11 Questions for the National Association of Realtors

Dear National Association of Realtors,

I’m not a Realtor, I’m not a real estate agent, in fact, I’m a marketer by profession but Realtor wife by marriage. I have questions based on many recent events. My motives for asking these questions are first to give the NAR an opportunity to show off how transparent they are (or are not or could be or will not be), to help Realtors to become more involved by being more educated and lastly for consumers (I consider myself in this category) to understand the industry and better connect with and trust real estate professionals (the long term challenge).

So here are 11 questions that I have:

1. Where can agents see a list of all NAR committees?
2. Where can agents see a list of all NAR committee members?
3. How do Realtors learn about open seats- are upcoming availabilities posted online?
4. Are these roles appointed or campaigned for?
5. Where can agents learn about when/where committees meet and are meetings open or private?
6. Where can people read minutes from committee meetings?
7. Are the agendas and issues considered at bi-annual legislative meetings made public before meetings?
8. Are all legislative meetings open to attendees of mid-year and the big conference?
9. Where can minutes from legislative meetings be found?
10. For any of these questions if the answer is “we don’t do that” or “no, minutes are private,” what is the process for lobbying for transparency?
11. What committee governs the Realtor.org website?

I challenged several Realtors (even NAR committee members) this week to see if they could answer any or all of these questions by logging into Realtor.org and it was fruitless. There was a relatively unanimous “I dunno” to all these questions which is why a list of links in comments is only a short term solution to this problem of information dissemination. I am aware that some of this information does already exist on Realtor.org but is difficult to locate and the site structure is outdated, so I hope that you (NAR) will hear this as a vote to revitalize the prioritization of revamping the structure (not the aesthetics) of the Realtor.org site in an effort to improve Realtors’ awareness of information because in my eyes, education is always the first step toward involvement which is the path toward improved consumer experiences.

Thank you,
Lani Rosales

PS: readers, if you have additional questions related to the 11 above, please ask in the comments section.