A Second Association Is Here: What ARA Means for Colorado Agents
- Jerad Larkin
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
There are now two national trade associations competing for your dues. That is genuinely new, and it happened faster than most Denver Metro agents realize.
In the last ninety days, RE/MAX's president joined the board of the American Real Estate Association, and Compass International Holdings enrolled its agents. Douglas Elliman was already in. At the same time, Inman's August polling found a rising share of agents frustrated enough with industry trade groups to consider leaving real estate altogether. When the plumbing of an industry starts shifting, the people who understand it early get to make a choice instead of react to one.
What is the American Real Estate Association, and should Colorado agents join?
The American Real Estate Association is a second national trade group with introductory dues of $20 a year. For most Denver Metro agents it is a low-cost add-on, not a replacement for NAR dues or MLS access.
I am Jerad Larkin, a Sales Executive with Chicago Title Colorado, and I spend most of my week in front of Denver Metro real estate agents talking about marketing, systems, and where this business is heading. Some version of this question has come up in three separate meetings over the past two weeks, usually phrased exactly the same way: should I be paying attention to this ARA thing?
Pay attention, yes. But attention is not the same as action, and that twenty dollar price tag is doing a lot of work in this conversation. Here is what is actually true right now, what is still unknown, and how I would think about it if I were carrying a Colorado license.
What Is the American Real Estate Association?
The American Real Estate Association, usually shortened to ARA, launched in January 2024. It was co-founded by Mauricio Umansky, the CEO of The Agency. The pitch is an agent-first organization built by practicing agents, weighted toward professional education and housing literacy rather than dues collection and political spending.
That is the pitch. Whether the organization delivers on it is a separate question, and nobody can answer it yet. What has changed in 2026 is that ARA stopped being a talking point and started being a membership number.
How Did the Last Ninety Days Change the Math?
For most of its first two years, ARA was an interesting idea with a famous founder attached. Then the franchise partners started landing. In June 2026, RE/MAX became ARA's first major franchise partner, with RE/MAX's president joining the ARA board and RE/MAX agents offered a complimentary one-year membership. In July, Compass International Holdings signed on, with complimentary dues for agents at its company-owned brokerages through the end of 2027. Douglas Elliman, with more than 6,600 agents, had already aligned back in September 2025.
Add that up and a meaningful share of the industry now holds an ARA membership. Notice, though, how many of those memberships were paid for by somebody else. Free enrollment is not the same as demand. Anyone measuring ARA's momentum by headcount alone is measuring the wrong thing.
The backdrop matters too. Inman reported in August that a rising share of agents said they were frustrated with industry trade groups, and a growing number had considered leaving the business entirely. Most said little had actually changed since the new commission rules took effect. If you want the numbers behind that mood, I broke down what NAR's 2026 member profile says about the average agent. Whatever else ARA is, it is a product built for that moment.
What Does ARA Membership Actually Cost a Colorado Agent?
The $20 Number and the $1,500 Number
Introductory ARA dues run $20 for the year. There is also a founding member tier at $1,500 that covers ten years of dues. At twenty dollars, this is not a budget decision for any working Denver Metro agent. It costs less than a client coffee run. The founding member number is a different conversation, because $1,500 up front is a bet that the organization is still standing in 2036.
What Do You Still Owe NAR?
NAR national dues for 2026 are $156 per member plus a $45 Consumer Advertising Campaign assessment, which puts the national piece at $201. Your state and local association dues stack on top of that. Depending on where you hang your license across the Denver Metro, most agents are looking at several hundred dollars a year all in.
Joining ARA does not reduce any of that. This is worth saying plainly, because I keep hearing it garbled in the field: as of today, ARA is an additional membership, not a substitute one. If you were hoping a second association would let you cut a dues bill, that is not what is on the table in 2026.
Does Joining ARA Change Your MLS Access in Colorado?
This is the part that actually touches your business, and the honest answer is: probably not today, but the ground underneath it is moving.
In November 2025, NAR repealed Policy Statement 7.7. Effective January 1, 2026, MLS access became a matter of local discretion rather than a national requirement tied to Realtor membership. Several MLSs around the country moved quickly on that opening, and MLS executives have been vocal about defending that local autonomy. Colorado agents already got a preview of what local discretion looks like in practice with the rise of office exclusive listings in Denver.
