Stinging from the negative publicity of 60 Minutes story on discount brokers and their struggles with full fee brokers and agents, the NAR opens its annual Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo with a keynote by Hardball's Chris Matthews.

Chris Matthews is the host of "Hardball with Chris Matthews" on MSNBC and NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show," at the National Association of Realtors® Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo today. Matthews provided "A Political Insider's View on Washington" during the opening session, and Realtors® had a chance to share the issues that were on their minds.

Before becoming a journalist, Matthews spent 15 years in politics and government, and his passion for politics was evident as he characterized the upcoming 2008 Presidential election. "Democracy has worked in this country like nowhere else because we're pragmatic," said Matthews. "When people go to the polls, they try to solve the current problem. We believe in the process, and we believe in practical solutions to immediate problems."

Just as voters' voices will be heard next November, more than 7,500 Realtors® from across the country are in Washington, D.C., this week to voice their support for practical solutions to issues facing the real estate industry. As part of the Midyear agenda, Realtors® will meet with their elected officials to discuss small business health plans, protect consumers from banks in real estate, ensure a federal natural disaster policy, and advocate for subprime mortgage lending reforms and FHA modernization.

NAR President Pat V. Combs, in introducing Matthews, reminded Realtors® that, "NAR is the leading advocate for affordable housing, homeownership, and private property rights. In their own communities, Realtors® help their clients navigate the home buying, selling and investment process, but this week in Washington, Realtors® are also navigating the halls of Congress on behalf of real estate consumers across the country," said Combs, of Grand Rapids, Mich., and vice president of Coldwell Banker-AJS-Schmidt.

As evident from Realtors®' questions for Matthews, the upcoming election, political polarization, immigration, and racial and ethnic harmony are among the issues on Realtors®' minds. Matthews explained that where people live can be a strong indicator of where they stand, and that conditions of geography and culture will likely affect the 2008 Presidential race, particularly on important issues such as gun control and women's rights.

"This election is going to be a change election," said Matthews.

Realtors have other things to worry about. In other news, the NAR released its state existing home sales for the first quarter, which were below a year ago, but the good news is more states are improving than reported in the fourth quarter of 2006, and home prices in most areas show that conditions are favoring buyers, says NAR.

Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.41 million units in the first quarter, down 6.6 percent from a 6.86 million-unit pace in the first quarter of 2006, but are 2.4 percent higher than the fourth quarter 2006 level of 6.26 million. 

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia showed increases in the sales pace from a year ago, up from only six states showing gains in the fourth quarter report. One state was unchanged, and complete data for two states were not available.

In the first quarter, metro area existing single-family home prices, comparing changes in 145 metropolitan statistical areas 2 show 82 metros had price increases from a year ago, including 11 areas with double-digit annual gains; 62 had price declines, and one was unchanged. In the fourth quarter, 71 areas had reported price gains.

Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, said the data shows a broad stabilization. "One of the benefits of looking at quarterly data is that it's more representative than monthly reports, smoothing out the effects of unusual weather," he said. "Essentially, we see that the existing-home market is stabilizing in a broad cyclical trough and moving in the right direction, with a modest gain from the fourth quarter.  Conditions changed fairly rapidly during the boom, but we need more patience now to see a slow, gradual recovery, which should start in the second half of this year."

The national median existing single-family home price was $212,300 in the first quarter, down 1.8 percent from a year ago when the median price was $216,100. In the fourth quarter, the median price was reported to be 2.7 percent below a year earlier. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less, but there is a downward skew in the national comparison because sales have shifted away from many high-cost areas.