A little while ago, a heavily promoted webinar wrapped up which featured attorney Jeff Watson and lobbyist John Grant. Because I have a keen interest in politics and public policy as they relate to the real estate business – and because a few of my subscribers asked if I could give them my opinion, I decided to listen in.
First, some background. I don’t know either Jeff Watson or John Grant. It’s possible I’ve exchanged emails with Watson, and I know I exchanged emails with Grant around 2-3 years ago, but I don’t know either one of them personally.
Billing himself as the “Top Short Sale Lawyer”, Watson is based in Ohio and is part owner of at least one Real Estate information marketing company. I am confident but not certain that his law practice focuses on personal injury. As I mentioned previously, I don’t know Watson personally and as far as I can tell, he is a reputable guy.
John Grant is a lobbyist apparently focused on the real estate investing business. He was once the Executive Director of “The National Association of Responsible Home Re-Builders and Investors”, described as an association of real estate investors that works to protect the rights of the real estate investment community. It appears that this organization may be defunct. I know very little – either positive or negative – of Grant’s reputation.
The webinar was publicized as a “Crucial GSE Reform Update”. (GSE is a “government sponsored entity”, the most notorious of which are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.) However, there wasn’t much information about GSE Reform. The Obama administration managed to get a big financial regulation bill passed through Congress recently, and the only major entities UNTOUCHED by that legislation were Fannie and Freddie.
In the absence of news to share about GSE reform, Mr. Grant and Mr. Watson focused primarily on convincing the audience that the real estate investing community needs to take a proactive, professional approach to guiding the views of politicians in Washington rather than simply being reactionary.
I agree with this completely… but I disagree with their other primary assertion: that substantive reform of Fannie and Freddie is inevitable. It would seem unthinkable that any major financial regulation could ignore the Fannie/Freddie debacle, yet that’s exactly what happened when Obama signed FinReg into law a couple of months ago. So there’s no guarantee that change is on the horizon for Fannie and Freddie.
Nevertheless, Mr. Grant’s position is correct: Real estate investors should be more proactive in shaping the views of legislators for matters that are relevant to the investing community. Thus the webinar shifted into a pitch for donations to Mr. Grant’s lobbying efforts.
I don’t disparage this and I’m open to contributing to Mr. Grant’s efforts. But I chose not to do so tonight for this reason: It was entirely unclear what Mr. Grant intends to lobby for. It’s easy to say that one is working to protect the rights of the investment community, but any regular reader of this blog knows that there are VASTLY disparate views within the investment community concerning exactly whether, how and to what extent the government should be involved in the real estate investment business. Without knowing the exact policy positions that Mr. Grant is supporting, I can’t in good conscience offer him financial support.
So my verdict for now is: Wait and see. I agree that the real estate investing community needs representation in Washington, and that we need to be more proactive in the legislative process. And it may be that John Grant is the guy for the job. But I’m going to wait about making a donation until I know the precise objectives he looks to achieve.
Thanks for reading the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter. Your comments and questions are welcomed below.
Hell, contribute to me, I’ll go lobby. I can go to the lobby, the stairs,
the restroom. I don’t contribute, and discourage anyone from
contributing, unless you know that their views are inline with yours.
Like Bryan, I am interested and follow politics as they are related
to Real Estate, but also as a effecting the Constitution and the
assault on our rights. Enough of the soapbox, go buy, sell,
rehab real estate and make a buck before its illegal.
If it’s the John Grant from the Lansing, MI area he is good guy with good intentions.
Hey Bryan – nice job as always. I am an attorney in this field too, as you know. I have met with John Grant in person and he is a lobbyist resident in Washington DC. He had an organization named NARHRI “National Association of Responsible Home Remodelers and Investors” or something close to that. He had an excellent service providing legislative updates (info about proposed and newly enacted legislation) but ran into trouble raising enough money from the REI industry to support his lobbying efforts. His efforts were being supported by a bunch of Gurus and by some students. When I met him he certainly seemed to be tied in and to know his stuff. I don’t know how he is regarded by politicians or other lobbyists but he seemed knowledgeable and there is no one else I know of in Washington doing what he does and representing the investor’s voice. A result of that is rules like the Texas lease option rule, the SAFE Act and the myriad of legislation effecting real estate investors today that was not in place a few years ago. I did not attend the webinar but in the past Jeff Watson seemed to me, as a fellow attorney, to be smart and knowledgeable. I have not always held the same opinions as he has expressed but his comments and opinions seem pretty well thought through. I agree with you that if there was a “bait and switch” or disconnect between the marketing message to get attendees to the webinar and the actual content that is not a good thing. I would not, however, throw John Grant away as a potential donee of your resources. This is a time of heightened scrutiny and regulation in our industry and we need a voice in Washington. In any event thanks for your diligence and sharing this important information. You are providing a valuable and needed service! I laugh when I see the little tag-line “your guru stops what he is doing to read this newsletter” is true! I do! All the best! Bob Diamond
First, any one that does bait and switch is immediately suspect in their intentions. Shows either a lack of focus or a lack of ability to promote their message honestly.
Second, any one that is unable to openly discuss or actively state what their message is going to be is very hard to trust.
Lobbyist do not have the best reputation for a reason, often because they do not have a solid conviction of what they are doing, too often it just becomes the money for them or the power. They are after all, just behind the scenes politicians and deserve as much trust.
So maybe this person is a good guy, maybe not. My feeling and experience is good guys have a clear message and operate out in the open, making it easy to see what they stand for and where they are going.
I agree with Bryon that anyone thinking Fannie and Freddie reform are inevitable has not been paying any attention. In the last several months of insanity by the government and the out of control spending by this administration, getting basically nothing for the crushing debt placed on our shoulders, I have seen nothing that would lead one to believe anything is inevitable, except a desire by those in power to spend more of our money and take our country completely in the wrong direction.
So possibly, he has some good ideas, but it is best for him to articulate what they are before he asks people for their money, not after they give the money! In addition, bait and switch is never acceptable; we have enough of that in power already.
Excellent recap, Bryan. I was on the webinar last evening as well. I believe anyone who has been following the comments made by Rep. Barney Franks recently, must realize that changes to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac is going to happen. Even if the Republicans should gain control of the House, we can expect less government intervention from such agency (albeit quasi). I believe the $160 BILLION already owed to the Federal Govt. by Fannie and Freddie has gotten even the most liberal representatives attention. All projections seem to indicate the numbers are only going to go higher.
I have met Jeff Watson and the two things I can say is that he is passionate about real estate and doing the right thing as an investor. I do not agree with everything he has discussed in some of his presentations but I believe he would be a good representative for the investor, wherever he is needed.
I was disappointed in the session last evening with Jeff and John Grant. Way too much salesmanship to participate in their project and not enough of what can be done to accomplish by banding together as an association or whatever type of organization they are attempting to put together.
Having said all this, I believe they deserve as much consideration as possible as we need an organized focus to protect us from being the forgotten stepchild in all of these decisions.
I listened to the webinar, and after reading your article, I agree with your interpretation of the material covered.
Good job, Bryan.
Jim Myers
I wasn’t on the webinar but Bob Diamond gave a good assessment of John Grant. John worked with Steve Herbert at NARHRI in about 2008 and was a staunch advocate for real estate investors. I hope the next webinar offers greater clarity and gets, or keeps, John working for the industry. He’ll have my support.