None of that automatically changes anything in Colorado. Your MLS now writes its own access rules, which means the only reliable answer is the one you get directly from REcolorado or IRES about your specific subscription. Do not assume a national policy change flows downhill to your account. Ask, in writing, and loop in your managing broker before you make any decision about dropping a membership.
What Does ARA Actually Give a Denver Metro Agent Right Now?
Be clear-eyed about this. A second association is not a second MLS. It is not a second set of contracts and forms, which in Colorado come from the Colorado Real Estate Commission regardless of who you pay dues to. And it is not a brand you can market with, because NAR owns the Realtor trademark and has been enforcing it more aggressively in 2026, not less.
What ARA is selling in 2026 is advocacy priorities, education, and an argument: that national dues should buy more practical value than they currently do. If your frustration with dues is real, that argument lands. If you are looking for something that changes your production next quarter, twenty dollars is not the lever.
Part of what I do as a Sales Executive at Chicago Title Colorado is help agents across the Denver Metro separate the noise from the things that actually move a business. Association politics is usually noise. The exception is when it changes your cost structure or your data access, and this story has the potential to touch both.
Should Denver Metro Agents Join ARA in 2026?
The Case for Joining Now
The price is a rounding error against any marketing budget. Early membership means you get a voice while the organization is still being shaped rather than after it hardens. If your brokerage already bought your membership, declining it saves you nothing and gives up whatever education and advocacy access comes with it. And watching from the inside beats guessing from the outside, especially on an issue that could eventually touch MLS rules in Colorado.
The Case for Waiting
Nothing about your daily business changes if you join. Dual membership costs you attention, and attention is the scarcer resource for most Denver Metro agents I work with. There is also a real risk of muddying how you present yourself to clients who have never heard of a second association. Your time is better spent on the conversations that are already in front of you, like how you explain your commission in 2026. Twenty dollars is cheap. A scattered professional identity is not.
The Question That Actually Matters
Whether you join is a twenty dollar decision. The bigger question underneath it is the same one the RE/MAX acquisition raised for Colorado agents earlier this month: how much of your business depends on a brand you do not own? Association logos, brokerage names, and portal placements are all rented. Your database, your reputation, and your personal brand are the parts you keep. If a second association is what finally made you think about that, the twenty dollars was worth it regardless of what you decide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the American Real Estate Association?
ARA is a national real estate trade association launched in January 2024 as an alternative to NAR, co-founded by The Agency CEO Mauricio Umansky. It positions itself as an agent-first organization focused on education and advocacy. Douglas Elliman, RE/MAX, and Compass International Holdings have all aligned with it.
How much does ARA membership cost in 2026?
Introductory dues are $20 for the year. A founding member tier runs $1,500 and covers ten years of dues. Agents at several large brokerages, including RE/MAX and Compass International Holdings, have been offered complimentary memberships through their companies.
Can Colorado real estate agents drop NAR and join ARA instead?
Not cleanly, and not without checking your MLS first. NAR repealed the national policy tying MLS access to Realtor membership effective January 1, 2026, but access rules are now set locally. Confirm your specific requirements directly with REcolorado or IRES, and talk to your managing broker, before dropping any membership.
Does joining ARA let me call myself a Realtor?
No. Realtor is a registered trademark owned by the National Association of Realtors and it is tied to NAR membership. NAR has publicly stepped up trademark enforcement in 2026. ARA membership gives you no right to use the Realtor mark in your marketing.
Is ARA worth it for a Denver real estate agent?
At $20 a year the cost is negligible, so the decision is really about attention rather than money. It will not generate leads or change your MLS access in the Denver Metro today. Join if you want a voice in how it develops. Skip it if you would rather put that focus into your database.
If you want more of this, plain-English breakdowns of what is actually changing in the Denver Metro and Colorado real estate business, head to milehightitleguy.com. That is where I post the marketing playbooks, the AI tool walkthroughs, and the schedule for my upcoming classes. If you have a question about this one, or you want to talk through your own marketing systems, reach out. I am happy to help.
Jerad Larkin
Sales Executive | Chicago Title Colorado
milehightitleguy.com
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