Special Report: Do Realtor associations offer more than just a bill?

Recent observers have noted the often-coercive nature of membership in a Realtor association.

Real estate agents and brokers want to do business, and in order to do that, most need access to their local MLS. Most of the nation’s 800 or so MLSs are operated by Realtor associations, and association membership is often required for MLS access.

The three-tiered structure of the Realtor organization usually means real estate professionals then pay dues to three Realtor associations: local, state, and national. MLS dues are usually charged on top of association dues.

There are 1.2 million Realtors nationwide. How does this lack of choice affect how agents and brokers feel about their Realtor associations?

How many don’t actually have a choice?

What would agents and brokers change about their Realtor associations if they could?

Download the full report with data included

Who responded?

Inman surveyed 873 real estate professionals between February 25, 2016 and June 24, 2016. The vast majority of responses came in at the end of February. More than 6 in 10 were either agents or broker associates and 26 percent were broker-owners or managing brokers. The remaining 12 percent were appraisers, agent or broker support staff or “other.”

Productivity levels between respondents varied. Just over half of respondents, 51 percent, closed 20 or fewer transactions in 2015. Just a under a third closed between zero and 10 deals.

A third closed more than 30 transactions last year. Nearly a fifth of respondents closed more than 50.

More than 9 in 10 respondents (92 percent) belonged to all three tiers of the Realtor organization: local, state and national. Nearly 6 percent didn’t belong to a local association but did belong to a state and national association. This means all but 3 percent of respondents belonged to a Realtor association.

Just over a quarter of respondents, 26 percent, belonged to more than one local Realtor association. The remainder only belonged to one.

Inman found that:

• Nearly 7 in 10 respondents felt they did not have the option of not joining a Realtor association.
• Usage and satisfaction ratings of association services were fairly high, though a substantial minority of respondents were dissatisfied.
• More than half of respondents said they used or benefited from four association services: the multiple listing service, professional development, industry news and information, and lockboxes.
• Respondents had many suggestions for how local, state and national associations could improve. They asked for increased standards for professionalism and to be a Realtor; better technology offerings and tech guidance; higher-quality options for education; better communication of association services; the option to pay for the MLS without having to join a Realtor association; and generally more value for the dues paid.
• The vast majority of respondents said they would be willing to pay more in association dues if the National Association of Realtors raised the requirements of becoming a Realtor and there were fewer members. But respondents varied widely on how much more they would be willing to pay.
• More than 4 in 10 respondents would like their local association to merge with a neighboring association, citing economies of scale and increased efficiency, among other reasons. Just over 3 in 10 do not want their association to merge with another, though some of these respondents said they would prefer their MLS merge with a neighboring MLS.

‘I needed access to the MLS’

When asked to rank the reasons they joined a Realtor association, 45 percent of respondents said their no. 1 reason for joining was “I needed access to the MLS and I can’t join the MLS without belonging to the association.”

Just under a quarter (23 percent) said their no. 1 reason was “My broker said I had to.” This means that more than two-thirds of respondents (68 percent) felt association membership was not a choice.

Just 17 percent said their no. 1 reason for joining was “I wanted consumers to know that I adhere to a code of ethics.” Just over 1 in 10 (12 percent) said their top reason for joining was “I value the non-MLS services the association provides.”

This was further borne out when respondents were asked for other reasons why they joined a state/local Realtor association. Many continued to focus on membership as a mandate — one they sometimes appeared to resent — rather than a desired option, using words like “required,” “forced,” “no choice,” and “had to.”

Others cited networking, education and lobbying as reasons they joined. Some sample responses:

• “No other reason. I would leave the association and demand a refund if it wasn’t required.”
• “To have access to all the listings, active and sold to search for the buyers and sellers. I would not able to do a CMA [comparative market analysis] without the resource and tools that the MLS gives.”
• “None, totally forced for MLS access. Maybe if the association didn’t have the virtual monopoly, the market would require that they try harder for the ever powerful dollar. The only other value is the special interest lobbying, which isn’t a motivator to join because it’s a public good.”
• “It is ‘mandatory’ in our area. If your broker is a member, you have to join and joining an association is the only way to gain MLS access.”
• “It is a forced situation. If it were not so I, nor would any of my 300 agents, join. It is a waste of money.”
• “Our state association — education, legislative updates, they are awesom[e].”
• “It’s the best way to stay informed on changes to the law, keep unethical agents from participating in our local market.”
• “The relationships I have with fellow Realtors makes me a more effective advocate for my clients. Since I have invested in broker relationships, I am a more effective negotiator than someone who is unknown. This is a huge benefit to my clients either seller or buyer.”

