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125 Comments on Is the Realtor® Brand A National Conspiracy That Restricts Free Trade, Desecrates Anti-Trust Laws & Plunders It's Members ?
Your 2nd sentence is the coup de grâce, Jackson.
Many licensees feel the same as you, Sharon, and want change in the industry. It's time has arrived.
The public will make those distinctions one day and hold the title "real estate agent" or "real estate licensee" above that of Realtor when they realize that the laws of your state real estate commission have more meaning than the NAR code of ethics that germinates from them; the same state laws of which you are legally bound by your licensure, including the laws of agency. disclosure, escrow, etc.
Thanks for your comment.
I have been a member of NAR for almost 30 years. The thing I most resent is that it collects fees from me to support issues and candidates that seldom support. NAR has become a business….a big business. It would be nice if I believed that NAR existed to improve our reputation as an industry and to monitor unethical and even illegal activity by Realtors, I really stopped believing that years ago. Why can’t we just have State and Local Boards to set educational standards and to monitor ethic’s complaints?
Many good points brought up throughout all of the comments. The first thing that came to mind for me was simply that as a consumer or potential home buyer I don't care if the realtor is part of the association. I don't know about the association as a consumer and what the benefits are to me. Now maybe there are some great perks to being a member as a realtor but unless the organization is providing some great value I don't know how any realtor would capitalize on being a member of the organization.
The Monopolists control the Lockbox Keys and the MLS.
I cannot belong to my Local Board without paying these Extortionists.
State real estate commissions mandate educational requirements. When an unscrupulous brokerage comingles escrow real estate commissions work on the ethics side of things as well at the legislative and judicial level. Revocation or suspension of any licensee says a lot about ethics. Thanks for your thoughts, Linda.
Why should any licensee ever be required by their host broker to join any organization or be denied the right to exercise the privileges of their license if they refuse to join that organization or use that same organizations products, Flagship ? There is nothing in the real estate laws of this nation that mandate that you're required to become a realtor, nor is there anything in the law that states that your right to exercise the privileges granted by your license would be restricted or revoked if you refuse to become a realtor. How can any brokerage deny your services as an independant contractor if you refuse to become a realtor ? Why are there still brokerages that are inexorable about assimilation and NAR membership ? Why are so many resigning and cancelling their realtor affiliations ? The answer to the last question is about freedom of choice. Thanks for your comments.
Fred, your note is a nice surprise, and you can really hurl a damned fast ball.
It's a great challenge and opened a pandoras box.
What option would any licensee have, if they're not a realtor, to use any lockbox system if there isn't a non affiliated brokerage that has an agreement with a lockbox system corporation, or any lockbox entity, that's realtor-controlled ?
And could any lockbox company be violating fair trade laws by denying a non realtor access to a proprietary, realtor-controlled lockbox system ?
Must one be a realtor to have access to realtor-controlled mls' and entry systems ?
Great comment, Fred.
I just listened to a voice mail from a hot shot Realtor.com salesman advising me that my listings do not have my name or number and he would like to talk to me about fixing that. HOW DARE the National Association of Realtors allow a for profit outside company like Move.Org to have the use of the name Realtor.com to hound their members for big monthly fees just to put the members own name and number on their own listings. This is insane! To NAR their members are nothing but "CUSTOMERS," NAR does absolutely ZERO for their members but take their money and the organization itself has NO ETHICS for treating their members like this. I for one get better treatment from Trulia and Zillow and as far as my listings are concerned. Furthermore, if given a choice most members would opt out of NAR. Practically every agent I knows resents paying the huge quarter fees they pay NAR for absolutely nothing.
A change is gonna come , Brenda, so the song goes.
The song
I look to see if something compliments or enhances my business plan and then make decisions. I am not impressed with CAR or NAR at this point. Furthermore, there is a movement underfoot to MAKE anyone whose license is under a Broker join up or that Broker has to let them go or terminate his affiliation. I don't like it and I am not alone either..good post
I agree with Richie, if it doesn enhance our business, do we need it? We don like having to belong to NAR. Thanks for shairng post.
