A Quiet NAR Success on Its Calls for Action

By Robert Freedman, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

There are many reasons for the success of NAR’s most recent Call for Action, to which more than 18 percent of NAR members—a record— responded.

First and foremost is the compelling subject of the CFA: getting the home buyer tax credit extended and expanded. As NAR Chief Ecionomist Lawrence Yun has been saying for weeks, residential home prices are stabilizing and are on the cusp of heading up—the all-important ...

precursor to restored confidence in homeownership. We’re relying on that improved confidence to boost sales, tighten inventories, and restore healthy credit markets.

Given that, letting the credit expire on Nov. 30 could have stopped sales momentum dead in its tracks.

It was also huge that Congress added the $6,500 credit for repeat buyers, because throughout 2009 much of the sales weight has been carried by first-time buyers. For market stability, repeat buyers needed to get off the fence and Congress saw that.

Behind the scenes, though, the efforts of NAR’s volunteers and staff to boost Calls for Action responses was a home run. The association—at all levels—has been using a lot of creative thinking to build on its already dynamic grassroots efforts, and the staggering 18-percent CFA response is one of the fruits of that.

Part of that creative thinking is the launch of the Broker Involvement Program, in which brokers reach out to their sales assiociates during a CFA and recommend their participation. To make it easy, NAR sets it up so e-mails to sales associates from brokers are automated. Of course, brokers have the option of not participating if they have a different position than NAR on an issue.

It’s not an exaggeration to say growth of the program has exploded. In early 2008, shortly after the program launched, fewer than 60 brokers, representing about 80,000 sales associates, were participating. When I last checked, about 2,500 brokers, respresenting more than 210,000 sales associates, were participating. That’s a more than 150 percent increase in participating sales associates, and a more than 4,000 percent increase in brokers.

I interviewed brokers involved in the program for the video above, and it was interesting to hear their take on the program. What surprised me is how quickly sales associates took to it. David Howell, a broker with McEnearney Associates in McLean, Va., said the sales associates in his office feel much more connected to the big picture and that it’s helping them improve their business. So, there seems to be a bottom-line benefit as much as a big-picture one.

The video’s about five minutes long. If you have questions about how the program works, or what its benefits are to brokers and their associates, the video might answer them.

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