This word cloud includes respondents’ answers to “Please name any other reason(s) why you joined a local/state Realtor association.”

When respondents were asked whether they could join their local MLS without belonging to a Realtor association, nearly half said “No.” A third said “Yes” and the remainder didn’t know.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents said their association charged them a separate fee for the MLS while 17 percent said the MLS fee was included in association dues. Only 6 percent of respondents said their association did not provide MLS access.

To join or not to join

Agents and brokers may not have much of a choice when it comes to joining a Realtor association in general, but when it comes to which local association to join, they have their pick under NAR’s “Board of Choice” policy.

One caveat to this for primary membership in an association is that an agent’s brokerage must have a “designated Realtor” who is a member of that local association in order for the agent to join.

When survey respondents were asked to rank the factors that went into their consideration of which local association to join (or state association, if they did not belong to a local), “MLS access” was at the top, followed by “association educational offerings,” “association office location,” “technology tools/products offered by the association,” and “access to specific transaction forms.”

“Association culture,” “lower dues in comparison to neighboring associations,” “association legal resources,” “free and discounted products offered by the association,” and “personal connection with either a staff member or someone already belonging to the association” were lesser considerations.

For respondents that didn’t belong to a Realtor association, when asked why, the top reason was “I’m not an agent, broker, or appraiser” followed by “I don’t need access to the MLS or I can join the MLS without being a Realtor” and “I don’t see the value.”

“I didn’t want to adhere to the MLS rules about how to operate my business” was a lesser consideration.

When asked to name any other reason for not joining a Realtor association, several cited the cost of membership with some saying dues were “too expensive” or questioning the “costs compared to benefits.”

“Other than insuring lobby dollars remain for the homeowner interest tax deduction I see no benefit in becoming a Realtor. The term agent/broker associate/and Realtor are almost synonymous in the eye of the public,” said a broker associate who completed between 51 and 60 transactions in 2015.

A managing broker or broker-owner who closed 31 to 40 transactions last year said, “Maybe I am missing something. It is my understanding that we have to join our local association to have access to MLS. If that is not the case, we want to know that as we have 80 agents that do not want to join. They do not see the value and neither do we as broker-owners. This is no longer acceptable.”

Which services do Realtor associations offer?

When asked which services their Realtor association(s) offer, the 10 services most commonly offered were:

• Professional development, i.e. continuing education/designation/certification courses, conferences (Offered by 88 percent of associations)
• Political advocacy/lobbying (79 percent)
• Tech training and support (72 percent)
• Networking events (72 percent)
• Industry news/information (72 percent)
• Conflict or complaint resolution/arbitration/mediation (72 percent)
• MLS (66 percent)
• Lockboxes (66 percent)
• Market research and statistics (65 percent)
• Transaction forms (64 percent)

Other services offered by more than half of associations included NAR’s Realtors Property Resource (RPR) national property database, legal resources, an affiliate program, an online Realtor directory, and a professionalism hotline for ethics, transactional or professional standards questions.

Some respondents seemed to be unaware of some of the services offered by Realtor associations. For instance, all local Realtor associations are supposed to offer “consumer outreach” and an “interactive website detailing the association’s programs and resources” per NAR’s core standards.

But only 50 percent and 44 percent of respondents, respectively, said their association provided these services. It’s also possible some associations are out of compliance.

Still, only 23 percent said their Realtor associations offered a “free or discounted transaction management platform” even though NAR made a deal with zipLogix last year to provide such a platform as a free member benefit to all 1.2 million Realtors. That benefit went live in January.

Only 36 percent of respondents said their Realtor associations offered free or discounted tech products.

Of the services that their Realtor associations offered, the top 10 services respondents said they most used or benefited from were:

• MLS (used by 71 percent of respondents)
• Professional development, i.e. continuing education/designation/certification courses, conferences (71 percent)
• Industry news/information (51 percent)
• Lockboxes (51 percent)
• Market research and statistics (48 percent)
• Transaction forms (46 percent)
• Political advocacy/lobbying (44 percent)
• Realtors Property Resource (RPR) national property database (43 percent)
• Tech training and support (43 percent)
• Networking events (40 percent)

Of the services that their Realtor associations offered, the top 10 services respondents said they did not use or benefit from were:

• Free or discounted insurance benefits
• Credit union
• Free or discounted tech products
• Opportunity to participate in REach incubator program
• Free or discounted transaction management platform
• Legal resources
• Affiliate program
• Consumer outreach
• Association listing website for consumers
• Referral networks

Only 15 percent said they did not use or benefit from the MLS.

