Johnny Isakson

ROCK SPRING, Ga. — Housing led the nation into the current recession, and it will lead the way out, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., told a group of Realtors here Tuesday.

“When your country is in the worst recession since the Great Depression there is only one thing you should talk about. That is the economy, what got us here, where we are and where we are going,” said Sen. Isakson, the first and only Realtor elected to the Senate.

He spoke to about 200 members of the Northwest Georgia Council of Realtors and the Chattanooga Association of Realtors during a luncheon Tuesday at the Walker County Civic Center.

Sen. Isakson said the depth and length of this recession worries people.

“As a businessman I went through four of these —’68, ’74, ’81-82, ’90-91,” he said. “But this is the worst, most pervasive and longer lasting than those. And this is the first in my lifetime where the banking system was in worse shape than the private sector.”

The senator proposes federal tax credits to home buyers as a way to revitalize the economy.

“We are anxious to see if the $15,000 tax credit will pass,” said Joanna Jackson, president of the Northwest Georgia Council of Realtors. “That would boost all industries in this area.”

Robert Nodes, of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors, said sales may be off and prices depressed, but Realtors are perpetual optimists.

“We always see the glass as half full,” he said.

That sentiment was echoed by others who said there are signs of life in the local real estate market.

“The federal tax credit has potential first-time buyers out looking,” said Nickie Schwartzkopf, president of the Chattanooga association. “When they buy, the seller has to move up. When you get one engine pulling, it helps everybody.”

Sen. Isakson cited a need for hedge fund transparency, controls to prevent mortgages from becoming “toxic assets” and revamping regulations for bond rating services.

But the to any recovery is a rebound in home ownership, he said.

“The strength of our country over any other in the world is the wide distribution and private ownership of land,” he said.

“Just as housing led us into this recession housing will lead us out. When we turn it around, the economy will be better, stronger and we will be a whole lot happier.”