Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives passed House Bill 2412 on a concurrence vote last week and the bill now moves to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk. The bill, introduced by Rep. Todd Polinchock (Bucks), would allow some level of in-person real estate services in every county in Pennsylvania.
“We’re pleased to see that state House members reaffirmed their support of House Bill 2412, recognizing that shelter is essential and real estate is life-sustaining,” said Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS® (PAR) President Bill Festa. “The Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS®’ 35,000 members and their clients strongly urge Gov. Wolf to sign this bill and allow consumers to buy and sell homes.”
PAR is urging all citizens across the commonwealth to contact Gov. Wolf to ask him to sign HB 2412 into law and re-open real estate in Pennsylvania. Consumers can visit HousingIsEssential.org to reach out to the governor with the simple message—housing IS ESSENTIAL.
“Even the governor himself has said that housing is essential. Pennsylvanians need him to make this right and re-open real estate in a safe and responsible manner,” Festa said.
Pennsylvania’s incredibly restrictive shutdown of real estate services has created difficulties and financial hardships for consumers. House Bill 2412 would allow real estate transactions to occur with real estate professionals following CDC guidelines. The association has continuously urged Gov. Wolf to follow the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Advisory Memorandum to designate real estate as a life-sustaining business.
“Shelter is essential. We’re seeing many Pennsylvanians who are facing tremendous difficulties and financial hardships due to this shutdown,” Festa added. “It’s outrageous that a majority of Pennsylvanians continue to be unnecessarily restricted from purchasing or selling a home.”
We need to be able to see a house that we are putting a bid on