Real estate professionals kicked off a jam-packed week Monday, crowding a ballroom at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., for the opening session of the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings. Nearly 7,500 REALTORS® and guests are in the nation’s capital this year to carry out the association’s governance work, hear from thought leaders about key industry issues and meet with their members of Congress on the association’s advocacy priorities.
National Association of REALTORS® President Kevin Sears and CEO Nykia Wright set the stage at the opening session, “Leadership Scoop,” by outlining the work NAR is doing to:
- Clarify policy standards around the commitment to equal professional services.
- Ensure continued financial stewardship in 2026 as the association prepares to make its next payment on the 2024 settlement.
- Focus on closing the wealth gap through homeownership and elevating a wide range of voices.
- Complete a strategic planning process that aligns internal activities with the association’s strategic vision.
Upholding Equal Professional Service
In 2020, NAR adopted Standard of Practice 10-5 and revised Professional Standards Policy Statement 29 as a way to strengthen members’ commitment to equal professional service set out in Article 10 of the Code.
Since then, Sears said, NAR members and associations have experienced difficulties when interpreting the current language. To provide clarity for members and reduce risk to state and local associations and their volunteer leadership, NAR will be considering proposed changes to SOP 10-5 and Policy Statement 29, he said. Learn more: NAR to Consider Code of Ethics Policy Changes Around Discriminatory Speech.
People have asked about the timing of the change, Sears said, but the proposed changes did not appear or take shape overnight. In fact, discussions have been underway for nearly 12 months. If NAR’s Professional Standards Committee approves the recommendations—being brought forward by its Interpretations Advisory Board—they go to Executive Committee for consideration and, if advanced, then to the Board of Directors on June 5.
Exercising Financial Stewardship
Operating NAR effectively and strategically following the $418 million settlement has required rapid change.
Wright outlined some of the actions the association has taken to date, including delivering the first balanced budget in over a decade—a comment that received loud applause—restructuring the workforce and cutting $20 million in operating costs.
Wright said the changes aren’t just about saving money. They’re markers of NAR’s deep commitment to accountability, transparency and being responsive to brokers, who’ve urged the national association to keep dues at the current level.
To that end, this week, the Board of Directors will consider a recommendation to redirect $35 of the current $45 per-member investment in the Consumer Advertising Campaign. The $35 would move to general operating funds, a move that will position NAR to make the next $72 million settlement payment without raising dues.
With the remaining CAC investment of $10, Wright pledged that efforts to increase consumer awareness would be targeted, effective and better coordinated with state and local associations, many of which also have consumer campaigns.
Focusing on Closing the Homeownership Gap
Recent program budget reductions and organizational changes have led some to question NAR’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, Wright told the audience. She assured them that NAR’s commitment to closing the homeownership gap and identifying and elevating underrepresented voices is “stronger than ever.”
In recent months, NAR has engaged Kira Banks, a professor of psychology at St. Louis University and an accomplished thought leader on equity, to help the association advance one of its core goals of bridging the wealth gap through home ownership.
The association has also brought on a full-time program manager for organizational effectiveness, Paige Johnson, to shepherd its work on equity and fairness. In addition, the association’s first chief human resources officer, Sharon White, has begun meetings with multicultural groups to continue to strengthen existing partnerships.
Strengthening Ties with Associations, Brokers, MLSs
Also at the Leadership Scoop session:
- NAR General Counsel Jon Waclawski joined Sears on stage to discuss NAR’s new Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy. The new multiple listing policy—which went into effect March 25—offers sellers an opportunity to delay marketing of their listings for a time period to be determined by individual MLSs. MLSs have until Sept. 30, 2025, to make necessary policy and technology changes. Learn more: NAR Introduces New Flexibility for Sellers While Retaining Clear Cooperation Policy
- Jarrod Grasso, NAR senior vice president of industry relations, discussed the association’s three-way agreement and outlined a range of steps the association is taking to strengthen relationships with local and state associations, brokers, and MLSs.
- In her comments, Wright said the significance of Grasso’s role and the work of his team “can’t be overstated.” Members should experience NAR as a “base camp,” she said.
- “We are and should be the basecamp of the industry. Regardless of what company you work for, at the end of the day you should always be able to come back to NAR and understand how you can move to your next company, how you can move to the next tier in terms of profitability, how you can start your own brokerage. All of those things should be at basecamp at NAR. … That is our true north.”
