Bringing the U.S. Housing Market Back TOGETHER!

Are you sick of watching the real estate market flounder in these trying economic times?

Have you spent many an hour on a soapbox outlining where the fault lies?

You are not alone. But instead of simply spouting the ills of a market, consider joining with other thought leaders in crafting a solution to the problem this Thursday, April 21, 2011.

In an effort to bring some of the main players in the U.S Housing and Real Estate markets together to create a blueprint for housing reform. Industry thought leaders, Congressmen, CEOs and real estate professionals are gathering in San Diego at the end of this week to bring about change to our complicated industry.

Presented by 1parkplace, the Real Estate & Housing Symposium is the brain-child of Steve Hundley, CEO and founder of 1parkplace.

This is the first symposium of its kind and it has been generating a great deal of interest. As a hot topic this spring, we decided to interview Steve Hundley.

RETechnology.com: What is the story behind REHS? (Whose idea was it? Why was there a need? How has it grown?)

Hundley: Great question! I recognized the need for better industry education when helping my son find a home to raise my soon-to-be-born granddaughter. Right away we saw the lack of care and attention that was given to distressed listings entering the market, lack of knowledge among the REALTORS® who had the listings and sellers who were not being educated properly on all of their options or the process of short selling. Not saying this is every agent, but it was widespread.

During this process, it was clear to me that the pros listing homes were only focused on listings and not improving communities and the buying agents were not educated to navigate this market either. We made offer after offer only to be disappointed in the process in every way. There were demands from banks that were not in our plan, negotiations between banks broke down and agents were doing unethical maneuvers in advertising listings.

I started doing my own research and found that the entire world of real estate is in for an enormous change with new government regulations and power grabbing, knowing that many of my customers who are agents have no idea of what's going on.

I introduced the concept of a Real Estate Town Hall in December 2010 and had the Congressman on my panel in order to generate some interest within our industry to speak up on the issues. What I learned at that meeting was that the issues were too complex for the average American to understand and we needed to kick off an industry symposium in order to kick off a movement to educate our industry and all Americans as to how we can work together to bring back our industry. Many who were in the audience wanted to help but needed the info distilled to more simplicity.

Since then, I've spent the last three months investigating and uncovering mounds of information to determine motivation of banks, mishandling of taxpayer dollars and consumers who are losing their homes yet have the ability to pay in preparation for this symposium. I hope we will be able to convey the urgent need for support to avert what looks to be an even bigger crisis if the Frank/Dodd Act gets its way.

We plan to kick off in SD and then take the show on the road.

RETechnology.com: What is the mission of this event?

Hundley: To educate agents, generate a consensus with our industry on a strategy and plan to bring back our housing market and produce a "Blueprint for Housing Reform" to present to our Congress with the hope of protecting our future housing industry from being run over by government.

RETechnology.com: What kind of crowd does it draw?

Hundley: Our Real Estate Town Hall was in the evening and the key target was Coronado homeowners and residents with about 300 in the audience with a mix of 30% agents and 70% residents.

RETechnology.com: How have past REHS helped to shape the real estate industry?

Hundley: We only have conducted one so far and immediately had requests from brokerage owners and top agents in numerous locations to clone the event for their marketplace. We expect to deliver 40-50 in the next year across the USA.

RETechnology.com: What are this event's hot topics? Who will be leading the discussion?

Hundley: Hot topics include NOW issues that will work to reduce inventory; i.e. streamlined short sale process, transparency within the government between the FDIC and treasury (there is a bigger story here) and advocate the banks to select top agents who work the farm area that the REOs are located in to have better representation, increased prices and smoother transactions. Then we are going to address GSE reform topics and methods of educating consumers on their options.

RETechnology.com: What makes this event different than other conferences?

Hundley: It's the only one I know of that is citizen led to bring the real estate industry and government together in one venue. I am not a REALTOR® nor am I a member of CAR or NAR, yet both those groups have been highly supportive of our initiative as well as the brokerage leadership and top-producing agents.

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If the West Coast is too far for your inclusion in this new event, stay tuned. We will keep our subscribers informed on where and when future REHS will be held!

Attendees of past conferences have been hugely complimentary of 1parkplace and Hundley. Feel free to review the feedback past events hosted by 1parkplace have generated.

Learn more about 1parkplace here.

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