What does National Association of REALTORS®’ new chapter of transparency and accountability look like and how is it tangibly felt by the agents and brokers they serve?
That was the question posed to NAR CEO Nykia Wright on stage at HousingWire’s annual conference “The Gathering” on Wednesday in Austin, Texas.
Her answer?
“I am on the road now three weeks per month,” Wright said, adding that “we’re trying to use every medium possible to meet people where they are.”
In practice, she says, it’s engaging with members at conferences, meeting with brokerages, CEOs and MLS leaders.
“So people are feeling that because we are showing up,” she said. “We are sort of taking our lumps, we’re getting kicked in the teeth, but we are understanding exactly what we need to do going forward.”
Serving an industry so large, there’s a limit to what you can do, she explained; you can’t appease everyone, and you must be mindful of where legal lines are and antitrust law.
Continued and varied feedback loops have been key in analyzing whether NAR’s message is resonating. In the past year, NAR leadership has engaged with members and leaders representing more than 850,000 industry stakeholders across focus groups, surveys and meetings.
“So, we’re testing all of the waters as it relates to the strategies that we’re putting forth to make sure that they make sense," Wright said.
She commended NAR’s recent progress at communicating more effectively and spoke about the challenge of meeting members and stakeholders where they’re at—whether they’re craving “quick hits,” something more extensive, something visual, via text or in-person.
“There are some people who, in the focus groups, quite frankly, are not aware of some of the things that we’ve done,” she said. “And so, awareness, getting people’s attention in a very [short] timeframe world is extraordinarily difficult, but we’re not stopping. We’re continuing to see if we can meet them where they are.”
