should anyone be surprised? NAR is a joke.

I am always happy to pay my CAR dues because I reap the benefits, however, paying for NAR dues has been a pet peeve of mine for years but our hands are tied and we are forced to belong to both state and national. Just cannot have one without the other.

I'm with you dreaming. Can't stand NAR and that little turd that is the king of it.

Greasy little turd!! And I suspect they're running up the bar tar and charging it all to us, too.

"bar tab" even

How much are they (we?) paying for their steak dinners cuz it doesn't look like they're ordering salads.

CAR, and my local board, have been worth every penny so far.

I'm still wondering what my NAR dues are actually accomplishing, aside from paying for our ever-optimistic industry cheerleaders in Washington.

Maybe if they were cute, young, bouncy cheerleaders...but last I checked, they most assuredly were not.

All Realtors dues going up $40 for mandatory Realtor Party contribute...

I am under the impression that this is a proposed thing - not set in stone yet. Voice your opinion:

http://www.realtoractioncenter.com/realtor-party/rppsi.html

NAR's lobbying efforts is what has kept the public largely ignorant of our industry's involvement in the housing crisis and turned the spotlight of blame onto Lenders.

I think they earn their keep....
:cool:

I think this sends a message that NAR is out of touch with the Realtor in the trenches. To propose an increase in dues for any reason in this market is ill advised. In my market, the companies growing agents are the ones that have chosen not to be Realtor companies. When agents join non Realtor companies, agents that have been Realtors for years, that tells you that NAR has a problem with national, state and local dues of over $300 and the value and benefits received for those dues. They ignore this and propose an increase? I am a Realtor but I think it is the beginning of the end for NAR. At the end of the day, the dues spent on promoting the benefits of using a Realtor have been ineffective. "Realtor" is like "Kleanex". I think NAR will see more localized associations competing for agent membership. After all, real estate is local.

Bringing this topic back due to the news out yesterday. I'm actually surprised no one has posted this already:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45659547

I don't know how much of it is actual cooking of the books, but I do know that if an agent is a member of multiple MLSs and enters a property in each of them to get additional exposure, then those properties were counted as a sale more than once. Nothing fishy about it, that's just the way it happens...
That being said, I'm not a fan of NAR at all and wouldn't be a member at all if my MLS didn't require it, and they should've realized that there would at least be some inflation of the numbers due the the phenomenon I just described. In any event, I believe this will be whipped into the mountain the media wants so as to punish the real estate industry and will be the excuse for more regulation, and eventually, drive more people out of this business.
Oh, and I'm not saying this isn't a big deal, just that it's not a surprise to me and really shouldn't be to anyone else, either.
Comments?

Oh, absolutely it screws the numbers. My MLS and another joined forces a year or so ago - still individual but sharing listings. The listings show up as duplicates, one under my MLS's number and the other under the 2nd MLS's number. Looks really crazy when you pull two listings up for the same property.

Despite this fact, there are agents who just don't enter information correctly to begin with. Financing type is a big foul-up in my MLS.

I only believe half of what I read and some of what I hear.

Home sales figures from 2007-10 to be lowered
December 12, 2011 12:42 PM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — National U.S. home sales figures will be lowered dating back to 2007 after the private trade group that collects the figures says the numbers were too high.
The National Association of Realtors says it will release the downward revisions for previously occupied homes on Dec. 21.
Among the reasons for the inflated figures: changes in the way the Census Bureau data collects data, population shifts and some sales being counted twice. Last year's total sales figure of 4.91 million was the worst in 13 years.
CoreLogic, a private real-estate data firm in Santa Ana, California, first raised doubts about the annual numbers earlier this year.
The changing numbers could impact how economists view data from the trade group. It could also affect companies who use the figures for hiring and expansion plans.


Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/sales-130058-washington-figures.html#ixzz1gWxPjPGR

So what does this say about NAR's own economist(s)? I read the "monthly reports" in the magazine, and for at least the past 3 years I've just shook my head in disbelief. His reports seem more like cheerleading than actual economic analysis.

he's probably a former exec at Standard and Poors, or even Goldman Sachs. LOL

Hey did you see kudos goes to Corelogic for calling BS on their figures? Says it right there in the article.

Yes, that was interesting! Now they need to make Big Bird's BPO forms better LOL Do you suppose they needed any HELP! HELP! HELP! ??

What's with the adjustments? One form now has you manually calculating them, another computes them to scientific notation and you have to make comments and correct them.

I understand a glitch, but this has been occuring for a long time.

This probably belongs in another thread, sorry.

Yes, you are right about that, Doin'. You were trying to make a serious observation about Corelogic and I was making a joke...mea culpa!!

No worries here Vette. I agree with your valid point.

Check out this article from Business Insider. I think the most telling part of the whole article is in the first comment: "We can't trust anyone's numbers."

http://www.businessinsider.com/michelle-meyer-nar-existing-home-sales-2011-12

An MLS clearing house needs to compile data by address, type of transaction, date and zip code to preclude duplicate reporting.
Otherwise it's garbage in, garbage out.
p.s. how about hiring Zillow? HA!

"HA" is right!
You would think in a world where people can find out your most intimate personal information with a few clicks of a mouse that we could find a way to get accurate sales data for real estate, which has some of the most regulated and recorded sales of any kind!

