The short answer is networking, award recognition, professional development and news stories.

Founded in 1929, NAREE is the only professional association for print, digital, podcast and broadcast journalists covering commercial and residential real estate and home building and design. 

If you come to the annual conference, you’ll see it’s designed to offer networking opportunities at every reception, tour, suite and NAREE’s Meet the Press. If you join a live virtual session, it will usually start with a little networking too.

Each year NAREE invites all award winners and leading real estate journalists to come to the annual conference. There is a special reception for the winners to meet each other on Awards Day. Many leading journalsits present their tips on how they do their journalism jobs better and faster after investing little more time in technology, brain refreshment, organizing sources and mining data. NAREE invites top industry speakers to address the group in panels, keynote presentations and fireside chats. Don’t miss the next NAREE conference so you can meet many of the key people you cover and discover new trendsetting-speakers. Journalists at the conference are likely to create social media posts on key information,, uncover breaking news and stock up on ideas for future stories.

Active Media Membership Benefits

Media members report on the broad field of real estate including mortgages, finance, capital markets as well as sustainable and resilient building, luxury housing, affordable housing policy and community design and construction, as well as myriad commercial real estate topics from multi-family and retail to office and hospitality trends. NAREE's active media members are editors, writers, reporters, columnists and producers — on staff and freelancing for bona fide news outlets.*   Benefits include the following:

NAREE’s Annual Real Estate Journalism Competition recognizes excellence in real estate reporting, writing, editing and producing stories and in publications and platforms about residential and commercial real estate. The awards honor both individual journalists and teams and publication editors. Awards for Best Collection of Work, Best Investigative Report or Series, Best Multi-Platform Package, Best Podcast, Best Column, Best Economic Analysis, Best Architecture Story, Best Real Estate Section and Best Real Estate Website are among the honors given. Enter on www.naree.org/jcontest.

HONORS INCLUDE:
Platinum Award: Best Individual Entry $1,000; Kenneth R. Harney Award for Best Real Estate Consumer Education Reporting $1,000; Presidents Award: Best Freelance Entry $500; Ruth Ryon Award: Best Young Journalist Entry $250; Gold Awards in each of 30 categories $250, plus Silver Awards and Bronze Awards.

Journalism Competition Deadline: March 1 for works published the previous year.

NAREE's Annual Real Estate Journalism Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas, June 18-21, 2024. The NAREE Conference was held in Las Vegas in 2023, in Atlanta in 2022, in Miami in 2021, and was held virtually in 2020. Whether virtual or in-person, industry experts are brought together for panel discussions and press conferences on the latest trends on commercial and residential real estate estate including: mortgages, appraisals, housing — affordable, luxe and sustainable, growth management, urban and suburban design and development, insurance, lending, investment and environmental concerns. Industry sessions are moderated by leading journalists. Peer-led NAREE University sessions have included: Visuals in Digital Journalism, Upping your Excel Skills, Covering Social Justice Issues in the real estate industry, Working Remotely, Setting up a Freelance Writing Business and Taking It Up a Notch, and Editors Roundtables. Registrants also enjoy networking opportunities. Session recordings are available to members only by clicking the Members Only Tab and keying in the password. Members can contact nareeprograms@gmail.com for the password.

• Annual Conference Book - Digital copy posted online by clicking the Members Only tab. the printed copy available at the annual conference.

Detailed agendas covering the top real estate issues of the day, plus industry and media speaker biographies and attendees, plus leadership insights on real estate journalism are included.

• NAREE Network Directory - Digital copy posted online (Members Only tab), and emailed to current members.

NAREE’s Annual Network Directory lists media who cover, write, report, edit or produce stories about the broad field of real estate. Industry professional associate members are also listed. Contact information is published alphabetically and by affiliation.

* Select newsletters are archived in the members only section. All current members receive the NAREE E-News.

• NAREE’s Job Board where members can post their first position for free and search for jobs.
  

Find it here: www.naree.org/members-only.

The goal of NAREE's Annual Bivins Fellowship is to enhance the professional real estate journalism by partnering with journalists to help them attend the annual conference. NAREE University sessions at NAREE’s Annual Conference coupled with residential and commercial real estate trends panels, and data analytics offer journalists – both new to the real estate beat and veterans – a chance to enhance skills and broaden the spectrum of industry resources.

• Member Invitations to Industry Gatherings

NAREE fosters regular, informal member gatherings at real estate-industry related conferences such as the the International Builders Show. Members also network at the National Association of Realtors, Urban Land Institute, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, and/or International Conference of Shopping Centers, among others, depending on member interest and resources. See NAREE’s Calendar for details.

* NAREE defines bona fide news outlets as those independent of sponsoring organizations/advertising control, not affiliated with trade associations, lobby groups, PR firms, real estate brokerage companies or any companies in the broad field of real estate – building companies, developers, architects, etc. or governmental entities. 

Industry Associate Members

Application for associate membership is open to writers, editors, producers, bloggers, columnists and/or content providers for trade association affiliated publications and real estate industry special interest publications. Publishers, authors, and those who write for independent news outlets in the news division — part-time as a complement to their industry-related jobs — may also apply for associate membership.

Industry associate members also include communication professionals who disseminate information on behalf of real estate-related business interests. NAREE industry associate members include public relations and marketing professionals representing architects, builders, developers, real estate agents, banks, professional trade organizations, computer software publishers, consulting and law firms. 

Associate Membership Benefits

Benefits of becoming an industry associate member include an invitation to register for the NAREE Annual Conference, access to the NAREE Network and NAREE Conference Program Book, selected NAREE News in the digital archive on naree.org, as well as invitations to NAREE gatherings during other industry events.