ShareAssociations across the country are using a new tool at strategic planning sessions: the D.A.N.G.E.R. report and its online interactive component.
Released in May, the 164-page report commissioned by NAR from real estate consultant Stefan Swanepoel details 50 threats, risks, and challenges the real estate industry is facing today or could face in the near future. It has been widely discussed and debated on social media and has become the focal point of roundtable discussions, membership luncheons, leadership retreats, and planning meetings at REALTOR® associations nationwide.
The report presents scenarios to consider, such as agent teams threatening the survival of brokerages or the impact a national MLS might have on associations. The goal of the D.A.N.G.E.R (Definitive Analysis of Negative Game Changers Emerging in Real Estate) report is to help every brokerage, MLS, and association think through some fundamental threats and changes that may be coming to the real estate industry.
In New York, state association CEO Duncan MacKenzie, RCE, has been talking about the D.A.N.G.E.R. report at regional REALTOR® luncheons around the state. “A few local boards said that they would use it as reference for their 2016 strategic planning,” he says.
The Atlanta Board of REALTORS® hosted an invitation-only, candid roundtable discussion with area brokers about the report facilitated by Mike Oppler, vice chair of NAR’s Strategic Thinking Advisory Committee, which commissioned the study. The event, “What the DANGER Report Means to You,” guided brokers through the issues that may threaten their businesses in the years to come.
The San Mateo County Association of REALTORS® in California invited real estate consultant Adorna Carroll to host a presentation of the report to its membership at a monthly meeting and at the new member orientation. “We had a pretty good reaction to the report, with a lot of questions and answers afterward,” says association communications director Nasreen Willis. “The YPNers are already ahead of the game and pretty much agreed with the report.”
Online Report Component
To help guide the discussion process, an interactive and customizable survey of dangers is posted at dangerreport.com. Each of the 50 dangers is presented with options to select how likely you believe this threat will affect your association, when it could impact your association, and how big of an effect this danger will have on your association. The program sorts the dangers by level of threat in each of five sections: agents, brokers, associations, NAR, and MLS.
The threat level survey at dangerreport.com, like the print report, doesn’t offer any solutions to the challenges. The survey is a companion to—not a replacement for—reading the full report and is a way to guide a group discussion focused on your individual association or MLS. Have association staff and elected leaders complete the threat level survey individually before discussing it as a group.
The D.A.N.G.E.R. report is based on data from a national survey of approximately 7,800 REALTORS® and interviews with 74 high-level executives and other real estate industry leaders. The report also takes other real estate–related studies, reports, articles, and surveys into account.
NAR’s leadership and Strategic Thinking Advisory Committee will discuss all the report’s findings over the next year to create future strategic direction based on what they find useful, forward-thinking, progressive, and actionable.