National Association of Real Estate Boards

The National Association of Realtors (NAR), whose member brokers are known as Realtors (member agents are known as Realtor associates), is a North American trade association for those who work in the real estate industry. It has over 1.1 million members, including NAR's institutes, societies, and councils, involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. NAR also functions as a self-regulatory organization for real estate brokerage. The organization is headquartered in Chicago.

The National Association of Realtors was founded on May 13, 1908 as the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges in Chicago, Illinois. In 1916, the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges changed its name to The National Association of Real Estate Boards. The current name was adopted in 1972.

NAR's members are residential and commercial real estate brokers, real estate salespeople, immovable property managers, appraisers, counselors, and others engaged in all aspects of the real estate (immovable property) industry, where a state license to practice is required. Members belong to one or more of some 1,600 local Realtor boards or associations. They are pledged to a code of ethics and standards of practice, which were adopted in 1913.

The National Association of Realtors is also a member of The Real Estate Roundtable, a lobbying group in Washington, D.C.

The use of the term "realtor" was first proposed by Charles N. Chadbourn, in an article in the National Real Estate Journal in March 1916. Chadbourn, then a real estate agent in Minneapolis and vice-president of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, wrote "I propose that the National Association adopt a professional title to be conferred upon its members which they shall use to distinguish them from outsiders. That this title be copyrighted and defended by the National Association against misuse... I therefore, propose that the National Association adopt and confer upon its members, dealers in realty, the title of realtor (accented on the first syllable)." The association adopted the term the following year, at its national convention in New Orleans in April 1916.

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