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National real estate trade group loses some local members
Amid controversy, the National Association of Realtors has forecast an 8% membership decline. Some agents hail membership in the group as a "mark of professionalism."
In November, the National Association of Realtors reported that its membership was 1,526,631. How many members renewed by the Jan. 1 deadline is unclear, but some Massachusetts agents have stepped back from the organization.
“The National Association of Realtors doesn’t publish it’s membership numbers beyond reporting them to members a couple of times a year,” an NAR spokesperson wrote in an email.
The real estate agent and broker organization has suffered significant setbacks. In 2023, the NAR president resigned after being accused of sexual harassment. In 2024, his replacement resigned after a blackmail attempt. Later that year, the NAR settled a lawsuit over commissions for $418 million, and The New York Times reported that volunteer leaders in the organization were treating themselves to lavish perks.
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Because of low inventory and high mortgage rates, the organization, which touts itself as “America’s trade association,” has forecast an 8 percent decline in membership this year. In addition to NAR, members are required to join their state and local real estate organizations. Those fees add up. A Boston-area agent may pay $156 and a $45 special assessment to join NAR. The fees for the Greater Boston Association of Realtors (GBAR), which includes the NAR dues, comes to $655 annually.
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It made some agents question the value of their membership. In an email blast, Hailey Oliveira, a RE/Max agent in Dartmouth, announced that the agents in her office had let their memberships lapse. She said she personally made that decision when her franchise dropped the requirement that their agents be NAR members.
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“Every single realtor is a salesperson,” Oliveira said, “and they’re really good at looking at value propositions. So it’s not anything personal against NAR; it’s just the value proposition is no longer there. And it’s no hard feelings. It has been losing value, and more than anything, the lawsuit just prompted us to take a harder look at that value.”
And each organization comes with different benefits. NAR offers market insights, training, discounts, social media, and other business-building resources. MAR builds on that and also offers legal assistance. GBAR does some of above, too as well as a monthly subscription to EyeSpy 360 tours, local housing data, and discounts on Bluetooth lockboxes and more.
Oliveira said she does find value in the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and would consider rejoining the organization if its membership could be decoupled from the NAR’s.
The Massachusetts Association of Realtors did not respond to a request for comment.
Greg Vasil, CEO and president of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, which oversees the GBAR, said, “ It’s still early on the membership front. Under the NAR process, which as a local board we are, a member has until the end of March to renew each year.” Each organization has its own renewal deadline.
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Anthony Lamacchia, broker/owner of Lamacchia Realty, said that an NAR membership is a mark of professionalism and that the dues are just the cost of doing business. Like many brokerages, he requires his agents to be NAR members for several reasons.
Why? “Because the National Association of Realtors is every single day fighting for the good of home buyers and home sellers and realtors,” Lamacchia said. “If that organization didn’t exist, the mortgage interest deduction would be gone by now. We would not have been deemed essential back when COVID hit, flood insurance would never get renewed, and there’d be sales screwed up all over the country.”
Jim Morrison can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @jimmorrison617.
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