The American Credit Union Mortgage Association took the messageof credit union mortgage originators into the heart of the Realtorworld in New Orleans during in the first week of November-and foundthe overall atmosphere a good deal more optimistic than it had beenlast year.

“Lord, last year was like a morgue,” said ACUMA executivedirector Robert Dorsa, “everyone was so gloomy and attendance wasdown.”

But this year, by contrast, Dorsa said the National Associationof Realtors Conference and Expo was a good deal more upbeat as thereal estate industry started to find its footing coming out of theongoing housing crisis.

Margaret Kelly, chief executive officer of RE/MAX, described howRealtors had begun to adjust to the new normal in the housingmarket. “The spike up and down in the housing market wasn't normalso we shouldn't be measuring ourselves against it,” she said in astatement from the meeting that the NAR distributed.

Kelly said that despite some challenges there are plenty ofopportunities in the housing market, adding that low mortgageinterest rates, abundant inventory and stable prices are attractingbuyers to the market right now.

“To be successful in the current housing market, real estateprofessionals need to educate themselves about buying and sellingdistressed properties and working with investor buyers, who are asignificant part of the market,” said Kelly. “Education iscritical. Real estate professionals should be learning how tohandle short sales, how to market themselves and find buyers and toreally understand market conditions,” said Kelly.

Kelly said she hopes the government will incentivize businessesto create more jobs, which is the only thing that will help thehousing market fully recover. “Consumers want an instant fix but weneed to be patient,” she said.

Dorsa closely monitors the overall meeting atmosphere becausethat can have a strong impact on his efforts to both introducecredit unions to Realtors and to remind credit unions that theyhave a pool of members who are real estate professionals that lovetheir credit union.

This latter effort sparked an innovative effort to get Realtorswho were also credit union members to talk about their creditunions. ACUMA offered Realtors visiting its booth participation inprize drawing if they would agree to a brief on-camera interviewabout their CUs. Dorsa said that about 60 ended up participatingthrough the whole on-camera interview.

“What we learned was not anything different that many of usalready knew,” Dorsa recounted. “Many people belong to not just onebut several CUs. Many interviewees stated they 'love' their creditunion. The big issue is the continuing disconnect with CUs andhousing finance. We heard comments like 'my credit union helped mea great deal when my son needed a piano.' Another commented, 'Ienjoy having multiple escrow accounts and direct deposit in orderto manage the financials for my properties.' Only in a fewinstances did we hear, 'We obtained our home loan from our creditunion,' but we did hear that more than in past years,” Dorsaadded.

This was the seventh year the association came to the NAR with avolunteer staff drawn from mortgage professionals from a number ofdifferent credit unions with strong mortgage programs. Theseexecutives mingled with Realtors, introduced them to credit unionsas mortgage lenders and even did some business on the NAR tradeshow floor, Dorsa said.

Dorsa observed that attending this meeting for seven years andcarrying a remarkably similar message can get a little frustratingsince he believes so strongly that credit unions are forgoing animportant income stream just when other income streams,particularly those not tied to interest income are drying up.

“Right now, just when the industry is filled with talk of slimincome and shrinking revenue margins in the future, credit unionscould offer their members a product and a service they reallyneed,” he said.

Part of Dorsa's frustration comes from credit unions as a wholenot yet reaching a tipping point on mortgages, particularly withpurchase money mortgages, which are often first-time homebuyerloans. Dorsa decried the myth that these sorts of loans are toodifficult for credit unions to do, acknowledging they require aprogram that supported their origination, but he pointed that partof their reward are new member relationships the CU can build uponinto the future.

“There are many resources for those who are not in the game orjust cherry-picking the easy refinance loans,” Dorsa said. “CUssimply must offer all of the products consumers want and need.”