Republican Mike Oxley, known for his Eliot Ness-meets-George W. Bush-like pursuit of evildoers in financial services and real estate, is retiring from his seat in the House of Representatives after 25 years of service. Few in the real estate industry will miss him because of his pro-banks, anti-Realtor stance. In fact, he was so consistently pro-banks and anti-Realtor that many believe he will take a position in financial services, perhaps as a lobbyist.

"Many former congress members do that," says a Washington source. "Oxley has not said what he plans to do, but it's unlikely he'll run for another office. Usually, when someone leaves one office for another, they'll announce it and Oxley hasn't done that."

Oxley was also effective as a fund-raiser for the GOP, notes the Associated Press (AP), and could also take a position in the next presidential campaign.

"I've always been an intuitive politician, and it just made sense after 25 years in Congress and nine years in the (Ohio) legislature," Oxley told the AP. "I've paid my dues."

Oxley was something of a lame duck anyway, as term limits would have forced him to give up his chairmanship of the House Financial Services Committee at the end of 2006, but between now and then, he could still do considerable disservice to the real estate industry.

"Oxley's chairmanship of the Financial Services Committee gave him a strong position from which to oppose efforts by the National Association of Realtors® and other real estate and consumer groups to keep national banks out of real estate. It has been in significant part through his efforts that the NAR-backed Community Choice in Real Estate Act (H.R. 111) to permanently ban national banks from entering real estate has been kept from the floor of the House for an up-or-down vote, even though a majority of House members are cosponsors of the bill," explained Realtor Magazine.

The Community Choice in Real Estate Act currently has 249 cosponsors. A companion bill in the Senate (S. 98) has 26 cosponsors. Oxley's competing bill, which was co-written with U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and would allow banks into real estate, is called the Fair Choice and Competition in Real Estate Act of 2005 (H.R.2660). The bill has attracted no co-sponsors.

Oxley took several actions against the real estate industry besides initiating a bill to allow banks into real estate. He held public hearings looking into the competitive practices of real estate, and also called for an investigation into real estate industry competition which culminated in a report by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative branch of the Treasury. The report found that the real estate brokerage industry "has a number of attributes that economists normally associate with active price competition." Despite its close range of fees between 5 and 7 percent on average, brokerage is "characterized more by nonprice competition (service, quality, reputation, etc.) than price competition," said the report.

Published: November 3, 2005

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