At the April meeting of the Missouri REALTORS’ Board of Directors, I discussed a proposal that was going to be considered by the National Association of REALTORS’ Board of Directors at its meeting in May. The proposal was called Organizational Alignment and was created by a Presidential Advisory Group (PAG) appointed by NAR President Steve Brown. In the words of the PAG Chair Andrea Bushnell, the proposal addresses the need to increase professionalism in our industry. Bushnell stated that in order to ensure unity within—and the long-term viability of— the REALTOR® organization, “[A]ll three levels of the organization must thrive together as a true and strong association, rather than acting as group of independent but federated organizations."
Well, the NAR Board did meet last week, did consider the proposal and did pass the proposal. So, the obvious question is “now what?”. Based on the express requirements of the proposal, all boards/associations must be in compliance with the new mandatory core standards not later than June 30, 2015. That’s the easy answer. The harder question to answer is how we get there.
As is our mantra here at the Missouri REALTORS, we intend to be ahead of the curve on this. President Jim Gamble is in the process of appointing his own PAG to study the issue and provide recommendations to the Leadership Team and Executive Committee post haste. More on the PAG will be communicated next week.
I believe this is a great opportunity for us to increase the value of our collective association to our members. There is much work to be done between “now” and “then” but the possible results are incredible. Every state is now addressing this issue and I have no doubt that the model we create will be one that other states attempt to emulate.
Till next time…
-Russ