An Interview with Colin Mullane, NAR’s Incoming President

I was in England for a week over New Year’s to attend a funeral. One evening we did what felt quintessentially British to me; we took everyone’s dogs for a walk around the property. There were more dogs than people, which also seemed fitting. I struck up a conversation with a woman I had met twelve years ago at my sister’s wedding, and came to find out her brother, Colin Mullane, was in line to be the NAR (National Association of Realtors) President. Later I asked Gill if she thought her brother would agree to an interview, and she kindly arranged it for me. While Colin and I only spoke for 20 minutes or so, a lot was said! I have edited this for length and clarity. 

W: Tell us the trajectory of emigrating to the United States and how then you became a Realtor. (Some of this answer was lost due to my faulty recording, apologies!) 

C: I found I was really good at hospitality. But it can be crazy- someone doesn’t show up to work, so you might be cooking or you might be cleaning, or you might be waiting a table or bartending, and people, you know, it’s chaos. But here’s the thing, so is real estate!

I was better prepared to be a realtor because of my restaurant background, than almost anything else I could have done. I did study business at University of Limerick for four years in Ireland, so I have that background, but I had to get boots on the ground and get to work right away (as I already had) a young family. I didn’t have time to send out resumes to the local businesses that would have met my qualifications, and so somebody said I should get into real estate, that I’d be really good at it. And I said, “I don’t think so, I don’t like sales.” And sure enough, I got my real estate license and I really did like it. 

And I learned quickly that who you are as a professional is defined, maybe not so much by your brokerage and your broker, but it’s personally defined. Do you want to be a professional? You know, do you want to be taken seriously? Do you want this to be full-time? And it’s absolutely a profession that whatever you put into it, you get out of it. And that’s something that I’ve always thrived on. So I really enjoyed it. 

W: How did you start being involved with NAR; how did that all come about?

C: It’s interesting because, if I look back now I can kind of see where the patterns were, but it felt like at the time no rhyme or reason. It took me about seven years succeeding in sales, doing  very well, enjoying it. And I was the kind of person that was anti-establishment, like, you know, you want our PAC dollars? Like, I pay my dues, I pay my broker, I split up my commission every time and I pay my MLS dues, and I pay my licensing fee, and I pay and I pay and I pay. And I have to raise three kids and you want more money? For politics? Like, I’m the last person you should be talking to. I really kind of had a chip on my shoulder, and I see myself in many of our members in the same position today, and I’ve never lost that sense of, you know, that’s what a lot of our members experience. 

My business partner got asked to be a member of a committee that was going to try and create a better data set for the media, about our monthly statistics. And my buddy says, “I hate numbers, but my business partner Colin is really good with numbers. He loves numbers.”

And he came to me and said “Colin, I’ve got you on this task force.” And I said, “You did what?” And he said “I put you on this task force” and I said “oh my god I’m going to kill you. Like, do not do this.” And he did, and I showed up, and I couldn’t’ believe how much I enjoyed it. And then I moved on to other things like the MLS side of things, and I kind of really got to grow my teeth there. And then later I went to a state leadership academy and really enjoyed the experience, and all of a sudden, the dots started connecting. Okay, I get my local, I love my local, I love my CEO, I love my president, I love the committee, and I go, what does the state do? What does the national do? And that was a real eye opener. And I tell that story when I travel around, because people ask that question a lot, and a lot of them have the same chip on their shoulder that I did. So I think acknowledging that maybe a lot of us have been there, maybe earns some trust in the room.

I enjoyed the challenges, and we have many. And in the last two years of course, I think the organization has been more challenged in ways than it’s ever been, in its existence. And here we are coming out the other side of that with a ton of work ahead of us and a lot of trust to rebuild, but that’s a challenge I accept and I’m ready for. 

W: I guess you were kind of referring to the sexual harassment accusations a few years ago with the president? In light of that and the commission lawsuit I guess NAR’s road has been a little bumpy as of late? 

