NAR Midyear Highlights for Brokers

So many spectacular ideas, decisions, and movements arise out of events like NAR Midyear. In a perfect world, we’d all be able to attend – but the reality is that we can’t. That’s why I was so excited that the WAV Group took some time to share with me a presentation they’ve created to summarize NAR Midyear, with a special emphasis on the topics of interest to brokers.  I’m going to share a few of the key points here.

1) Articulating the value of NAR. Ways that NAR provides value to their membership include:

• HouseLogic
• A powerful social media presence - 300,000 “likes” on Facebook
• A radio show with 3.3 million listeners

2) An economic update. The point that really stood out to me here is “Sequestration,” which means that spending cuts go into effect automatically on January 1^st, 2013, unless a new budget is passed.

3) A legal update. There are three main legal issues relevant to NAR right now:

• FHA and eSign – helping to gain acceptance of electronic signatures on REO properties
• Home warranty (legal case: Edwards v. First American) – Home warranties are not part of the closing costs and should not be considered as such under RESPA
• Qualified Mortgage Standards – Frank-Dodd needs to be cleaned up.

4) Political fundraising. As you know, NAR recently increased their dues $40 per member per year. One of the main objectives for this dues increase was to raise funds for political lobbying to support home ownership rights. There has been a shift in the focus of this lobbying, however, from candidates to issues. Quite simply, the political objective of NAR is to help fight for property owners.

5) REALTORS Property Resource® (RPR) update. One of the topics discussed at NAR Midyear was RPR and the value this platform provides to brokers. In order to understand the value to brokers, Mr. Lund shared research compiled by WAV Group. You can read this research for yourself here on RE Technology.

6) The MLS Committee discussed many important issues, a few of which included:

• A new rule on Limited Electronic Display. What is “Limited Electronic Display”? It’s the term NAR uses to reference posts about property listings on Twitter, Facebook, text messages, and other electronic means. These types of display were formerly not covered by IDX rules and regulations. However, a new Amendment creates language for Limited Electronic Display and simply requires that you link directly to an IDX-compliant website. That’s probably what you’re doing anyway – so no big changes here.
• Broker mobile applications and websites.
• Lockboxes.
• Social media. Leaders discussed the challenge of building rules to govern social media when it is still essentially the Wild West. This means that, for now, creating said rules is still a thing of the future.
• Net Compensation was further defined.

7) Broker Bill of Rights (called “Broker Internet Display” by NAR). NAR published a document to clarify your rights as a broker. They state that the broker owns the listing agreement, so the broker owns the data. Further, the broker’s consent is required in order for the listings to be advertised and any advertisement must include a phone number in most States.

8)  Data protection. The goal of discussions around and rules regarding data protection is to be sure that MLSs are safely controlling the brokers’ data. WAV Group shared 3 solutions that support this protection for brokers: Move Inc.’s Listhub, Onboard Informatics’ Onboard Insight 360, and RED’s reDataVault.

WAV Group Research
The presentation also included results of an extensive WAV Group survey that asked consumers:

• Which real estate websites do you visit regularly?
• Which real estate websites do you consider to be accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date?

They also shared broker strategies for listing syndication. What I found particularly interesting here was that strategies are different for brokers who are #1 in their market vs. brokers who aren’t #1 (WAV Group calls these “challenge” brokers).

WAV Group offers these presentations to brokerages and other organizations. If you’re interested in sharing the full scoop with your group, please contact Victor Lund ([email protected]).