NAR’s Shiny New “Assessment Fee”
Author: Jay T. - The EditorPosted on November 25, 2007
Filed Under NAR - Advertising
Earlier this week, Benn Rosales noted on AgentGenius that he received a $30 fee from the NAR on his annual dues bill. The fee was labeled, “NAR Image Campaign”. Benn’s local association slapped an additional “image fee” on him as well.
Knowing I was soon to get my dues statement and bill, I waited with breathless anticipation.
Well, it arrived Friday…
NAR Dues $80.00
Local Dues $115.00
State Dues $150.00
NAR Assessment Fee $30.00
RPAC Survival Fee $30.00 (voluntary)
Total due = $405 (doubled for my family since the wife is a realtor too). But hey, it’s two bucks cheaper than my buds in Austin are paying. That and another 3 bucks will get me a Starbucks.
The letter that came with the bill had this to say about the NAR Assessment Fee:
The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) has increased their dues to $80, plus the $30 NAR Assessment fee embarked to fund the successful Public Awareness Campaign. This campaign aggressively promotes the REALTOR image in the public’s eye.
What a load of crap.
Let’s see…. 1.4 million members x $30 = $42,000,000. That’s a heck of a campaign.
And this comes just a week or so after the NAR’s decision to spend $15,000,000 on a credit union.
I can hardly wait to see the $42 million aggressive public awareness campaign. Or has this money already been spent telling everyone, “it’s a great time to buy or sell a home” or putting the kid on a swing?
What is also going to be interesting is to see how many people bail out of the industry rather than writing a $400 check. It’s been a rough year for a lot of agents…
Note: the “RPAC Survival Fee” pertains to my local Realtor Political Action Committee. They conveniently make it quite simple to pay, and not so simple to “unvolunteer”. But I’ve got that down to a science.
“Survival Fee”??? WTF??? Can they not survive without my money, or am I supposed to believe I can’t survive without them?
.
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The reason I was hesitant to say all members would get such a hefty image campaign fee is because ABOR is/was part of the doj suit. Not all boards were. Which is why I said Austin gets scrooged- at Christmas.
And I shouldn’t have implied that all members would see this image campaign fee. All the data I have is your ABOR and our SEVRAR.
But I kinda have a feeling……
Would love to have some members from other boards report in if they are (or are not) seeing this $30 fee.
Yeah, we’ve always enjoyed having a $800 tab due before Jan 1.
[…] Here was the basic premise … rather than ranting and raving (my usual MO, I admit), I decided to e-mail Dick Gaylord, NAR’s President, to see if he’d like to share NAR’s perspective on the mandatory $30 assessment to fund NAR’s “successful” Public Awareness Campaign. […]
OK, as I recently said on Jim Duncan’s blog, I may have been reading this blog for too long and I have become simple minded. (I say that sarcastically – I’m pretty cynical) Because this is CRAP! As I’ve stated before I am a supporter of the REALTOR® association. However, I have been researching a little deeper into issues at the National level. I’ve not been real proud of what I’ve seen and I am glad that my local and state associations are doing a better job. The Fredericksburg Area Association of REALTORS® in Virginia were not assessed the $30 fee. Our dues billing goes out in September and is due by November 15th. So, if this is a new assessment, we may see it next year. Just a note about agent drop out… we’ve actually seen a growth both last year and this and we’re considered one of the most depressed markets. I just don’t see how the part time and lower producers are able to make it… So – let’s add to the assessment when no one can afford to stay in – brilliant! Way to work for us…
We haven’t seen our bill yet but if that “assessment” shows up I plan on not paying it and seeing what they do. It’s double payment in our household as well with my husband and I as partners, so it should be interesting to see what happens. What are they going to do, come after us?
[…] Sunday’s post, “NAR’s Shiny New ‘Assessment Fee’“, I made a glaring […]
I refused to pay it for 2008 the last two years and they never came after me for it, but this year they tried to tell me it was mandatory. I refues to pay it. I look forward to see what they will do.