C: Yeah, yeah it has, and it was, for want of a better expression, a comedy of errors, and one thing was not related to the other, and yet everything came crashing down at the same time. 

It started with the New York Times article on misconduct by NAR leadership and accusations around bad behavior. That light started to get brighter and brighter on the organization, not in a good way. Bright light sounds like a good thing. In this case, well, it ended up being a good thing because we ended up making a shift in the organization that was clearly needed and necessary. 

The pain of those moments still lives with us, but I think the growth that’s emerging since then is something that we will benefit from years to come. And so we had a resignation, high profile of a president, I think it was the 28th of August 2023 and then literally on Halloween, October 31st that same year we found out we lost the lawsuit, and then NAR told us members don’t worry, we got your back. We’re on the right side of the law. We’re going to win this lawsuit. But we didn’t win the lawsuit. And that was a very, very heavy day. 

I was not on the leadership team at that point. I was a realtor party director at that point, but the conversations my wife and I had, who was in business with me, around the implications of that lawsuit were deep. We started to think about, what does this mean? Like, what the heck does this mean? And I knew the implications were significant, because I’ve been around some of the attorneys having these discussions, and I was like, “Will we have an industry in a business that she and I can practice on a daily basis? What’s it going to look like in five years and will we still want to be in it? Cause I really like how it is right now.” 

What I know, that when I travel and talk to groups who still want to talk about this, and I don’t blame them, most of them forget that we lost the lawsuit first. The settlement was the outcome. We lost to the tune of 5.6 billion dollars in one state, and so we settled it by saying we’ll give you $418 million, and we’ll adopt these practical changes at the core of your argument around seller compensation, which was a bitter pill to swallow. All the members can recollect is absolute chaos and bad press around the association. Now you lost a lawsuit, and you totally moved my cheese, and what were you doing? That’s what it felt like to almost every member in the country, and believe it or not, it’s been almost two years or more since that happened, but it’s still very, very fresh in people’s minds. It’s absolutely a wound that hasn’t healed. And so that’s where the work still lies. 

W: Is that what you feel like will be your mantle in 2027? 

C: Not necessarily. So right now, I’m vice president, I got elected last June. I will be president elect next year, and I ascend to the presidency in 2028. Our members just need to know that we’ve got their back and that we’re working hard. I don’t need a theme to hang my hat on. You just need to know that whatever the challenge is going to be in ’28, I’m going to be prepared to meet it. 

We can see some of the things coming in ’26 and ’27. But who knows what ’28 is going to look like? And my promise to the members when I was running and still to this day, is to be laser focused on whatever the challenges are. 

W: Do you find it crazy to have to do your work and then also find time for this position you’re involved in and leading up to? 

C: No, so I’ll let you a little bit under the hood on that. It’s widely acknowledged that the time sacrifice is one that will absolutely impact your business if you’re gonna do the job right. There’s no way around it. And they have a stress test that involves financial ability to withstand what happens if you don’t make as much money, because it’s a four-year commitment you serve on the leadership team, all with significant obligations.

But what also happens is you spend the year before running for the office, so last year I think I was on 175 flights by the end of the year. It’s a lot. And I have tons of airline miles to show for it! But to me it was important to go out even though I had an uncontested race. It was very important to me to meet the members where they were at and truly understand how they were feeling about everything, and introduce myself to them and say, “This is what I want to do. What can you tell me about what your needs are, and what you expect from me?”, so that we can better understand each other so that more people can stand up and say, “I’ve met him and I know what he means.” I can’t do that with 1.5 million people [the number of NAR members], and nobody can, but being out there and doing that as much as possible is helpful for me in that process. 

