Umansky, Haber Tout NAR Alternative

The founders of a high-profile pitch for an alternative to the National Association of Realtors aren’t letting scant details get in the way of promoting their plans for the new residential authority.

The American Real Estate Association is gearing up to challenge the dominance of the beleaguered trade group, co-founders Mauricio Umansky and Jason Haber doubled down in a fireside chat this week.

Umansky, star agent and co-founder of The Agency, and Haber, a New York-based Compass agent who’s risen as a vocal critic of NAR in the last year, held an invite-only discussion this week to state their case for the proposed group and solicit agent support.

Speaking to a crowd of about 30 agents gathered in a penthouse at the luxury 8899 Beverly building, Umansky and Haber squared their new offering where NAR has fallen short: Advocacy and lobbying.

Haber is slated to serve as AREA’s director of advocacy, Umansky told the crowd, and advocacy would be positioned as a not-for-profit section of the group.

NAR, one of the top lobbying spenders in the United States, has drawn criticism from agents that say the national group has fallen short in getting involved on behalf of agent’s interest in local issues like the Measure ULA transfer tax in Los Angeles, and New York City’s 2019 rent law reforms.

“It’s a huge missed opportunity,” Haber said of NAR’s federal lobbying. “We’re not losing at the federal level, but we’re losing everywhere else. That’s our opportunity.”

AREA is also targeting NAR’s iron grip on residential brokers that’s fostered by its requirement for membership to access its Multiple Listing Services.

The new group is also revamping a database of listings that was introduced in 2017 by another name, Property Listing Service. Initially backed by Umansky and his colleagues at The Agency, David Parnes, James Harris and Christopher Dyson, the co-founders pegged the National Listing Service as the group’s central offering, live now with limited listings.

The NLS offers a more efficient alternative to the more than 800 MLS groups that control listings across the country, Haber said. But its founders are still mulling over how it could work with locally-owned systems, according to Umansky, who said he didn’t foresee AREA as building a proverbial new wheel.

“We’ve been having confidential conversations with different MLSs around the country,” Umansky said.

Much of AREA continues to be a work in progress as the group is raising seed money and identifying equity partners it can work to develop the organization. Haber said the group has set no deadline to wrap up launch efforts, with a business plan and surveying possible members for top priorities still in the works.

AREA would run continuing education programs for agents, including workshops, and live events.

“We will expect you to hold certain standards,” Haber said. “There’s a real opportunity for AREA agents to outperform non-AREA agents, we’re going to arm them with certain skills.”

Spencer Krull, a California-based broker affiliated with Side, told the crowd he felt that AREA was off to a good start.

“All of this is possible, “ said Krull. “So many people are so damn fed up. We need to take control back.”