The new face of leadership for the powerful National Association of Realtors (NAR) is outstanding in the field.
Tracy Kasper, broker-owner of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Silverhawk in Idaho, was elected by the NAR’s board of directors earlier this month to serve as the trade group’s vice-president, beginning in December. That puts Kasper on schedule to be the NAR president in December 2023.
Kasper has been in real estate for 27 years. She works the vast fields of rural Idaho, selling huge swaths of land to lovers of the countryside and light industry businesses. For example, Kasper is currently listing a 61-acre lot near Caldwell, Idaho that is a “fantastic opportunity for I-84 freeway frontage” and features “city sewer and water in the immediate area.”
HousingWire spoke with Kasper about her home sales, the NAR fending off antitrust accusations, and the extensive legislative agenda of the NAR, which annually rivals the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for spending the most lobbying dollars in Washington. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
HousingWire: Idaho is example 1A of increased housing demand amid the pandemic. What are you seeing?
Kasper: We have seen a lot of people coming in. Our utility costs are much lower than other states, as well as property taxes and income taxes.
For the most part, there’s still room to grow. We are so agriculture-based. I’ve seen a really great picture of good, smart growth – a nice balance between the ag community and urban.
HW: The NAR’s mission is mainly to represent 1.4 million dues-paying members, who are almost all residential real estate agents. What’s the biggest challenge facing these agents?
Kasper: The number one issue is inventory.
The Joe Biden administration right now is working hard to get their infrastructure bill passed (the measure includes $318 billion for housing). It would help rural areas that are struggling to get roads built. It is the goods and services supply crunch that is hurting building. We were already five years behind when we came into this materials crunch.
Without those trucks being able to move those goods and services, we are sitting here waiting for siding and shingles and electric wire.
We also don’t want to cap the 1031 exchange (A part of the tax code that lets real estate investors defer capital gains taxes. Biden proposed ending this deferral.) Let’s incentivize homebuying with capital gains.
And we want a re-examining of zoning laws, and to think about ways of closing the affordability gap to attract a millennial or baby boomer who both like a small footprint. It’s only those Gen Xers that like those big lawns!
HW: NAR has championed the Donald Trump administration’s opportunity zones (tax breaks for developers who build in an area state governments call economically distressed). How would you evaluate the effectiveness of that program?
Kasper: I think they could play a big role in providing relief to our inventory. But the federal government needs to allow them to be a little more fluid. There needs to be a little more nuance in letting investors be in what’s an opportunity zone.
HW: NAR is facing multiple antitrust lawsuits regarding price-fixing of real estate commissions, cases where a conclusion might be reached one way or another during your time in leadership. What are you anticipating from those cases’ conclusions?
Kasper: To me, the market will shake out. There are so many different business models involving the agent.
HW: But will agents be able to compete in a fully free market with growing consumer alternatives?
Kasper: I’m a broker. When I train my agents, I ask them to think, “What is your role in all of this?” We are definitely in an era of “See it, click it, buy it.” But you probably need a realtor more than ever today. There is always some new thing that we have to understand.
I can’t imagine a buyer not having an agent and having to go around to all the listings agents. They need a champion.
It’s like a mechanic. You bring your little, chugging car to the shop, and the mechanic hits it with a hammer, and it’s $300. You say, “$300! You only hit it with a hammer!” But the mechanic says, “Ah, but I knew where to hit.”
That’s the role of the realtor, that expertise.
HW: Besides agents, the NAR also advocates for brokerages, and almost all brokerages are NAR members. It’s not quite a representing labor and management arrangement, perhaps, since most agents are independent contractors. But isn’t there a conflict of interest?
Kasper: I don’t see a conflict of interest. At the end of the day, realtors are the CEOs of their clients. We have been the only group that I truly think of overall championing private property, including for the consumer.
HW: The NAR drew attention last November by revisiting its code of conduct to ban member agents from any publicly abhorrent speech, even if done outside the job. Could you provide an update on how that has been enforced?
Kasper: It’s been put to practice, and we have seen some cases at the state or local level.
HW: Can you say anything about whether the NAR has stripped agents of their membership?
Kasper: There’s a pathway that starts with citations and warnings, but we’re not looking to remove members.
HW: The NAR is headquartered in Chicago, and it does a lot of its work in Washington. Do you plan on being vice-president and president remotely from Idaho?
Kasper: There will be a blend between trips and telecommuting. I do think that with Zoom and other technologies we can stop doing day trips.
