Ahead of Friday’s National Association of Realtors commission settlement, some agents are re-evaluating their memberships and considering joining the National Association of Realtors.
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Last year, the real estate industry seemed to face challenges on all fronts, from rising mortgage rates to commission lawsuits and even a reorganization of the National Association of Realtors.
The turmoil has brokers reevaluating who they want to align themselves with, whether it’s with a specific brokerage firm or team, or with NAR, the industry’s long-term public face.
NAR settles commission lawsuit for $418 million
In February 2024, more than a quarter of agents surveyed by the Inman Intel Index said they would consider joining a new alternative to NAR, the American Real Estate Association, founder and CEO Mauricio Umansky said in New York last January Announced on Inman Connect.
About 7% of respondents to the February Intel Index survey said they would consider joining the luxury executive trading group co-founded by Compass’ Jason Haber. Another 19.6% of Intel Index survey respondents said they would “probably” consider joining the organization.
Source: Inman Intel Index | February 2024
The February results follow the release of the January Intel Index survey results, which showed that some agents have considered distancing themselves from NAR in recent weeks.
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When asked if they had canceled their NAR membership in the past 60 days, about 1% of agents who participated in the January survey said they had canceled their membership. Another 6.5% said they had not yet canceled their NAR membership but planned to do so in 2024.
More than 25% of agents surveyed in that month’s survey said they had not canceled their NAR memberships “but not by choice,” suggesting there were other factors preventing them from canceling their memberships.
Source: Inman Intel Index | January 2024
Umansky debuts at Inman Connect New York New York Times The news leaked two days ago. As turmoil at NAR continues for months amid sexual harassment allegations, leadership changes and a series of major commission lawsuits filed by the association and several large brokerage firms, Umansky said the association is no longer in a position to represent the industry’s agents to their degree of deservedness.
“We need better advocacy, we need better lobbying, we need to make sure we’re taken care of,” Umansky said on ICNY.
The new data comes after the National Association of Realtors on Friday announced its decision to pay $418 million in damages as part of a settlement of two lawsuits, NAR reported.
Under the terms of the deal, NAR will agree not to create rules that would allow the listing agent to set compensation for the buyer’s agent. Compensation offers will not appear in the Multiple Listing Service.
“It also imposes a blanket ban on the longstanding requirement that agents first subscribe to multiple listing services before they can provide or receive payment for work,” the report said.
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