Should RPAC accept the request, though, there are numerous questions it considers when deciding how much to donate, Gregory explains.

“Have they been supportive of Realtor issues? Are they an advocate for Realtor issues? Are they on a key committee? Are they in leadership? And on down the list,” Gregory says. “Do they vote for bills that support Realtor issues when the bills come up? That’s sort of the base line. So when a bill comes up on the floor, and it’s a housing issue, do they vote yes, or no? The next issue is, did they introduce the bill? Did they actually say, ‘You know what, I’m going to be the advocate on this issue. I believe in it, and I’m actually going to be the one who drives the agenda.’ [If so], that raises it to the next level. Then, of course, if you sit on the House Committee on Financial Services, or the House Committee on Ways and Means, those are committees that we do a lot of our work in, and if you have someone whose there, [they are] introducing amendments [and] bringing up issues of your concern.”

In other words, the more valuable a candidate’s position for Realtor issues, the more he or she is likely to receive donations from NAR, whereas politicians who support Realtor issues but sit on a less relevant committee – say, the Committee on Armed Services, which RPAC never engages – will be less likely to receive such financial support.

Judy Biggert, a Republican who represents Naperville, Downers Grove and Bolingbrook in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, is a perfect example of the kind of candidate NAR supports. A big supporter of housing issues – the extension of NFIP, in fact, was called the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 – Biggert is also a member of the House Committee on Financial Services, and she has received $6,000 from both NAR and the Mortgage Bankers Association for her 2011-2012 campaign; altogether, she has received $101,200 from the real estate industry, according to OpenSecrets.org. Other local politicians who have benefited from NAR’s donations include: Peter Roskam, a Republican who represents Wheaton, Glen Ellyn and Lombard in the 6th Congressional District and received $7,000 from NAR for the 2012 election; Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat whose 9th Congressional District includes Evanston, Wilmette and Winnetka, and who received $6,300; and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who received $3,500 (see our sidebar for a more detailed look at what Chicago area politicians have benefited from Realtor support).

The seemingly egalitarian nature of those donations, Gregory explains, is no accident. Ten years ago, then-NAR President Martin Edwards refocused the association’s political efforts, moving its political involvement away from party politics and towards what he dubbed the “Realtor Party,” meaning a political establishment of and for Realtors, not Republicans or Democrats. Thus, NAR does not endorse presidential candidates, and it balances its political support so carefully that, Gregory says, its issues never come up along party lines when they are voted on (and indeed, according to OpenSecrets, donations are split almost evenly, with Democrats in the 2011-2012 cycle having received $963,974 to Republicans’ $1,125,424).

But even if a politician supports Realtor issues and sits on an influential committee, Gregory says there are political positions that could compromise RPAC’s support.

“In the current environment, it would be the big issues,” he says, citing the secondary mortgage market as an example. If a congressman were to argue, for instance, that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the most prominent players in the post-bubble market, should be privatized, that could conflict with any financial support from NAR. And though Gregory did not specifically mention it, recent actions by NAR suggest that the mortgage interest tax deduction is undoubtedly one of those big issues as well. In late August, when the Republican Party began congregating in Tampa for its national convention, it drafted its official party platform, a process in which the party decides upon its uniform policies on matters such as foreign policy, social issues and the economy. But after the first round of those discussions, the mortgage interest tax deduction was not included in the party’s platform, an omission that caught the immediate attention of NAR. The association’s current president, Moe Veissi, issued a statement promising that NAR would “work closely” with its “congressional allies,” and work closely it did – by the following morning, the GOP had already reversed its position, and now states that it will fight to “preserve the mortgage interest deduction.”