NAR wants safe and healthy members, a strong real estate industry, and a thriving planet. That’s why NAR President and proud Texan Leslie Rouda Smith named safety, strength, and sustainability as top priorities for 2022. The former Texas REALTORS® chairman shares how you can incorporate these values into your business and community.

Safety

“I would like to see that every REALTOR® comes home safely every night,” Rouda Smith says. “I’ve had friends who have been tied up and robbed. I had another friend who was left for dead. Sometimes our members think they’re invincible and that it won’t happen to them.” She wants you to know that NAR is fully committed to your safety.

What NAR is doing:

What you can do:

  • Share your schedule with a colleague
  • Meet clients at the office first
  • Don’t host open houses alone
  • Ask clients to walk in front of you during tours
  • Trust your gut to know when you’re uncomfortable.

Sustainability

As a ranch owner with a deep appreciation of nature, Rouda Smith is a strong supporter of environmental stewardship. She advocates planting trees and encourages everyone to reduce use of single-use water bottles. She saw firsthand how plastic waste can harm marine life during a beach cleanup in California last year. “I want to see us all make an effort to leave the planet better than we found it,” she says.

What NAR is doing:

  • Advocating for national infrastructure that prioritizes viability, adaptability, resiliency, and resource efficiency
  • Supporting infrastructure improvements and bipartisan legislation; broadband internet; ways to mitigate regulatory burdens; and industry-based solutions to sustainability issues
  • Modernizing NAR’s Chicago headquarters will achieve a 25% energy savings from a new mechanical system and a 75% reduction in energy consumption from a new elevator system.
  • Remodeling NAR’s Washington, D.C., headquarters will achieve WELL certification
  • Published its first Environmental, Social, Governance, and Resilience (ESG+R) Report, which describes NAR’s accomplishments and core values.

What you can do:

  • Read the NAR Sustainability Resource Guide to learn about NAR initiatives, programs, consumer research, and advice for local associations and REALTOR® members, nar.realtor/sustainability-resource-guide
  • Read the REALTORS® and Sustainability report, NAR’s annual report on the industry and environmental issues
  • Conserve resources whenever possible in your personal and professional life.

Strength

Rouda Smith wants to make the association strong. For her, that means members are physically and mentally strong, and the association maintains a strong voice to advocate for its priorities.

Good Health

“If you don’t take care of yourself, nobody else is going to do it for you,” she says. “I always tell people, ‘Give yourself an hour a day.’ You deserve it.” You can incorporate exercise and wellness in your busy schedule. Rouda Smith remembers combining workouts with quality time with her then-young children.

What NAR is doing:

What you can do:

  • Enjoy the outdoors
  • Exercise
  • Strengthen your mind and body.
Advocacy

“I talk about strength in numbers on Capitol Hill. Our voice is heard,” she says. “We’re non-partisan. But also, when we all speak as one and lead by example, we are truly unstoppable.”

What NAR is doing:

  • Collaborated with FEMA to create a more accurate and property-specific flood insurance rating system
  • Advocated for NAR priorities in the Build Back Better plan, including $150 billion for affordable housing and funding; $10 billion in down payment assistance for first generation homebuyers; and $800 million for fair housing programs.

What you can do:

  • Learn more about the REALTOR® Party, realtorparty.realtor
  • Get involved in REALTOR® advocacy at the local, state, and national levels.