Russian Realtors work toward property ownership system

By Kenneth V. Smith

NEW ORLEANS The fast moving changes in world politics and rapidly developing technology for real estate are some of the forces that have drawn more than 1,100 attendees from countries outside the United States to the 90th annual convention of the National Association of Realtors.

"Nobody could have predicted in 1987 that this convention in 1997 would have a Russian speaker talking about a multiple listing system and an association of Realtors in the former Soviet Union," said David Michonski, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in New York, and chair of the NAR International Forum.

There are 18,000 attendees from all countries at the NAR convention.

Michonski and Norman D. Flynn are among the NAR leadership reaching out to develop alliances with real estate brokers in other countries, and to offer assistance where needed in building Realtor associations.

Flynn, of Madison, Wisc., is a former NAR president who has spent a total of 500 days in the past four years in Eastern Europe working with real estate professionals as a system for marketing and selling privately owned real estate is developed.

At one of a half-dozen sessions on international real estate, Flynn introduced Ivan D. Grachev, a member of the Duma, the Russian parliament, and deputy chair of the national legislative body's Committee on Property, Privatization and Economic Activity.

Grachev has not been active in real estate, but as a prominent politician he was selected to lead the newly formed Russian Guild of Realtors as new laws and procedures are worked out for the private ownership and sale of real estate. Until recently, all real estate in Russia and other former communist countries in Eastern Europe was owned by the government.

Speaking through an interpreter, Grachev said national and local governments throughout Russia are writing legislation to establish title, proof of ownership, and regulations for the sale or transfer of real estate from government to private ownership.

Throughout Russia, there is considerable debate on how real estate should be owned and sold, and who should regulate the process. In a bold move last week, the Volga River regional government defied the national government by passing the first law in Russia making it legal to freely buy and sell land.

The Saratov legislature went against President Boris Yeltsin's national administration in passing the new law concerning private ownership of real estate. This real estate legislation has been sharply criticized by the national government in Moscow, but the Saratov legislators approved the bill 23-3.

Grachev said America's success with home ownership is a model for his country. "We can easily see the United States as an example of strong real estate activity, which is due to the activity of Realtors," he said.

Although the desire to purchase real estate is high, the extraordinary cost of home financing places home ownership out of reach for most Russians. "Conditions have improved, but it must get better," said Konstantin Aprelev, president of the Russian Guild of Realtors. "A lot of people want to buy, but for many it is not possible."

In addition to working with Russian real estate brokers, there was considerable activity involving other countries and NAR. At various meetings international real estate at the NAR convention, two overriding factors seen as are shaping developments are advancements in technology and cooperation between governments.

Representatives of NAR and four countries signed a bilateral real estate agreement designed to increase business and professional networking opportunities. Real estate organizations representing the four countries are the Real Estate Institute of Australia, the Italian Federation of Real Estate Agents, the Association of Real Estate Agents of Japan, and the National Association of Real Estate Offices of Slovakia.