Headquarters Illinois, United States | ||
Founded in 1976, The Council of Residential Specialists is the largest not-for-profit affiliate of the National Association of Realtors, with its headquarters in Chicago, IL. It is composed of nearly 40,000 Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) Designees and Candidates/General Members and over 52 chapters across the United States. According to the Council's website: "the association was created to attract and retain those Realtors seeking the knowledge, tools and relationship-building opportunities needed to maximize their income and professionalism in residential real estate."
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The Council also quality tests products related to the real estate industry by seven independent reviewers followed by a committee and upon approval will receive the CRS Quality Tested Seal. Examples of products that have received this seal are: Pro Step Marketing’s Action Agent Web System, Point2 Agent, Agency Logic and Single Property Sites. The Council is also recognized by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
History
The Council began in 1923 when Realtors National Marketing Institute (RNMI, then known as the National Institute of Real Estate Brokers) was established to provide "practical education for its Members and working with them to establish sound and ethical practices...and to promote the professional standards of Realtors." In the 1960s, the Institute established divisions for commercial real estate and residential brokerage whose main focus was education. By 1974, the residential brokerage division began to discuss the development of training courses for sales agents that could potentially lead to a professional designation. Those plans culminated in 1977 when charter members who "had demonstrated extensive experience and knowledge of residential real estate" received the Certified Residential Specialist Designation. In 1985, RNMI endowed what was then called the Residential Sales Council, Real Estate Brokerage Managers Council and the Commercial-Investment Real Estate Council with their own bylaws and governing powers.
Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) Designation
The main function of the Council of Residential Specialists is to oversee and provide benefits to the CRS Designees. To earn the designation, realtors must fulfill one of several education and transaction options:
Realtors must also be in good standing with the National Association of Realtors which has drawn some criticism because of the independence of the organization but is ultimately required due to its affiliation with NAR. The Council also has strict guidelines on which transactions count and has limited them to: single family home, townhouse, cooperative, up to and including four-unit building, duplex, condominium or permanently affixed mobile home unit.
Upon earning the CRS designation, the Realtor abides by a strict code of conduct which includes many rules and regulations such as: keeping confidential information safe, fully disclosing any issues with the property that is apparent to someone with that level of expertise and informing clients of any additional compensation or commission if a sale or referral is made. Violations of the code of ethics could eventually lead to revocation of an individuals real estate license.
Political Action
During the period 1998-2009, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) spent the 10th largest amount lobbying out of any political action group in the United States. Despite the Council's affiliation with NAR, they currently have no active PAC group and do not contribute any funds to RPAC (Realtor Political Action Group).