The Houston Association of Realtors surveyed the public on a number of housing-related issues in its first Legislative Priorities Survey.

By Peter Ricci

The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) has released the results of its Legislative Priorities Survey, an expansive look at how the Houston public feels on a number of housing-related issues at the federal, state and local levels.

More than 1,000 homebuyers, home sellers, homeowners and renters were surveyed for the study, which HAR says it intends to use to both improve its services and inform its membership.

HAR Legislative Priorities Survey – Housing Issues Galore

Among the survey’s many findings, the most interesting were:

• Sixty-four percent of respondents take advantage of the mortgage interest tax deduction (MID), which, as any reader of our site knows, has been a target for cuts.
• Similarly, 59 percent consider MID to be either very important or critical in their homebuying decisions, and 79 percent think that maintaining MID is of the same importance.
• Fifty-four percent said they protested their property appraisal, and 69 percent filed their protest independently.
• The support for Homeowners Associations was a bit less – 40 percent said their HOA “mostly” preserves neighborhood quality, while 47 percent said their HOA only “somewhat” does so.

Wayne Stroman – Homebuyers Support MID

Wayne Stroman, the chairman of HAR, said the Legislative Priorities Survey makes it clear that homebuyers in and around Houston support MID.

“The HAR.com survey participants reveal they are most concerned with pocket book issues,” Stroman said. “Houston homebuyers and sellers overwhelmingly value the federal mortgage interest deduction, and they want to see it protected.”