Nobu Hata

By Nobu Hata

I’ve never had the stomach for the political end of things during my years in the real estate industry, and for those of you who know me well, my left-of-center views didn’t exactly mesh well with the political climate that has made up the bulk of my tenure.  It was always my opinion that politics was best left for the folks who know how to play the game.  My contributions consisted of pressing “Send” on the e-mail call to actions.

But the one realization I’ve made the last couple years has been with RPAC, our political action committee.  These folks, based in the incredible NAR offices in D.C., have fought the good fight, not only for us, but our current and future buyers and sellers and the legislation that affects them; plus our industry initiatives locally and nationally regardless of politically party currently in power.  Recently, our national PAC has kept the banks out of the buy/sell facet of our industry and kept the tax credit going, among other things I’m missing – shelving your personal opinions of both for a sec, you have to admit that those two issues alone was for the greater good of our industry.

Locally here in Minnesota, they’ve helped my clients by protecting the mortgage interest and property tax deductions, helped to ban private transfer fees, and defeated several attempts to increase recording fees and an attempt to increase the state deed tax, plus passed legislation to increase industry professionalism.  That’s a ton of consumer protection in a very bipartisan town.

That’s where you come in.  Wednesday is National RPAC night, where local groups get together and raise funds for the coming year.  Why don’t you attend?  Inform and educate yourself by asking your AE about what RPAC means to your business locally, ask your peers (YPNers Aaron Wheeler and Brian Copeland are major donors) what RPAC means to them first hand.

Nobu Hata is a sales associate for Edina Realty in Minneapolis,  and a founding member of the Minneapolis YPN group, the YoPros.  Visit his Web site at www.nobuhata.com.