Address newsletter
Get the latest news on renting, buying, selling, home design, and more.
Threat forces national realtor group president to resign
The threat would have "disclosed a past personal, non-financial matter." Springfield realtor to take helm.
The National Association of Realtors announced yesterday that the real estate organization’s president, Tracy Kasper, stepped down after receiving a “a threat to disclose a past personal, non-financial matter unless she compromised her position at NAR.”
“As president and a long-time member of NAR, I always have put the interests of NAR first,” Kasper said in the NAR release. “As a result of the recent threat, and given the significance of this moment for myself, my family and the organization, it is again time for me to put the interests of NAR first. So, it is with a mix of gratitude and a heavy heart that I submit my resignation as your president effective immediately.”
Advertisement:
The president-elect, Kevin Sears, a broker/partner of Sears Real Estate in Springfield, will succeed her. Sears did not respond to a request for comment.
NAR declined to comment via email.
More on real estate
Her resignation comes at a particularly difficult time for the NAR. In August 2023, Utah broker Kenny Parcell stepped down from the presidency after multiple accusations of sexual harassment. The following October, a Kansas City, Mo., jury found the NAR and two other defendants guilty of conspiring to inflate commissions in a class-action suit, and the judge ordered NAR to pay the defendants $1.78 billion in damages. NAR said it will appeal that decision, but the case has spawned multiple, similar suits across the country.
Advertisement:
For these and other reasons, real estate/mortgage brokerage Redfin required many of its agents to drop their NAR memberships in October 2023.
Anthony Lamacchia, broker/owner of Lamacchia Realty and a vocal supporter of NAR, had nothing but praise for Kaplan, whom he has known for several years.
“I’m dumbfounded and surprised by this,” Lamacchia said. “I’ve never known her to be anything other than a literal model citizen and representative of NAR.”
Theresa Hatton, CEO of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, did not respond to a request for comment.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com