Brian Bober

NARcasting the Future of U.S. Housing Prices: July 2009

An excellent compilation of this very influential organization’s questionable actions. Perhaps Baghdad Bob (Iraq's former information minister) has gone to work for the NAR.

The NAR is a very influential organization with serious influence in Washington and nationwide. The NAR is:
• A self-regulatory organization for real estate brokerage (umm, they failed!)
• in 2005, NAR had the largest Political Action Committee in the United States
• The US' largest trade association and is over 100 years old
• Governs hundreds of local Multiple Listing Services (so they should have had great insight into what was happening)
• since 1990, the US’ 3rd-largest donor to political campaigns (> $30M)
• In 2005, the Dept of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NAR whose imminent settlement may lower brokerage fees 25-50%

This is just another failing of a major US institution.