Is The National Association of Realtors (NAR) inflating their membership count?

You Decide According to various sources there are big difference between thereal estate head count of the National Association of Realtors andother credible sources. Recently, RIS media stated total agents to be291,000, Taro Systems stated329,000 and NAR claims a whopping 1.1 million. A spread of over 700,000real estate agents. There could be several motivates why NAR inflatestheir numbers and several Theories. Theory 1: NAR has long been the power to thwart offthe IRS claim to exempt the Real Estate Agent as an independentcontractor and not subject to employer withholding taxes. NAR has beenthe power behind the lobbying to have a special tax provision for thereal estate agent in the IRS tax code. If it was not for this specificexemption, the Real Estate Company would be required to collectwithholding taxes. Would the IRS maintain this exemption if NAR agenthead count were significantly lower? Theory 2: In most sales organizations, the rule ofthumb is 80% of the business is done by only 20% of the sales agents.This rule has long been accepted in the individual real estate office.That being said, if you take 20% of 1.1 million that equates to only240,000 agents; certainly a far cry from NAR’s claim of 1.1 millionagents. So is NAR counting agents that do little or no business orbusiness to an occasional family member to receive commission discounts? Theory 3: NAR is about power and greed. Highnumbers bring credibility but often disconnected from the real world.NAR long fought to control the transaction between the buyer andseller. This practice held true until the internet let the cat out ofthe bag (control of homes for sale information). Through the internetthe consumer can get free information from ViewMyListing.com ,Realtor.com, Trulia.com, Zillow.com, Century21.com, Coldwellbanker.com,Remax.com and all 850 individual Board of Realtors. Let’s face it, NARhas long lost the battle of control of the information, but still havenot recognized it yet. Theory 4: Most Sellers that employed the use a Realestate agent have many things in common. How little we actually saw ouragent and when inquiring on the status, only to be told they wereworking on it. I know there is a vast amount of labor that goes intoselling a home but the agents all to often fail to communication theiractivity. So sellers assume that their agent is lazy and only in it forthe commission. Large agent head count can make one think that a singlebad experience was an exception and assume with the other 1,099,999agents they don’t have the same problem of lack of communication. Againdeception by large numbers! Many free tools such as an account on www.ViewMyListing.com can bridge the gap of communication with its 24/7 360 degrees of communication to sellers. Theory 5: A substantial revenue stream to NAR isaffiliate memberships, sponsored partnerships and National Trade Showconference revenue. Inflating Head counts misleads advertisers tobelieve in a higher return on investment and therefore spend moredollars in advertising, booth space and all the ala carte marketingmaterial required from a single source. Is this much different fromBernard Madoff pozie scheme? In either case both are very misleading toall. So what theories support NAR’s motive. How about all five! If NAR maintains such a strict code of ethics ,then why did they not rat out the irresponsible lending, appraisal andmortgage practices that has sent this country into turmoil. Douglas Lee CEO, Taro System, Inc. Grand Rapids MI

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