Usage and satisfaction is pretty high

When asked how often they use the services provided by their Realtor associations, the biggest share of respondents (46 percent) said, “Often – every day.”

The next biggest share (22 percent) said, “Sometimes – a few times a week.” That means nearly 7 in 10 Realtors use their association services at least a few times a week. About 3 in 10 said they “barely” or “never” use the services.

Respondents rated their Realtor association services more positively than negatively. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “very dissatisfied” and 10 being “very satisfied,” 55 percent rated their association services at 7 or higher. Just over a quarter, 26 percent, gave their association services a score of 4 or lower, however.

How can local associations improve?

Respondents were asked how their local, state and national associations, respectively, could improve their services.

On the local level, many respondents asked for better technology offerings, more and better tech training, and higher quality education in general.

• “I hate to say it, but if I’m looking at homes out of our area, I use Redfin.com. Even if I feel their model is hostile to Realtors in general, they do serve consumers with an extremely user-friendly interface. If we could combine our MLS accuracy with Redfin’s wealth of information all on one page, we’d have something!” said one broker associate.
• “They offer us 15 products that all do the same thing. Nothing is uniform. Quit supporting all these outside companies that provide the same half-measured, incomplete products,” said one broker-owner or managing broker.
• “Offer more relevant services for all size brokerages. Much of what is done is only beneficial to small brokerages,” said another.
• “More classes on professionalism, technology and innovative marketing,” said one agent.
• “Better discounts on tech products offered by vendors [and] better discounts on med[ical] insurance (better than Obamacare, otherwise it doesn’t matter),” said another agent.
• “Improve the MLS and [the] way it works,” said another.
• “Provide us with a off-MLS marketing solution to make pre-marketing a home as a ‘Coming soon’ much easier. It can take up to three weeks to prepare a home for the MLS (photograph, stage etc.) and I need to start marketing immediately,” said one company CEO.

Many said the association should help improve the professionalism of their peers and their profession’s image in the eyes of consumers.

• “Remove unqualified licensees from practicing,” said one broker-owner or managing broker who closed 51 to 60 deals in 2015.
• “Word harder at advancing professionalism, ethics and high standards backed by education, making the name ‘Realtor’ mean more than the same as ‘agent,'” said another broker-owner or managing broker.
• “Address issues with rogue agents who hurt our image,” said a broker associate who closed 11 to 20 deals last year.
• “Enforcement of code of ethics and make the reporting an easier process rather than the cumbersome paperwork we have to fill out. Also placing heavy fines on violations would deter agents from doing shady stuff,” said an agent who closed more than 60 transactions in 2015.
• “Make competency part of the requirement to be on the board. [My board] only has agents with lots of time on their hands running it and they have no idea what they are doing,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 21 to 30 deals in 2015.[Tweet “‘Make the name ‘Realtor’ mean more than the same as ‘agent'”]

Respondents also asked for more and better communication from associations and for more networking opportunities.

• “The services are great but most don’t know all that are available,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who completed 41 to 50 transactions in 2015.
• “Our association is continually changing to meet the needs of the members. The issue is getting the members to use the services,” said an agent who is also a director for the California Association of Realtors.
• “Ask members what they want/need before putting new products/programs in place. The members should have a voice — not just the [board of directors] and CEO/staff,” said one agent.
• “Answer [the] phone when I call. [Create] a Managing Broker Hotline. I won’t abuse it, but when I have a question it’s big-time annoying waiting for a response to voicemail,” said one managing broker.
• “We have become too big to provide personalized attention to members on the local level. There is no local association email providing information — changes in contracts, deaths of members, warnings about issues of concern — that we used to get. It would be nice to feel like a community again. Stop spending so much money on leadership parties, retreats, etc. and cut the fees for the members instead,” said another broker-owner or managing broker.
• “Our particular association could improve its focus on customer service and putting members first — catering to members and better meeting their needs — including communication. Better organization and advance planning too,” said another broker-owner or managing broker who closed more than 60 deals in 2015.

Still others wanted their associations and/or their MLSs to merge. (More on this will be reported next week.) Some wanted to be able to just purchase access to the MLS without having to pay association dues.

