There are two premises to this post:
1. We accept that the National Association of Realtors is going to exist for the foreseeable future.
2. They have an existing infrastructure, including its 1.4 million members, that could potentially be leveraged to do great things.
First, we need much more than a “massive media campaign,” as stated by Dale Stinton, CEO of NAR. Not once does he mention improving the product (the Realtors) – all the technology in the world will not improve the competence of the professional.
Greg and I disagree on this – rather than supplant the various associations, I argue that working from within, in tandem with efforts from outside (read: the RE.net), may prove to be an even more effective strategy. Many in the RE.net recognize the opportunity to effect change; there may be great value in working, not necessarily with, but on parallel paths with, some components of the NAR. I mentioned in the inaugural Bloodhound.TV effort that the NAR clearly does recognize the impact and influence that the RE.net has on the industry – by choosing to assist in the BloggerCon, the NAR is reaching out to the bloggers. From my experience, the leadership of the NAR and the local and state associations, wants to be led, but often don’t know where to begin.
To lead, sometimes you just need to ask – or be asked.
With some prodding by some people whom I respect greatly, I am going to put my money/time where my mouth is and try to gain a seat on the Professional Standards committee (requires login) within the NAR, which may be tasked with evaluating blogging. This is the committee’s charge:
To advise and make recommendations to the Board of Directors on matters relating to the Code of Ethics; upon request, the Committee advises member boards on interpretations on the Code; upon receiving notice of lack of enforcement thereof by member boards, the Committee inquires into the situation, seeks remedial action and, if necessary, brings to the attention of the Board of Directors or the proper official of the Association in case of failure or refusal to enforce the Code.
To get an idea of what special kind of politics this might be, consider its composition:
101 members as follows: chair and vice chair; the immediate past chair; the chair and vice chair of the Professional Standards Forum; 1 representative from each state and territorial association; 1 representative from each affiliate; and 34 at-large members, including a representative segment of state and local association staff.
I’ve always wondered why the Realtor Code of Ethics is eight pages long, and what that length says about Realtors. It’s a shame that some Realtors need to be told not to “deceptively (use) metatags, keywords or other devices/methods to direct, drive, or divert Internet traffic, or to otherwise mislead consumers.” I assume that this is the kind of behavior the Professional Standards committee will handle.
Like it or not, the NAR has leverage, they have infrastructure, and they have what it takes – our money – to get things accomplished politically. The argument has long been made that the NAR, much like the government, is out of touch with the membership/constiutency. Why not change it? Why not try to use it to our advantage?
One caveat:
There are 800+ Directors! NAR has 1 point something million members, with 800 directors while the US Congress, not exactly the prototypical leader in efficient governance, has 600 some odd legislators for 300+ million citizens.
To quote Mr. Gibbs from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean:
Leverage, says you. I think I feel a change in the wind, says I.
Technorati Tags: realtor
Jillayne Schlicke says:
Hi Jim,
The reason the NAR Code is 8 pages long is because it’s been around for a hundred years so it’s a well developed code that contines to change over time. A code that is too short is not helpful. A code that is too long is not helpful either. 8 pages is okay.
I do remember back during the days when Realtors would hide their competitor’s names in their website metatags and the NAR code, at that time, didn’t have language prohibiting that particular behavior.
I’m not so sure the most pressing ethical issue is behavior surrounding blogging. The vast majority of Realtors aren’t blogging. Many are part-time workers who just simply have no interest in doing this, others cannot quite make a linnear connection between the time commitment and the ROI of blogging, so they’re not in the game yet.
Instead, I’d like to see some work done in the area of large, massive brokerage firms that control thousands of dollars in NAR membership dues, bad-mouthing competitors whose business models do not match the traditional biz model, with no ethical oversight of the conduct of these large firms. Anytime a competitor is bad-mouthed, the whole industry looks bad from the consumer’s perspective.
Similar to when coaching a soccer game, when the teams start playing too rough, there’s a higher chance that someone’s going to get injured so the ref acts as that neutral person to assure that a fair framework is maintained. You’re going to be a referee.
I’d like to see local Realtor associations actually enforcing their Code. When I travel across the U.S., It’s been reported to me from different cities that some associations enforce their code and some don’t.
and finally, I’d like to see the Realtor Code make the fiduciary obligation of all Realtor members clear (it’s in the code; can you find it?) which would also mean the end of dual agency for those that would like to call themselves Realtors.