Forcing anyone to use the products or services of NAR when they have other choices, i.e., a non alliliated mls, is the restriction of fair trade, Richie. I believe local boards and brokerages violate anti trust laws by doing so.
I wish that some great attorney, somewhere, anywhere, would come forward and challenge this outrage in our nations courts and defeat the practice of forcing agents to belong to NAR.
It' s ludicrous. It amazes me that it hasn't been struck down and that this egregious practice has been allowed to continue for so many, many years.
If the city of Memphis hired someone to be a parking meter reader could that person be forced to join the National Association of Parking Meter Readers, a private "support group" for parking meter readers, or lose their job ?
I thought that kind of illegitimate enterprise went away when the Sherman Act became a law.
Thank you for your good thoughts, Edward and Celia.
Agreed, Carol.
Nothing in the laws of your state's real estate laws and overseen by your state's real estate commission mandates that you join NAR or be forced to use the NAR boards mls.
Forcing an agent to belong to NAR, when you begin your service with a brokerage, is no different than forcing you to drive a Volkswagon or you'll lose your right to drive if you refuse, when you'd prefer to drive another car.
David, same thing for me. I have to be a member in order to work. My wife and my son work with me so we are paying 3 dues.
YEs, I am a forced member. If I could have just MLS, I would leave NAR in a heartbeat
Hundreds of thousands of real estate professionals feel the same way you do, Jon.
If you're a licensed agent and you work for a broker you're also an independant contractor and market your own listings unless your a paid employee of the brokerage.
If you're an independant contractor how can anyone force you to use or tell you what products to use when you market your listings...and in the same breath tell you that you can't sell residential real estate if you refuse to use their products or services when you have other, better, more economical choices for marketing your property ?
Why wasn't the NAR forced membership strategy smashed by a competent legal team years ago ?
Why is it still wrapping it's filthy tentacles around this nations real estate professionals ?
David I wonder about that too. Our profession would be improved in so many ways had NAR been stopped from what they are doing. If agents had a choice as to whether they wanted to join NAR or not I am positive NAR would be put out of business.
If NAR would relax the requirement forcing agents to join and give them the choice, since most agents serve as independent contractors for NAR affilitiated brokerages, it might improve NAR's credibility.
Shouldn't there be something in the NAR Code of Ethics about the restriction of fair trade and forcing an agent to join a politically motivated organization that also mandates dues for something called the Realtor Party Political Survival Initiative, whether agent members believe in NAR's political agenda or not, Brenda ?
Although I wouldn't want to put NAR out of business, I absolutely want NAR affiliated brokerages to give agents the choice whether or not they want to join NAR or be challenged in court whether or not it's fair to force anyone to join NAR at any level of affiliation with any brokerage.
I'm also asking these same brokerages and NAR not to restrict agents from listing residential real estate if they refuse to join NAR or use a NAR affiliated MLS product when they have other marketing choices and resources available to them.
The Memphis Area Association of Realtors has a document called the Declaration of Non Engagement which you are forced to sign if you refuse to use the MAAR mls.
The document restricts you from listing or selling residential real estate within the MAAR mls coverage.
Here's a link to it. Click The Declaration of Non Engagement
The FAQ's section answers this question:
I am engaged solely in commercial real estate, but my broker is a Participant in the MAAR MLS. Can I be waived from MLS fees?
Yes. You can be waived from paying MLS fees if you are engaged solely in commercial real estate and not engaged in the listing, selling, leasing or appraising of residential property,
Whether or not NAR restricts free trade and violates the anti trust laws of this nation should be considered once again by the court, and more so with all of the cheerleading going on about market recovery while millions of homes are still being served foreclosure notices and credit reporting agencies are being investiogated for deceptive business practices.
NAR's propaganda machine knows how to use a smokescreen.
With such an overwhelming, huge volume of disappointment with NAR in this blog entry, from agents all over our nation, it astonishes me that no one from NAR has challenged the forced membership charges !