• “Allow the MLS to be available without being forced to join the association. This is especially helpful for commercial practitioners as there is very little value to being a member of the association,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed more than 60 deals last year.
• “Consolidate MLS with other local MLSs,” said another broker-owner or managing broker.
• “Join with other associations in my county,” said a broker associate who closed 11 to 20 deals in 2015.
• “ONE association, one MLS, ONE BILL for [Connecticut]. The locals are not doing enough for the costs,” said a broker associate who closed 51 to 60 deals in 2015.
• “By not being so narrow-minded. In our area, agents want a combined MLS and the associations do not,” said another broker associate.
• “I just want the MLS and [to] pay less,” said another.

[Tweet “‘I just want the MLS and [to] pay less'”]

And many, though not all, asked for their fees to be reduced.

• “Be cheaper. $1,200 a year is a lot for a little,” said one agent who closed zero to 10 deals in 2015.
• “Provide something other than a bill every year. Provide support and products that help my business,”said another such agent.
• “We pay $1,000 per year and then we are charged additional money to attend classes. That doesn’t make sense to me,” said an agent who closed 21 to 30 deals last year.
• “I feel the fees I am required to pay are too high for the services I am given or that I utilize,” said a broker associate who closed zero to 10 deals in 2015.
• “I personally get nothing from membership — it is required by my firm and to use the forms on the MLS,” said a broker associate who closed 31 to 40 deals in 2015.
• “Stop being the money-hungry, stealing, self-supporting thieves that they are. Do not care about agents and brokers, it is about their money. SCAMMERS,” said a broker associate who closed 31 to 40 deals last year.
• “Not make it so cheap for everyone. They’d prefer to see 10,000 agents that have no clue what they are doing (as long as they pay dues) vs. 1,000 competent ones,” said a broker associate who closed 11 to 20 deals in 2015.[Tweet “‘Provide something other than a bill every year'”]

That last commenter is not alone in asking for higher fees.

When asked how much more in association dues respondents would be willing to pay if NAR raised the requirements of becoming a Realtor and there were fewer members, 29 percent said they would not be willing to pay more, but the rest said they would be willing to pay more. The next biggest share — 22 percent — said they would be willing to pay more than $750 in additional dues.

Raising dues might be tough given the perceived value of Realtor association services, however, When asked how much respondents thought their Realtor associations’ services are worth per year, 43 percent said between zero and $250. Just under a quarter (24 percent) said they thought the services were worth $251 to $500. Only 10 percent said they thought the services were worth more than $1,000 per year.

Many respondents also appeared to be happy with the services their local association provides and did not offer suggestions for improvement.

• “I really don’t know. We’re the largest in North America and have over 100 products and services that are provided at NO cost to us, including Inman News!” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 11 to 20 deals in 2015.
• “Continually strives and improves every year,” said an agent who closed 41 to 50 transactions last year.
• “Continue doing what it’s doing. My AOR rocks,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 21 to 30 deals last year.
• “I am happy with what they are providing for the cost,” said a broker associate who closed zero to 10 transactions in 2015.
• “Our association is very aggressive (in the best possible sense) at seeking out information, products and services that will benefit its membership,” said an agent who closed zero to 10 deals last year.

How can state associations improve?

Submitted survey comments overall indicated that respondents were more satisfied with their state association than their local association.

Some respondents asked that their state associations encourage MLS and association mergers, including some that asked for a statewide MLS. Others asked that they provide better and/or free educational offerings.

But more asked for better communication between state associations and their members. Some were not aware of what their state association did that differentiated it from their local and national associations.

• “The best thing my state association did was to create a ‘road show’ to visit each local board and educate members about state association services. I feel this improved the perception of association because members became better educated about services offered. I think it also provided a great opportunity for associations to interact with members face to face which helps members feel appreciated,” said one agent.
• “Tell me what services are available. Mentor programs, training, and networking events for new agents,” said another.
• “Keep members better informed of what [the] state [board of directors] is doing [and] how is it relevant to regular members,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 31 to 40 deals in 2015.
• “I have no idea what services my state association provides. I get a magazine periodically that has a lot of pictures of association leadership but it means nothing to me. The best thing they could do is be more vocal about what they offer and why I should care to be a member,” said another such broker.

[Tweet “‘I have no idea what services my state association provides'”]

How can the National Association of Realtors improve?

Many respondents found NAR’s promotion of the Realtor brand — which members pay a $35 annual assessment for — lacking and tied the status of the brand to a lack of standards for Realtor membership.

