But while his time in office has been far from easy, steering the 100+ year-old trade organization through settling the commission lawsuits, implementing business practice changes and a myriad of other challenges, including the current affordability crisis, he is grateful for his time as NAR president.
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Sears told attendees of NAR’s 2025 NXT conference in Houston, Texas, Friday morning. “This has been a wonderful experience, being able to serve as the 117th president of the National Association of Realtors.”
Sears took the helm at NAR during an incredibly challenging time in the trade group’s history, which included the fall out from a sexual harassment scandal and the industry’s loss in the Sitzer/Burnett commission lawsuit trial. Given all of this noise, Sears spent his presidency focusing on getting “back to basics” in order to right the ship and begin the arduous task of rebuilding trust with the association’s membership.
Face-to-face meetings with more than 30K memebers
“From the very beginning, we knew the only way to regain the members’ trust was to get out there and spend time with the members in person,” Sears said.
Since January of 2025, Sears said he has spent 258 days on the road, traveled 162,000 miles, and met with approximately 37,700 NAR members. Much of this time was spent listening to members and making sure that NAR and its leaders were prepared to take advantage of any upcoming opportunities that presented themselves.
“I’ve received a lot of feedback over the last couple of years — trust me, a lot. But anyone in this role at this time in our industry is going to hear a lot. But I believe that my preparedness to face certain situations and have faith in the decisions is based on the ability to filter out the noise and hone in on what matters the most,” Sears said. “What matters most is you, the members.”
While NAR and the real estate industry in general has faced its fair share of challenges over the past 100+ years, Sears believes that today the industry is at an inflection point, and while that may be scary, he said he knows that Realtor members have what it takes to not only embrace, but lead changes because he has seen them instigate positive changes in their own communities.
“We are the fabric of the community. 70% of our members give back to our communities through volunteering and Realtors are three times more likely than the typical American to volunteer. You care about your consumers — they’re your clients, but they’re also your neighbors, which is why as a whole, as an association, we are so pro-consumer,” Sears said. “Our industry doesn’t exist without the consumer and our communities are not the same without homeownership.”
As Sears winds down his time as NAR president, he thanked members for giving him the opportunity to earn their trust and providing him and the leadership team with the grace to make the changes they needed. He also acknowledged that he alone is not responsible for the association’s “turnaround.”
“There are a lot of people that we need to thank for the turnaround we’ve experienced over the last 676 days,” Sears said. “The other volunteer leaders, we’ve had a great leadership team the last two years, the NAR staff, and many, many more.”
Looking to the future, Sears asked members to continue to hold the association accountable, especially as it begins to implement its 2026-2028 Strategic Plan.
“Make sure this plan gets implemented,” Sears said. Let’s hold our leaders accountable. This is an incredibly exciting time for NAR. We’ve been around for more than a century and I see this strategic plan as the first three years in the next 100.”
