Realtors upset over paying for lobbying

The N.C. Association of Realtors is determined to collect more money for lobbying efforts, but the fund raiser isn’t sitting well with several of its members.

The association wants its more than 40,000 members to pay a one-time $50 contribution by Sept. 30 and has increased annual membership dues by $25 effective next year. The money is needed to fulfill the association’s commitment to spend $10 million on lobbying efforts in the state legislature, members were told in a July 14 e-mail.

Members are upset, the Realtors said, because they must pay up or risk being kicked out of the association. Membership allows agents to advertise clients’ homes on the Multiple Listing Service.

“No membership, no listing, no business,” said Bob Mulder, a real estate agent with Umstead Realty in Raleigh.

Mulder said he and his colleagues aren’t against lobbying. Many of them have contributed to the association’s political action committee in the past.

But this time, they are not given a choice, Mulder said.

“It’s a matter of principle,” said David Spurling, a Realtor with BrokerHouse Realty in Raleigh. “I have a hard time with people telling me what’s best for me.”

In its e-mail to members, the association said the additional funds are needed, because lobbying efforts to defeat referendums on land transfer tax increases in 19 counties was expensive.