And the Franchises are sending this inaccurate NAR data to their salespeople...who just swallow it

What are the options when speaking to clients trying to answer their questions regarding the local market and the "local expert" giving them advise?
We look like idiots one way or the other, it's a no win situation.

It's always been a problem for me because I'm quite a bit more pessimistic about things. The brokers in my town all want to put a positive spin on everything--thus we get newspaper articles where brokers are quoted basically saying that everything is fine. I think that's BS and it really bothers me. People (the public) have got to see through that. They can certainly see the long lists of sheriff's sales, which are published in the paper, plus it's pretty easy to drive around and see the bright green or orange window stickers. I just think the NAR stuff really makes us as a profession look bad, when as individuals we had little, if anything, to do with it.
Someday soon, someone will be paying attention to what was said and done by the real estate industry during this time, and by whom. I just hope that as an industry we come out as honest and as clean as possible.

This is the first time since 2004 that there are less than 1,000,000 NAR members.

http://www.realtor.org/library/virtual_library/membershipcount

http://www.arello.com/faq/participants.cfm?nSortBy=4&cSortOrd=A

Despite this fact, there are agents who just don't enter information correctly to begin with. Financing type is a big foul-up in my MLS.

My wife and I had been members for years and really thought it was a waste of money every year. We went to work for a broker that doesn't require NAR membership and thought we were off the hook until the board in Georgia decide to charge every agent an annual fee to use the GAR forms. Now we have to pay $199.99 a year to just have access to the forms. What a rip off.

I don't understand how it is a ripoff to pay $200 a year for a complete set of real estate forms.

Try having a lawyer draw up a complete set of forms and see how much that costs you.

The forms have always been available to licensed agents in Georgia through First Multiple Listing Service. It was part of what we got from the fees we paid to FMLS. There have been a number of real estate companies springing up in Georgia which do not require membership in GAR so they have been losing members. They owned the licensing rights to the forms so to make up for lost revenue they forced FMLS to start charging extra for forms the previously were made available at no charge. That is why we are ticked. GAR is just mad that they are losing membership so they are lashing back. As far as I am concerned they can now all go off themselves, bunch of greedy bastages.

So, an organization you don't belong to is supposed to provide you with the forms you need to operate your business and do it for free?

Somebody has to pay to keep the forms up to date, who should pay if not the users?

Can these forms be accessed through an on-line company such as Zip Forms? I like them as they are totally transportable on the internet. Much nicer to read (all type-written).

I think that's what they're talking about . . . . ZipForms or TrueForms.

Most Associations provide them as part of their Dues. But if you pay no Dues, the Forms must be paid for separately.

I think you have to be a member of an Association to be able to purchase ZipForms. Before they were offered as part of our Association dues, I remember paying for them, but I remember that I had to name my Association before I could get them. I THINK I had to be able to prove that I was a member of my Association before I could pay for and get the forms.

I BELIEVE that different Boards have different listing agreements or other Board forms (all state approved, but some may have other clauses I understand). The State-approved forms are all uniform.

Here's the dichotomy - You choose not to belong to something but want the benefit of free stuff from that organization. Kind of like welfare for real estate agents?

Our forms are free to anyone, including the general public who don't pay a dime and we are not a welfare state. All agents who pay to the state support the services they provide.

http://www.dora.state.co.us/Real-estate/contracts/contracts2012.htm

The difference is that Colorado supplies the forms through a state agency. In LALA land, you have to be a board member to receive the forms or pay for them if you're not a member.

Colorado provides a service to the public. Big difference

NAR/CAR now cracking down on member brokers whose agents do not belong to THE NAR/CAR, at least here in California. The fee to join the conglomerates even for the second half of the year is about $600.00.

Their instructions are to terminate the agents who won't or cannot afford to join within 10 days of their warning letter.

I wouldn't want the State dictating what Forms I use or the language I use to conduct my business. The State Bureaucrats can't even produce their own Forms properly.

In Vermont, the VAR (Vermont Association of REALTORS®) and it's Staff Attorney, produces, updates and publishes our Forms. The Forms are available for sale in hard copy (paper) to Non-REALTOR® Licensees, and I suppose the General Public too. Multi-part pressure sensitive forms can be very expensive, unless you buy a few hundred at a time . . . . like $2.00 for a basic P&S, or about $85.00 for a package of 100.

A Subscription of the same Forms on TrueForms is also included (free?) as part of our Membership, and Non-REALTORS® could also Subscribe for an annual Subscription Fee of $199.

I personally much prefer using ZipForms; and I can do so (VAR provides them with updates to all of our Forms as they evolve); but that will cost me $199 extra . . . . used to be free, and might be again, if VAR, as a whole, can be convinced to go back to ZipForms, so I'll stick with free.

And a Non-REALTOR® can subscribe to ZipForms or TrueForms just like me; $199.00 per year. The Forms all still carry the VAR Copyright.

One thing about Forms . . . . you can still get into big trouble even when using the best Forms. And a cheap Contract Form from the Stationery Store might serve you just as well. No Form is Idiot Proof

Remember though, many E&O Carriers will rate you on whether you ALWAYS use Forms developed by the local REALTOR® Organization, so what you might save in using some other Forms may quickly be lost in higher E&O Premiums . . . . just a thought for the Penney Wise amongst us.

Our forms are done by NCAR and if we end up in court because of a mistake made by the forms creators, NCAR will back us up in court.