Why I am no longer a "REALTOR®"

To clarify, I am still a real estate agent. However, I will not be renewing my memberships with the Greater Boston, Massachusetts or National Association of Realtors (NAR), which owns the REALTOR® name.

In my sixteen years of practicing real estate, I have always supported these organizations both as professional resources and for the good they do—promoting fair housing, a code of ethics, and various programs that promote homeownership. I did this in spite of the fact that the leadership's politics did not always align with mine. After all, we live in a democracy where differing ideologies are part of the package. However...

I am heartbroken as I watch our country being stripped of our core foundational values while self-serving billionaires and powerful organizations are kowtowing to Trump and Musk to protect their bottom lines. Clearly money is the only language these people understand, and so I believe it is my responsibility to be very aware of where my money goes and how it is being used.

Like many of you, there are companies that I will no longer patronize. In addition, I can no longer in good conscience support NAR. Their hypocrisy in praising Trump for his executive order supposedly addressing housing affordability while remaining silent on the administration's planned tariffs, which are widely expected to drive up housing costs. Contrast NAR's silence with the following statement from the National Association of Homebuilders:

“Through an executive order on his first day in office, President Trump made it a top priority to reduce housing costs and increase housing supply to ease the nation’s housing affordability crisis,” said NAHB Chairman Carl Harris. “The administration’s move to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum products imports into the U.S. runs totally counter to this goal by raising home building costs, deterring new development and frustrating efforts to rebuild in the wake of natural disasters. Ultimately, consumers will pay for these tariffs in the form of higher home prices.”

When "DOGE" announced its plans to slash up to half the staff at HUD, still no comment from NAR. For those who don't know, HUD funds disaster relief, affordable housing construction, rental assistance and other homelessness programs, enforces Fair Housing Laws, and provides counseling for first-time homebuyers and the mortgage insurance so many people utilize to help them buy homes. I'm sorry but how the hell has NAR not responded to this???

The nail in the coffin was my recent discovery that the organization has been using member dues to fund a right-wing agenda through its affiliate organization, American Property Owners Alliance, many aspects of which don't even have anything to do with housing.

So what does this mean for my clients? Really, nothing -- just thought I'd let you know...