it today.

More info: http://www.realtoractioncenter.com/realtor-party/click-to-call-mid.html

Here’s a link to CAR’s web site: http://www.car.org/newsstand/news/midaction/

Fannie Mae’s most recent nationwide housing survey found that Americans are less certain that the housing market has bottomed, and continue to be wary of buying a home, according to a press release. Some of the survey’s key findings include:

• The number of Americans who think it’s a good time to buy a home dropped to 68 percent (down 2 percentage points since June). 85 percent think it is a bad time to sell a house.
• Americans are cautiously optimistic about their personal finances, with an equal percentage (41 percent) expecting their situation to improve as those expecting their finances to remain the same.
• Fewer Americans expect home prices to rise during the next year. Delinquent borrowers and outright Owners are more likely to expect home prices to decline, in contrast to Underwater borrowers and Renters who think prices will go up modestly.
• Fewer Americans expect home mortgage interest rates to go up. While a plurality of Americans still expect rates to go up during the next year, Americans are more likely to expect the rates to remain flat, especially among Mortgage borrowers and Renters.
• The perception that buying a home is a safe investment continues to decline among Americans, ranking second to putting money into a savings or money market account.

These results are surely no surprise to real estate agents. The fact is there are plenty of psychological and hardcore financial realities keeping many buyers and sellers from entering the market. So how do you, as realtors, counter these perceptions with FACTS that support the notion that now is a good time to buy or sell? Comment here or on the Facebook post.

Here are a few responses I’ve heard thus far:

• Even though sellers will net less than they would have at the peak of the market, they can also buy at a significant discount.
• Interest rates remain at historic lows. Rates for 30-year fixed rate mortgages are still less than 5 percent, and they will likely increase in coming years.
• Houses in all categories ARE selling if priced and marketed right.
• Cash buyers have a lot of leverage in the current housing market.
• Sellers may have to wait a long time for home values and the market to rebound.
• Now is a good time to make a long-term investment.

To read the full results of the Fannie Mae survey visit: http://www.fanniemae.com/newsreleases/2010/5237.jhtml?p=Media&s=News+Releases