NAR CEO welcomes challenge from trade group alternative

The National Association of Realtors has replied to all. 

In a two-minute video entitled “Setting the Record Straight,” Interim CEO Nykia Wright defended the embattled trade group after an onslaught of antitrust lawsuits and a high-profile pitch for an alternative. 

Wright said the group “has been vilified by certain plaintiffs’ lawyers, sensationalized by a few reporters and misrepresented by people who know little about this business.” Her voiceover accompanied headlines from various outlets speculating on the fallout from legal action, including the $1.8 billion verdict in the landmark Sitzer/Burnett trial that in part found the trade group liable for colluding to inflate commissions by way of its Clear Cooperation Policy.

“The notion that [NAR] controls what real estate professionals get paid is wholly untrue. NAR does not set commissions, and it never will,” Wright said. “Period.”

In the video posted days after co-founders Mauricio Umansky and Jason Haber debuted the American Real Estate Association as a challenger to the century-old group, Wright acknowledged “there’s been some talk about a new association.” 

“We welcome competition from anyone who can match our impact and deliver the kind of value we bring,” Wright said. 

Umansky, a star agent and The Agency’s co-founder, and Haber this week held a fireside chat in Los Angeles promoting AREA’s intentions to outpace the national group in local advocacy and lobbying. AREA is also going after NAR’s grip on residential brokers fostered its control of Multiple Listing Services, rolling out National Listing Service.

Despite being pilloried by lawsuits and internal scandals, NAR’s national entrenchment gives the organization a major head start on any rival that tries to usurp it. The Chicago-based group boasts a membership of 1.5 million Realtors.

Wright, a former financial services consultant who worked as CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times,  became the interim chief executive of NAR in November after CEO Bob Goldberg stepped down ahead of schedule after a sexual harassment scandal and the guilty verdict in Sitzer/Burnett. 

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