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For Paul Herrera, helping to remove the roadblocks that licensed Realtors face is a full-time endeavor. As government affairs director for three local associations – the Inland Valley Association of Realtors, Inland Gateway Association of Realtors, and the California Desert Association of Realtors – he works to impact public policies that affect the Realtors of the Inland Empire. “I’m the association’s local lobbyist,” Herrera said. “We work on behalf of property rights, homeownership and other issues that affect our members.”
One such issue is the Home Energy Retrofit Opportunity (HERO) program, which was created to finance solar and energy-efficient home improvements for homeowners in Riverside County. Although contractors have aggressively marketed the program, homeowners who are convinced to participate may not realize all the stipulations involved – for example, that a HERO loan is recorded against the property as a tax lien. There are similar challenges with the Property Assessed Clean Energy program, or PACE; the loans are not accepted by FHA or FHFA, the federal agencies that back 80 percent of loans in the Inland Empire.
“I started hearing from our members last summer that they were having deals fall apart,” Herrera said. “I contacted the company that’s behind the program, and we started collecting more info in the marketplace to show what kind of problems we’re running into.” Although there is a bigger concentration of these loans in Riverside County, Herrera also hears from Realtors in San Bernardino County who run into problems with them; when that happens, he contacts the San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG) to negotiate solutions.
The organizations Herrera represents also work with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the California Association of Realtors (CAR) on state and national legislation affecting the membership. One example concerned the Federal Housing Administration. “A few years ago, FHA was launching a pilot program to put together bulk sales, and these properties would bypass the marketplace 4 or 500 at a time,” he said. “We worked with NAR and CAR to stop that, because most homebuyers can’t bid on that many properties at once.”
The solution was one that worked for Realtors and homebuyers alike. “Ultimately, FHA said they would do no more of those in our region,” Herrera said. “That one pilot program was the last time it ever affected our area.”
The three organizations also support political candidates who are committed to doing right by Realtors. “We believe good policy makers make good policy,” Herrera said. “We support those who have an understanding of property rights and housing issues, and we make sure they are properly supported and have a chance to run for office.” He names state Assemblymen Marc Steinorth and Eric Linder as examples, in addition to Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries. “These guys have a very good working understanding of our issues and the complexity of it,” he said. “We’re always here to help them out.”
Along with other advocates, Herrera makes at least one trip to Washington, D.C. a year to meet with members of Congress regarding federal policies that concern Realtors. “We also meet with them in district,” he said. “And we go to Sacramento a few times a year.”
Between the three organizations, Herrera represents more than 8,000 Realtors in the Inland Empire.
