Many professions have various training programs that offer designations or certifications to signify specialized skills or expertise in a given area. The training is typically provided by different companies both inside and outside the profession. Real Estate is no different! Real estate professionals have access to about 60 training programs (most are 2-3 days) that offer a designation or certification upon completion.

NAR offers less than half of the designations/certifications available to real estate professionals. NAR refers to their own designations/certifications as “NAR designations/certifications” and to other designations/certifications as “Non-NAR designations/certifications”. The “NAR” and “Non-NAR” labels simply specify ownership of the particular designation/certification and has nothing to do with the quality of the program.

NAR does not “recognize non-NAR designations” because… they can’t!

NAR Education bylaws state: “NAR bylaws prohibit NAR from recognizing third party industry designations. With the large number of professional designation programs available, NAR does not have the resources to actively review and monitor the quality of these programs and therefore, it would be inappropriate to comment on the level of quality. We encourage members to carefully review the curriculum and ask for references before proceeding.”

Net, per NAR bylaws, NAR cannot “recognize” any third-party industry designation training – period (even if provided by Harvard!).

So, does it really matter where you take your negotiation training? Yes, it does!

First, having access to multiple training sources is beneficial for any professional. General, wide-ranging topics can be done effectively by a number of training organizations (including your brokerage and NAR). But specific skill training – like negotiation – is best done by true subject matter experts who understand the skill and its application at a deeper level.

The Real Estate Negotiation Institute (RENI) focuses only on negotiation training and is operated by true subject matter experts.

• RENI is the first and leading negotiation training company in real estate in North America.
• RENI owns the Master Certified Negotiation Expert (MCNE®) designation program and the Certified Negotiation Expert (CNE®) course. The MCNE program is the premier negotiation training program in real estate and the CNE course is the most popular negotiation training course in real estate.
• The owners of RENI have professional negotiation training from Harvard, Wharton, Karrass, and Oxford University in England.
• RENI has over 70,000 graduates and 500,000+ classroom hours.
• By combining the negotiation expertise with relevant real estate experience, RENI is able to provide unmatched negotiation training to real estate professionals.

Real estate clients rate “negotiation skills in their agent” as the most important service provided by an agent (see “Game Changer” publication). Getting the best negotiation training available is in your and your clients’ best interests!

And NAR’s Code of Ethics does not limit your advertising to only NAR designations (see NAR’s Code of Ethics, Standard of Practice 12-13). You can use any designation/certification you have earned in your marketing, including the CNE and MCNE.