Daniel, I think you’re correct about leadership, we have a new president, he may just turn out to be that leader.

Ben, communication is key, and we certainly appreciate you doing that with us.

On the national level, I don’t know that there is ever going to be much hope of change, not any time soon, anyway. NAR is far too big, and there are far too many people with input to get much accomplished in a short period of time. The only way that is going to happen is to have a President who is willing to lead the association in that direction. It will take a VERY strong leader.

On our individual local levels, change is a bit easier because of the increased ease and opportunity for engagement. It is a heck of lot easier to get the ear of someone from your local or state association than someone at NAR.

Association/member relations can be a complex issue for any association, even more so for an association with 1 million members. Effective communication provides the foundation for un-complicating issues.

Jonathan said there was a lack of face – meaning you have a pr problem.

I’m saying they hauled off and did one all while ignoring where the fire is burning.

I laid out for you what is missing, it isn’t hard to grasp. They’re shouting into the wind at folks (X) that are indifferent to the nar – gen y is here online, and so is z- THAT is where NAR needs to focus.

X is on TV. (confused)
Y is on TV and ONLINE. (buyers that we’re facing daily in droves)
Z watches TV ONLINE. (tomorrows buyers)

It’s not just Realtors though who have lost faith in NAR – its the public. Lereah and Yun have destroyed the public trust in NAR and furthered the notion that Realtors are self-serving.

The Code of Ethics IS a joke, because there is no enforcement at any level. A few years back the president of a local association was the one who blatantly used the url “SanDiegoRealtor.com”, and it was a director who had the plural version. Six months of calls and compliants were ignored until Mary at NAR stepped in with a C&D. This against to people who routinely hit offices to explain why the membership needed to step up and pay the PAC money.

The associations are still far more influenced by the brokers than the agents, so going back to being agent-centric is probably more just a game of semantics.

The consumer protectionists and much of the public see NAR as the MLS Cartel and paid shill, not their friend. I don’t blame them, as I feel the same, and I have been in this business for 18 years.

I would opt out of NAR in a second if not for the mls. IF I thought I could win a class action against NAR over their MLS monopoly, I would do that as well. The clock is ticking for NAR. If they don’t get it soon, it will be too late.

@Benn & Jonathan – Jonathan says that the new PR campaign is bunk. Benn says that the NAR doesn’t listen to its members. NAR says that its members approve of PR campaigns like (and including) the current one. I’m having trouble processing all of these concepts to make sense of them.

@Ines – You hit on an important idea, and I’ll blog about that in the near future.

@Matthew – Nice point about the successes REALTOR associations have brought to bear. REALTORS stand on the shoulders of giants and owe a great deal to those who have gone before them. They shouldn’t get a pass because of those victories, but the history is helpful to create some context for our “what have you done for me lately?” questions.