Kevin Sears. Photo courtesy of the National Association of Realtors
The 2024 president of the National Association of Realtors, Idaho Realtor Tracy Kasper, suddenly resigned Monday afternoon after being subject to an alleged blackmail attempt.
Kasper had taken over for 2023 NAR President Kenny Parcell, the Utah real estate agent who was the subject of an explosive New York Times investigation in late August that claimed he sexually harassed NAR staff and members. Parcell resigned shortly after the investigation was published.
NAR sent out a press release mid-afternoon Monday saying Kasper was resigning immediately, putting the organization’s top job in the hands of president-elect Kevin Sears, a Springfield Realtor and broker/partner of Sears Real Estate.
The exact nature of the blackmail attempt NAR claimed had occurred was not immediately clear. The trade group’s statement only characterized it as “a threat to disclose a past personal, non-financial matter” and said that the blackmailer demanded she “compromise her position at NAR” without providing any details about what that might have entailed.
“As president and a long-time member of NAR, I always have put the interests of NAR first. As a result of the recent threat and given the significance of this moment for myself, my family and the organization, it is again time for me to put the interests of NAR first,” Kasper said in a statement included in NAR’s announcement. “So, it is with a mix of gratitude and a heavy heart that I submit my resignation as your president effective immediately. In doing so, it gives our Leadership Team the ability to take the reins and forge forward in effecting the change that we all have worked so hard over the past few months to begin. I know I leave our members, our staff and our association in good hands.”
Tracy Kasper.
NAR said Kasper had also “reported the threat to law enforcement.”
The past five months have been turbulent ones for NAR. Following Parcell’s resignation – the Times’ investigation also said the association had a “culture of fear” around reporting sexual harassment – and the association’s stunning courtroom loss in the first of several so-called “bombshell” agent commission lawsuits, longtime CEO Bob Goldberg also stepped down in favor of Former Chicago Sun-Times publisher Nykia Wright. The commission lawsuits, which NAR has so far refused to settle, threaten to undermine the financial foundation of most Realtors’ businesses.
