http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUldGc06S3U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEs1waa6HT4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoZV5jt9puc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rLYph0J7vc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLjo7-J1qho&feature=related

NAR CHIEF ECONOMIST... NO HOUSING BUBBLE... DOPE!! This is where your NAR dollars goes folks... HYPE and BS!!

JoeBroker, I suggest Anger Management.

Agree with you, Joe. Paying NAR useless fees is a major gripe with me too, but we are forced to pay NAR dues just to be a part of your individual state's association. It Sux.

I don't think that's the topic here, but I understand your pain of having to pay $80 to NAR when you overpaid on your home, because you wanted to live in "Paradise".

What would you all suggest we pay the NAR? I mean they do serve some purpose.

Do deserve some purpose? For what? For issuing annoyingly inaccurate sunny forecasts about the real estate market? Or maybe its for competing against our websites with R.com? Or maybe its for charging us an unreasonable amount of money for "enhanced listings"? For being out of touch with reality, the market, buyers, sellers, and technology?

That's worth $80 X 1.4 million.

Where I see there value is in RPAC and lobbying for our interests on capitol hill.All that crap they try to sell with the join money making ventures from marketers I don't pay attention too.If you have been reading the Realtor magazines the last few years you would notice a big difference.Used to there was a bunch of really informative articles in there but over the years I see more and more ads and marketing junk hucking there wares and less usefull info.I can blow through the magazine in about 4 to 5 minutes.Really Useless

Threads like this always aggrivate me.

I've been a agent for 2 years, and while I understand some arguments against NAR, agents need to realize something.

In the PUBLIC'S EYES , agents are thought of very low of.

I personally feel if it wasn't for the NAR lobbying, Agents would be in the back seat as compared to FSBO websites and the like.

There's enough lawsuits , litigation and the like to try and do away with our jobs, and our $80/year goes to preventing that.

I was a Chief of Staff to a U.S. Congressman.

When I was there, NAR was considered THE most powerful trade association -- bar none.

They've had great success with keeping the banks out of the realty business. Now, they are dealing with the Dept. of Justice issues.

So, the lobbying side is legit. And, important.

I suspect much of the frustration stems from the fact that we all interact with our local board offices. Often, we find them bureaucratic and irritating. Guess what, that is their job (in the sense that they are required to follow rules and enforce them). But, it is natural to have a sense of frustration.

Most agents, if they had their way, would just want access to the mls, without the cost or bother of joining an Association of REALTORS. That has happened in some parts of the country, not always with success.

This is an old debate. According to some of the old-timers, the same issues were raised 40 years ago.

Like any small, medium, or huge lobbying group, NAR needs money, lots of money, to spread around so that they can continue to be lobbyists and hang with the cool kids. Lobbyists have fun. Lobbyists go to exciting places and wear nice clothes. They "go up to Capitol Hill" regularly-- pretty cool, no? That's why they need R.com, and other sites and ventures that coin money from every source, including agents.

That they MIGHT accomplish something beneficial for agents in the trenches and not treat them as another revenue stream for their partying and hobnobbing, is possible, but it's not the objective. Although they claim everything they do is for the agents-- everything that they "do" has a price tag for the end-users-- the agents.

I wouldn't be as biting IF NAR didn't pass off what they do as high-minded, beneficent and altruistic to both the public and captive members, when all they really do is practice captitalism really, really well to ensure that most of them (and their friends) continue to live really, really well.