This account is based on 20 interviews with current and former National Association of Realtors staff and members, as well as thousands of pages of court records, and internal NAR documents introduced as part of numerous court proceedings. NOTUS also reviewed 10 years of nonprofit filings, campaign finance records and corporate ownership documents to understand the extent of NAR’s political power, advocacy and spending. The account of former NAR President Kenny Parcell in the Bahamas and Tetons is based on interviews and a memo written by a NAR executive. In statements to NOTUS, NAR emphasized the organization is “fully committed to transforming its culture,” and that a legal settlement reached by NAR over antitrust claims “maintains consumer choice and protects members to the greatest extent possible.”
By most accounts, the retreat in the Bahamas in the spring of 2022 began fabulously well.
Guests, who had earned their seats by donating to political campaigns supported by the more than 1.5 million-member National Association of Realtors, attended lectures in the morning and enjoyed Nassau in the afternoon, lounging by the pool and admiring the flock of pink flamingos that stud the Baha Mar resort. They were treated to speeches from two former Trump administration officials, Mike Pompeo and Kellyanne Conway. At night, there were boozy parties with entertainers who breathed fire and danced on stilts. The association’s top brass stayed out late gambling before retiring to rooms that, unlike the other guests’ rooms, had been upgraded to suites.
It all looked like another successful gathering of the National Association of Realtors. Realtors are a dominant force in American life, even if you only ever think about them when you’re buying or selling a home. NAR is flush with cash, with an annual revenue of more than $300 million — bigger than the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable combined. It is the second-largest spender on federal lobbying in the United States and doles out tens of millions of dollars on elections each cycle, throwing its weight behind school board candidates, judges and a litany of races for mayor, governor and Congress. This political heavy-hitting is about much more than the real estate profession: Property owners’ rights, rent control and environmental regulations are all central to the Realtors’ agenda.