“One project is to better equip Realtors with actionable residential and commercial intelligence,” Nykia Wright, the CEO of NAR, said during a press conference Sunday. “We are doing that, but we’re doing it in a different way. The more RPR (Realtors Property Resource) brings AI online, we are equipping them with that. The more that Lawrence Yun begins to do more predictive analysis at the local level, we are adding that online.”
According to the trade group, by executing the three-year Strategic Plan, NAR will modernize the association, improve transparency and provide more value to members and give them more opportunities to hold the association accountable. This accountability will be manifested in a new annual report that NAR will publish detailing the work it has done toward executing the strategic plan, and quarterly reports given at executive committee meetings discussing progress on different projects.
NAR said it is currently unsure if it will provide members with a quarterly report, saying that it will depend on its ability to make the information presented in a clear and digestible manner for members. However, Wright noted that she will be at broker summits and that NAR representatives will be on stage at state and local meeting across the country talking about the projects and initiatives with members throughout the year.
“We are building the plane as we fly it,” Wright said.
And while not all of the projects in the plan are brand new, what’s new, Wright said, is the accountability NAR is taking on.
“Even on the projects and initiatives that are continuing, there is more accountability,” Wright said.
The Strategic Plan is the product of a massive industry outreach effort, during which NAR said it heard from more than 150,000 voices across each level of the association and the industry.
“We socialized the plan around the country, across the 13 regions, and many people participated in that feedback,” Wright said. “The broker meeting we had on October 13 and 14 was very important because those CEOs represented about 700,000+ of our members, so you can begin to see how many stakeholders’ opinions were part of formulating the plan.”
The most valuable projects to members
Based on the feedback that NAR received, it crafted the plan and identified 24 initiatives it believes members would find most valuable to their membership experience. In examining these initiatives, the strategic planning committee created its 75 projects, but according to Wright, not all of these projects are created equally, with the trade group setting up budgets in just a few weeks to execute some and several months to execute others.
“An example of something that has a longer tail is zero-based budgeting,” Wright said. “You can’t transform a budget in three or four months, that is going to take significant movement across the industry because you also have to coordinate with your state and locals with respect to the dues dollars coming in. That has been a frustration across the ecosystem as it relates to transparency, so our commitment to that is a really long project.”
Enhancements to real-time market insights
Within these 75 projects, NAR has identified six signature projects as part of the plan. These strategic projects include enhancing the real-time market insights it provides members, creating a legal leadership forum to promote legal thought leadership, reviewing all governance committees to clarify roles, minimize overlap and reduce redundancy, transforming the budgeting process and establishing consistency budget guardrails, developing resources to align that national, state and local associations and elevating the Realtor brand value.
New committments
In addition to these initiatives and signature projects, NAR is also making a series of commitments to members, partners, consumers and the industry at large.
For members, it is committing to help Realtors thrive in their day-to-day business and build a proactive organization. To fulfill this commitment, NAR said it plans to enhance the tools, training and support it provides members, and that it will evolve financial and operational systems and structures to deliver fast support to members.
To its partners, it is committing to driving collaborative solutions by doing things like co-creating programs and sharing resources, and fostering deeper partnerships grounded in transparency and shared goals.
When it comes to the industry, NAR is committing to protecting and advancing the legal interests of Realtors by proactively shaping “legal protections that represent the priorities of Realtors and promote a resultant industry,” and recommitting to professionalism by strengthening ethical standards and elevating current and emerging association leaders.
Finally, to consumers, through the plan, NAR is committing to advocating property ownership for all through its advocacy work and cultivating trust in the Realtor brand, by positioning it as a trusted symbol of expertise, integrity and reliable service.
As NAR looks to the future, the trade group said there are “big boulders” it must move in order to turn the association around. Three of the largest boulders, according to NAR are the growth of its products and services, as well as education portfolio, efficiency gains, especially those related to its financial transformation, and the management of legal risk.
“We are in a race to continue to prove our worth,” Wright said. “Let’s think what any association across any industry is responsible for, and we are meeting those qualifications. We are here to serve the membership and support them.”