NRDS WG Summary
Association Executives Committee
NRDS Policies Work Group
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Meeting Summary
NRDS Policies Work Group
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Meeting Summary
Work Group Purpose
To continually review and consider NRDS policy and enforcement issues and clarify existing policies and procedures as concerns arise.
Update
The work group met during the AE Institute in Boston to address questions that were raised about the NRDS policy changes that were approved by the Board of Directors in November 2007, specifically, the following recommendation:
“That the currently non-required NRDS fields of home address, email address, and preferred phone be added to the current required NRDS core fields in a member record and that education level be added to the non-required NRDS fields. This shall be a requirement by January 1, 2008 for new members and July 1, 2008 for existing members.”
The work group reviewed a Q&A, which identified “work-around” options for dealing with members who will not provide their home address or e-mail address. This Q&A will be shared with the AEC at Midyear.
In addition, based on a discussion that members are requesting that they would like to see their education records; the work group recommended the following:
“That a member’s education record on NRDS be visible to the member.”
The “work-around” options and suggestions for dealing with members who will not provide their home address or e-mail address are outlined in the Q&A below.
1. If a member indicates at time of application that they do not want to provide their association with their home address, what should the association do?
The association staff should make every effort to convince the member that the home address is an essential piece of information to determine local, state and federal voting districts so that communications regarding important legislation affecting the member's business can be addressed to the proper elected officials. NAR does not give or sell the home address to any other entity nor will mail be sent to the home address unless the member indicates it as their preferred mailing address.
If the member still refuses to provide the home address, then they should be directed to put the same address in the NRDS home address field as they checked as the preferred mailing address. This may be the office address or P.O. Box.
The association may request that the member provide them in writing (email or letter) with a reason why they cannot release their home address to the association.
2. If the association has updated an existing member’s record with the correct home address and the member later updates the record themselves with something else, such as their office address, what should the association do?
If the member replaced the home address with the office address, as in question 1 above, the association can leave the office address in the home address fields. The association should not accept any ‘fake’ addresses in the home address fields. Again, the association should let the member know about that the home address is an essential piece for communications regarding important legislation. The association should also know that as the member goes to another office, the association will need to update the home address fields with the new office address.
The association may request that the member provide them in writing (email or letter) with a reason why they cannot release their home address to the association.
3. If a member will not provide the home address or email address, is the expectation that they will be denied membership?
No, the member will not be denied membership. However, if a required NRDS field, such as home address and email address, are not entered, the member record cannot be processed.
4. If a member only wants a P.O. box address entered in the home address field, is this acceptable?
As in question 1, the association should give the member a heads up that this may affect the way their voting district is determined.
5. What is NAR doing to help the local and state associations obtain member home addresses?
For a couple of years now, the states and locals who signed up with NAR’s Government Affairs area Get Active program receive quarterly files with their active members current home addresses as found by Axciom (data collection company). Starting in January 2008, NAR now sends those files to all state associations so that they also can get home addresses without having to call all their members. The states can distribute the individual files to their local associations who can then choose to take the data and use it to update the member home address fields in NRDS.
6. If the member states that they do not have an e-mail address, what should the association enter in the required field for e-mail addresses?
The association should do one of the following:
Enter the member’s office e-mail in the e-mail address field
Check with the member’s MLS for an e-mail address since most MLSs require an email address from their participants, or
Set up a free Hotmail e-mail address for the member and enter that in the e-mail address field. Various sites such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, etc., offer free e-mail addresses. Several associations are also assigning a free e-mail address from their own domain to their members who do not have any e-mail addresses. If a new member later gets an e-mail address via their office, the association can update the member record with that e-mail address.
7.If a member states that they do not have an email address, should the association enter a ‘fake’ one?
No. If the local or state association then sends an e-mail to their members, such as a dues reminder or Call to Action, the number of undeliverables that come back to the association could lock up their systems.
Work Group Members
Jim Link, CAE (Chair), Southland Regional AOR® (CA)
Dallas Hancock, RCE (Vice Chair) Peoria Area AOR® (IL)
Linda Arcouette, Newport County BOR® (RI)
Cindy Butts, RCE, CAE, Maine AOR®
Pauline Dickson, REALTOR® Association of the Palm Beaches (FL)
Ginger Downs, RCE, CAE, Chicago AOR® (IL)
Kathy Hartman, RCE, Santa Cruz AOR® (CA)
Keith O. Holm, RCE, St. Paul Area AOR® (MN)
Tracy Huotari, RCE, Duluth Area AOR® (MN)
Travis Kessler, RCE, CAE, San Antonio BOR® (TX)
Terry Penza, RCE, CAE, North Shore-Barrington AOR® (IL)
Denise Price, RCE, Amarillo AOR® (TX)
Kevin Price, Idaho AOR®
Donna Stone, Jefferson City Area BOR®, (MO)
Kathleen Sweeten, Northwestern Vermont BOR®, (VT)
Margaret Mueller Tyler, Northern Virginia AOR®
Carol Van Gorp, RCE, CAE, Columbia BOR® (MO)
Liaison
Elizabeth Mendenhall
Staff Executives
Myron Adams
Gar Anderson
Chris DeRosa
Alice Martin, RCE, CAE
Pablo Maurelia
Laurie Oken
Cindy Sampalis
