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The National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Policy is the most hotly debated piece of legislation in the real estate industry right now, but it’s nowhere to be seen at the trade group’s biggest annual event.
At the end of the NAR NXT committee meeting for many listed ministry leaders in Boston on Saturday, a staff member read a question from the audience: “Why don’t we talk about Clear Cooperation? Everyone talks about Clear Cooperation, but we don’t talk about it.”
The question highlighted a glaring omission from the event’s agenda. The CCP, which requires listing agents to list properties on Realtor-affiliated MLSs within one business day of publicly marketing them, has come into sharper focus following rule changes due to NAR’s settlement of multiple antitrust lawsuits.
Ardent critics and supporters of the package listing law have been touting its pros and cons for months. NAR’s MLS Technology and Emerging Advisory Board met twice before the conference to consider changes to the law before ultimately deciding not to recommend any changes and referring the matter to NAR’s eight-member Leadership Team.
Rodney Gansho
Asked why the Clear Cooperation Policy was not discussed at NAR NXT, NAR’s director of cooperation, Rodney Gansho, told Inman in an interview, “We’re not moving forward with the proposal, so what would be the point of that?”
Gansho said that NAR already had “a way to get feedback” and had been meeting with “various stakeholders.” Asked what that approach was, Gansho said anyone with an answer can reach out to him or Jason Sanchez, NAR’s director of MLS engagement.
In response to an audience question about why the CCP was not discussed Saturday, Gansho told attendees of the NAR Issues and Policies Committee that the NAR has been “very thoughtful” in its approach to policy. He pointed to a letter from the Council of MLSs (CMLS) warning the NAR against rushing to a decision and said the trade group was following that advice.
“If you have an answer that you want to be part of that experience, please contact Jason, contact me,” Gansho told the crowd.
“We would like to get that information from you. I suspect that in the future, we will be talking more about that and discussing a recommendation or something along those lines on how we move forward.”
In an emailed statement, an NAR spokesperson told Inman, “CCP is not on the NXT schedule because the MLS Technology and Emerging Issues Advisory Board chose not to make a recommendation regarding CCP at its last meeting and turned the feedback it received from the leadership of -NAR. Team.
“That response, in addition to what we received after the previous meeting, is being evaluated as NAR considers next steps.”
Asked if that means CCP is off the agenda because NAR has decided it has enough feedback to evaluate policy and make a decision, the spokesperson said, “[W]I continue to gather feedback through multiple channels on an ongoing basis.”
A spokesperson directed Inman to a Realtor Magazine post that refers to the NAR examining CCP with “some sympathy.”
NAR’s annual and mid-year conferences consist of several meetings whose purpose is to have MLS leaders and those involved in MLS policy share ideas and communicate any policy concerns. These include groups from the MLS, the MLS Association Executives Session, the MLS Forum and the Multiple Listing Issues and Policies Committee. At this NAR NXT, the trade group also hosted the “Future of MLS” panel. CCP was not discussed in any of them.
Dionna Hall, CEO of BeachesMLS, chair of CMLS, and member of NAR’s MLS Technology & Emerging Issues Advisory Board, confirmed to Inman in an interview that CCP was not discussed during MLS meetings, which she chaired.
Dionna Hall
“There were pre-approved questions before the time we agreed with the NAR so we stuck to those questions instead of discussing the CCP,” said Hall.
Hall noted that NAR’s legal team has placed some restrictions on the discussions “just to make sure we stay consistent with integrity.”
“Obviously there are a lot of people in that room who may not be up to speed on things we shouldn’t talk about such as set commissions and what you have,” said Hall.
“Therefore, we all have to really educate ourselves if we are not standing there to make sure that if someone talks about that, we close that conversation immediately. We’re just trying to make sure we’re up and running.”
The moderators were trying to stop people from violating antitrust laws, Hall explained.
“What I’m talking about is breaking the antitrust law by having certain conversations in a house full of people,” he said.
Hall said he wasn’t sure why the CCP wasn’t mentioned directly at the conference. But as an advisory board member, he said he thinks there has been a lot of discussion about the policy and as the MLS chief executive, he has reached out to buyers in his market to ask how they would like the policy to change. if it will be flexible.
Asked if the NAR Leadership Team had provided any update on its policy discussions, Hall said no.
“I think we are in trouble right now while they are solving the problems around us,” he said.
Controversies about MLS policies are nothing new to the NAR. Generally, when the 1.5 million trade group considers changes to MLS policy, there will be formal discussions at its conferences, regardless of whether anything related to that policy will be voted on at that conference.
Giving potential policy changes greater circulation among consumers and MLS executives who are heavily involved in the governance of the national association, sometimes during multiple conferences, has previously been the group’s modus operandi. When considering the CCP in 2019 at the NAR annual conference, discussions about policy filled the meeting rooms.
Throughout 2023, for the first time in recent memory, NAR’s Multiple Listing Issues Committee did not present any MLS policy changes for a vote by the NAR board of directors. This may have caused the antitrust trial to boil over with the trial known as Sitzer | Burnett, where a jury ultimately found that NAR conspired with large real estate franchisors to inflate broker commissions.
At Saturday’s MLIP Committee meeting, Inman asked committee chairman Johnny Mowad why there was no discussion about CCP. He said, “It wasn’t close business” and left the interview, calling Charlie Lee, NAR’s senior attorney and director of legal affairs, over. Lee directed questions about CCP to NAR spokesperson Mantill Williams.
Asked if the decision not to have CCP discussed at NAR NXT this year was made on the advice of legal counsel or out of fear of legal repercussions for any speech at the event, an NAR spokesperson gave Inman the same statement as the trade group. in the past regarding questions about CCP.
“NAR will continue to evaluate CCP in the broader context of issues facing NAR and the industry,” the statement said.
“As a national organization representing members across the country, NAR continues to receive a wide range of passionate opinions about CCP. We believe that any changes to important policies and procedures such as CCP should carefully analyze feedback from a wide range of members, stakeholders, and industry experts.
“Regarding the CCP specifically, the organization should also consider the ongoing litigation with the DOJ [Department of Justice] investigation. Therefore, NAR will work diligently and diligently to ensure that we continue to review the CCP to ensure that the decision is made in the best interest of members and consumers.”
Asked how NAR collects feedback on the policy, who specifically NAR collects feedback from, what the NAR Leadership Team is doing to evaluate the policy and when it is expected to make a decision, NAR did not respond.
NAR General Counsel and Director of Legal Affairs Matt Troiani told conference attendees at the NAR NXT Risk Management Issues Committee meeting that the trade group has “added to its existing panel of outside experts and recently retained a firm to help lead” a comprehensive risk assessment. Current NAR policies. NAR CEO Nykia Wright announced the audit to the NAR board in early October.
Asked if the NAR’s decision not to include CCP on the NXT agenda was related, a NAR spokesperson said, “No, it is not.” Asked which outside experts were on the panel and which firm was hired by NAR and for how long, NAR declined to comment.
Email Andrea V. Brambila.
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