Being on that committee means constantly striving for increased professionalism for individual members and collectively for the entire group. I sincerely wish you the very best of luck in your quest.
November 12, 2007 — 10:07 am
Jim Duncan says:
Thanks Jillayne. I tried not to make this post about me, but to provide an example of how to get involved.
Thanks again for the comment. The NAR, as it is today, speaks against the credibility of a lot of Realtors. They need to focus on quality, not quantity.
November 12, 2007 — 10:52 am
Bruce Hahn says:
A multipronged strategy would seem the smartest approach.
In addition to working from within NAR and with RE.net, consider also working with some of the breakaway real estate trade groups (NAEBA, AREBA, etc.) and consumer groups like mine and the Consumer Federation of America.
If all of the aforementioned non-NAR folks got together and could find common ground, if only on some of the issues, then they could collectively have substantial weight and influence on the public debate over those issues.
November 12, 2007 — 10:56 am
Jeff Brown says:
Guys — the next group of Realtors who cause the NAR to successfully execute a positive sea change in there M.O. — will be the first.
For them to change, they’d have to admit they’re doing anything wrong. See a tiny problem with that?
Leveraging the membership would indeed provide some impressive potential. It’s my firm belief, after watching NAR geniuses the last four decades — they’ll be demoted to irrelevance before they decide to do anything.
Good folk like you, Jim, are humored by the so called ‘brain trust’ at NAR.
It’s all about petty people with power. It’s essence in our industry hasn’t changed a wit since I started listening to Dad at the dinner table in 1967.
November 12, 2007 — 3:46 pm
Jim Duncan says:
Jeff –
Quit messing with my jaded naiveté. 🙂
Seriously – who are the “brain trust” and how do we target them?
The few interactions I have had with the NAR have shown two things:
1) Some of them earnestly want to change
2) The bureaucracy is overwhelmingly archaic and so much worse than worthless that it breeds contempt, complacency and apathy.
I’m not saying that we could change the world (or even the NAR) but there is an opportunity, combined with the RE.net and some innovative thinking, we could have a positive result.
November 12, 2007 — 4:26 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Jim —
My point was — there is no brain trust worthy of the name.
You say some of them earnestly want to change? Are they in any kind of a leadership position? I’d guess not. If they are, they need to grasp that the Big Ben clock is counting down their relevance to their members.
The bureaucracy is doing what bureaucracies do everywhere — as little as possible, while helping nearly nobody, unless they’ve generated either tears or bleeding first. Where do you think the saying ‘go postal’ came from?
They need to be lie the company mentioned in the book Good To Great, Nucor, who transformed themselves from a nuclear based company to steel. What, huh? you might say. 🙂
I use them only to illustrate the kind of change, MASSIVE, that needs to happen inside NAR. I think they’re analogous to manufacturers of horse drawn buggies when the auto came on the scene.
They had two choices — cease to be relevant (die) or convert to making car interiors. (leather like in buggies) Some did, some didn’t.
Your timing is excellent because you can gage how willing to listen they may or may not be, by what you hear about the convention. My guess is you’ll hear the same things folks said after the 1958 convention. 🙂
All NAR understands is spin — and they’re embarrassingly bad at that.
November 12, 2007 — 4:46 pm
monika says:
Jim,
Come to the professional standards committee meeting on Wednesday at 1pm in the Venetian. It’s an open meeting and there will be some discussion on Article 12 but I think nothing dramatic at least according to my committee agenda.
November 12, 2007 — 5:42 pm
Jim Duncan says:
Monika –
Unfortunately I am not able to make it to Vegas this year, but look forward to your report. 🙂
November 12, 2007 — 6:19 pm
monika says:
I’ll be posting one. I’m on a plane 1st thing in the morning.
November 12, 2007 — 6:21 pm
Bob Wilson says:
This is NAR’s core competency. It is first and foremost a lobbying organization that has carried the torch for the American homeowner. It has done that job extremely well.
Where NAR falls on it’s face is in grasping the future of the industry. It doesn’t understand that “deceptively (use) metatags, keywords or other devices/methods to direct, drive, or divert Internet traffic, or to otherwise mislead consumers” is a non-issue in the overall scheme of things. That is akin to telling my daughter to turn off a light when she leaves the room in order to help reduce global warming.
It’s not about throwing a bone to a handful of bloggers. It is way bigger than that.
November 14, 2007 — 9:59 pm