• “Attach a REQUIRED number of annual transactions needed to retain the ‘Realtor’ designation. Just paying dues doesn’t make one a professional Realtor. There’s a real need to elevate our profession above that of a used car salesperson. The public deserves better,”said an agent who closed 31 to 40 transactions last year.
• “The local joke in Phoenix is that they are the National Assassination of Realtors. They need to increase the standard in our industry and we do not see them doing that. They are just concerned about the number of Realtors, not the QUALITY,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 11 to 20 deals in 2015.
• “NAR should do more to advance the name Realtor. But fewer professionals means fewer dollars, so it’s self-fulfilling: the more members, the more money they have to use,” said another broker-owner or managing broker.
• “Stop soliciting me for money at every turn. RPAC [the Realtor political action committee]? Last time I checked, NAR is already a lobbying entity. Help brokers raise the bar on the brokerage/agent level. This industry needs it,” said another.
• “Reduce board count. Stop wasteful spending. Increase level of competency for licensees. Protect your people before they jump to Zillow Association of Agents,” said yet another.
• “Adjust the messaging to the consumer that creates a value proposition beyond the information being accurate. Accuracy is baseline — give them more,” said broker or agent support staff person.
• “Raise the entry and retainment bar. Cut the massive amounts of dead wood agents,” said a broker associate who closed 31 to 40 transactions last year.

[Tweet “‘Attach a REQUIRED number of annual transactions needed to retain the ‘Realtor’ designation'”]

Others expressed hostility in regards to the value received in exchange for the money forked over by agents and brokers as dues.

• “Provide more value for the large amount of money we [as] Realtors are forced to pay if we want to play,” said a broker associate who closed 21 to 30 transactions last year.
• “Reduce staff and administration by 10 percent each year going forward to trim the layers of nepotistic fat from its ranks until you reach a point where members receive better value. Stop viewing members as wallets that feed the administration,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 11 to 20 deals in 2015.
• “Be more open with all of its members. We are all beginning to feel like we are just money pits for the various associations to reach into,” said another such broker who closed 51 to 60 deals in 2015.
• “BIG machine that is hard to maneuver. They do a great job at advocacy, but other things I wonder if they are really looking out for their members or for themselves. I think sometimes they aren’t in touch with what really goes on in real estate,” said another.

[Tweet “‘We are all beginning to feel like we are just money pits for the various associations'”]

Some respondents hoped for a better deal in regards to NAR’s consumer-facing website, realtor.com, which is operated by a third party, Move Inc.

• “Own Realtor.com,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 11 to 20 deals in 2015.
• “Better services with realtor.com and having it be more affordable,” said a broker associate who closed 21 to 30 transactions last year.
• “Don’t know. Buy realtor.com back and manage it so it is more popular than Zillow?” said another broker associate.
• “Fight harder against the syndicating websites (Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com, realtor.com) that sell our ads back to us,” said another.

Respondents didn’t always agree on how active their national association should be.

• “Exert more control over the local boards and make them more competent,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 21 to 30 deals in 2015.
• “Stick to the lobbying and quit shoving core standards down our throats,” said another such broker.
• “The National Association is mandating us to death. It appears to all of us that have been around for a long time that they are trying to take over and remove the LOCAL out of real estate,” said a broker associate who closed more than 60 transactions last year.
• “Keep adding more services like zipForms, Upstream etc. that equalize the playing field so that ALL Realtors can have access to technology no matter what size firm they are in. I see our local MLS as almost obsolete and would like to see us head to a regional MLS,” said a broker-owner or managing broker.
• “I’m excited and troubled by AMP [Advanced Multilist Platform]/Upstream. I think investing in such should’ve been more upfront. We hear a lot, then next to nothing except speculation. I’d like to know more about development, timetables, etc. The news flows slowly and local associations making contract decisions are left wondering. Same with the [ZipLogix] announcement. We just signed a three-year agreement with Instanet before the announcement,” said another such broker.

Others asked for more diversity: “bring in female leadership” and “attract youth,” two agents said, respectively.

Some real estate pros would like to see more localized training from NAR.

• “NAR has a great annual conference, but it’s once a year and sometimes across the country so I can’t always make it. Smaller events scattered throughout the country would be great,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 31 to 40 transactions last year.
• “More local training opportunities in person. There are a ton of benefits — too many to get information and use wisely via online,” said an agent who closed 11 to 20 deals in 2015.