But to go back to your original question, the answer is no. I had a real conversation with Molly, my wife, and business partner. She joined me four and a half years ago knowing I was going to make this attempt. You have to plan, you can’t just wake up in the morning and go, “Next year I’m going to run for president” because it’s so disruptive to your personal life that you need time to prepare, your state needs to prepare because they typically back you financially. So part of my process was, I can’t take five years away from my business and then come back and expect to be a realtor, because if you turn your back on your business for six months, you’re practically starting from scratch. So to do it for five years, there is no way I had a business. And so I spent the last four and a half, now almost five with Molly working the ropes to the business so basically when I come home and she’s working, I’m not disrupting her. Like, my clients all know her, she’s got the systems down, she’s growing our business. We continue to grow the business. Now, am I available? Do I have phone conversations with clients? Absolutely. But if we’re negotiating repairs on a home inspection, that’s going to be on Molly now because I’ve had to shift gears based on my travel commitments and commitments to NAR. And when you make that commitment, it’s sincere. 

W: That’s so nice you have a partner, a teammate, in your wife. 

C: Yeah, I’m very fortunate to have a business partner and partner in life that was willing to take that on that allowed me to do this and commit to it. 

W: Yeah, definitely! That’s about all I had unless you have anything else you’d like me to include? 

C: It’s been awhile since we’ve had a president that actively works the residential side of the business…now I know I just told you that I don’t do as much as I did, but I could still pick up the phone and call an inspector and be there. I did an open house last Saturday, so I’m doing stuff, right? So it’s basically what I tell Molly and I tell members is, everything is on the line. If I get this wrong, I mess myself up as much as you guys, and I don’t want to do that. I really want to make sure that we have the most viable association possible, and why that is important is because we’ve created a space for people to look at real estate as being a viable dream, a viable job that allows them to live the American dream. Is there a goal to make 1.5 million members successful? No, we can’t control that. That’s very much the beauty of being an entrepreneur and self-employed. 

But the National Association of Realtors continues to create the opportunity to enter the profession. And if you want to be good at it and be trained and be an expert in your craft, NAR does have the tools and provides the opportunity to succeed. We can’t make you succeed, but we can create the opportunity for you to succeed. 

And that’s where we’re really working for our members. And we want to make sure that the ability to enter the space in the real estate space exists next year, five years, and ten years from now, because if you flip the switch off and NAR goes away, our business shifts so dramatic and quickly under our feet. And this is exemplified by looking at any other country in the world, where they do not have what we have, and there is no one that has what we have. Would you conduct real estate if it looked like those countries? Most of our members would say no. So we’ve much to be grateful for. 

I’m personally tired of people telling us the grass is greener somewhere else, because right now, it is the greenest right here, in the real estate space, because of NAR, because of state associations and locals, and I get that people get frustrated with it from time to time or perhaps more than that, but at our core, that’s the most important thing that we do is support the opportunity to be and stay and be a better professional in the business. 

Colin Mullane (ABR®, CIPS, CRS, GREEN, AHWD, C2EX, Earth Advantage Broker)

Colin Mullane (ABR®, CIPS, CRS, GREEN, AHWD, C2EX, Earth Advantage Broker), is NAR’s 2026 First Vice President. A REALTOR® since 2000, he is broker-owner of Full Circle Real Estate in Ashland, Oregon. Originally from Ireland, Colin immigrated to the United States in 1997 and proudly became a U.S. citizen in August 2022. As a top producer in his market, Colin believes deeply in real estate as a cornerstone of the American Dream, and he is grateful for the opportunities the profession has given him and his family. Colin’s dedication to the industry is evident through his extensive volunteer leadership. He has chaired multiple committees and has served as an NAR Regional Vice President and an NAR Liaison, including as 2023 REALTOR ® Party Director. Colin is a past president of Oregon REALTORS®.

Active outside of real estate, Colin enjoys running, biking, and exploring trails with his camera in search of wildlife. He loves traveling and visiting remarkable destinations both in the U.S. and abroad. Colin and his wife, Molly—who became licensed in 2018 and joined him as a full-time practitioner in 2021—have three daughters.

Colin is passionate about equipping REALTORS® and brokers with the resources they need to stay relevant and succeed in today’s market. A strong advocate for the work NAR does on behalf of consumers and real estate professionals, he is committed to addressing the toughest industry challenges so REALTORS® can focus on what they do best: running their businesses.