And others just wanted NAR to be more efficient in its service offerings.

• “Scale back the duplicate services that can be accessed elsewhere with greater benefits,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed more than 60 deals in 2015.
• “Ask members what they want/need by way of surveys, etc. There is so much money that is spent on programs that are duplicated when there is opportunity to add valuable resources agents/members want,” said an agent who closed zero to 10 deals last year.

[Tweet “‘Scale back the duplicate services'”]

Mixed reviews on tech offerings

When it came to the tech tools and products offered by Realtor associations, reviews were mixed. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “very dissatisfied” and 10 being “very satisfied,” 45 percent of respondents gave their association tech tools a rating of 7 or higher. Thirty percent rated the tech tools at 4 or lower.

When asked what share of their tech tools their Realtor associations pay for or provide, 45 percent of respondents said “less than half” and 34 percent said “none.” Only about 12 percent said “more than half” or “all.”

When asked what share of their tech tools they purchase at a discount provided or arranged by their Realtor association(s), just over half of respondents — 51 percent — said “None.” Nearly 38 percent said “less than half.” Less than 1 in ten said “half” or “more than half.”

When asked how Realtor associations could improve their technology offerings, respondents complained about outdated tools.

Some tied that lack of cutting-edge tools to corruption, intimating that growth of the association’s funds, not members’ best interests, determine what members are offered.

• “Keep up with technology that is useful to the consumer as well as the agent. Just creating tech tools to create tech tools is a waste of dues and resources,” said a broker or agent support staff who closed zero to 10 deals in 2015.
• “Catch up with the 21st century. Offer more online and webinar courses,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed more than 60 deals in 2015.
• “Code our MLS so it doesn’t look and perform like it was designed in 1997,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 21 to 30 deals last year.
• “Web-based tools that are at least comparable to what consumers see and use on Zillow,” said a broker or agent support staff who closed 11 to 20 deals in 2015.
• “Just be staying up to speed with new technology. Vendor contracts are signed for long periods of time to secure better pricing only for better, more robust tech platforms to emerge during that period. It can be easy to end up locked in a deal with dated tech products,” said an agent who closed zero to 10 deals in 2015.
• “The tools are redundant and most are flawed in one way or another making them tedious to use. Many of the tools are seriously flawed with automatic technology creating errors in reports and resulting in a big waste of time or many hours of tweaking. We need to come together and quit selling out. It [is] almost corrupt and criminal what they try and pawn off on us and do with our information,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed zero to 10 deals in 2015.
• “Better systems. The online form system provided is very outdated and cumbersome to use,” said an agent who closed 21 to 30 deals in 2015.
• “I think state and national (local does nothing) only offer what they can get a ‘deal’ on and make it seem like they are offering real value to an agent. Agents aren’t stupid! Provide something of real value. Not something that someone else PAYS the association to be able to offer a ‘discount.’ What a racket,” said a broker associate who closed 21 to 30 deals last year.
• “If you don’t understand tech then don’t make tech decisions,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 51 to 60 deals in 2015.

[Tweet “‘It [is] almost corrupt and criminal what they try and pawn off on us and do with our information'”]

Several respondents wanted to be able to have a voice in their association’s tech offerings and others wanted guidance from their association on sorting through the morass of offerings.

• “We have multiple programs that do basically the same thing. Choose one of each that works properly and cut out the rest. Before doing that, poll your agents to see what they want and what is important to them,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed zero to 10 deals in 2015.
• “Provide more reviews and better discounts,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed zero to 10 deals in 2015.
• “Help us sort through the vast offerings out there and help us decide which are most cost effective and easiest to use,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 11 to 20 deals last year.
• “We need more staff at the help desk to answer questions. We got a new system almost two years ago and there are still things that are not easy to use, still hiccups in the system. Sometimes calling the help desk is anything but helpful because you have to leave a message and it could take days to get a return call,” said a broker-owner or managing broker who closed 31 to 40 deals last year.
• “Poll members to find out what agents want/need and monitor usage of offerings to see if they are worth the money spent on them,” said an agent who closed zero to 10 deals in 2015.[Tweet “‘Provide more reviews and better discounts'”]

One thing associations could do that many respondents said would likely improve services and lower costs would be to merge.

For more on this, read this special excerpt specifically about association mergers — or download the full report (below) to read it.

Note: Respondent quotes may have been adjusted for clarity and length.

Download the full report with data included

Email Andrea V. Brambila.

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