A Historic Document
The Founding Declaration
A commitment to real estate professionals everywhere — from the extractive data model, the lead tax economy, and fragmented tools that don't serve the people who do the work.
Signed by working professionals. Signing closes midnight, July 3rd — sealed on July 4th.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
From the National Association of Realtors,
the Fragmented MLS System, and the Lead Tax Economy
Adopted by the American Real Estate Cooperative — July 4th, 2026
When in the course of a profession’s history, it becomes necessary for its practitioners to dissolve the institutional bonds which have extracted their labor, monetized their relationships, and taxed their livelihoods — and to establish in their place a cooperative built on transparency, ownership, and mutual benefit — a decent respect for the truth requires that they declare the causes which compel this separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that real estate professionals are the industry. That the value of every transaction flows from their knowledge, their relationships, and their work. That the institutions built to serve them have instead learned to profit from them. That when any system becomes destructive to the interests of those it was built to serve, it is the right of the practitioners to alter or abolish it — and to institute something new.
The Grievances
Against the National Association of Realtors:
It has imposed mandatory dues of $500–700 per year upon 1.6 million working Realtors — not for the benefit of the member, but to fund a lobbying apparatus that protects the institution, not the professional. It has maintained a designation monopoly as a mechanism of extraction. It has directed member money toward political contributions no member voted to make, and survived scandal after scandal on the backs of people who had no choice but to pay.
Against the 580 Fragmented MLS Boards:
They have carved the American real estate market into 580 fiefdoms, each charging separately, none interoperable, none accountable to any national standard. They have made it impossible for a professional to serve clients across regional lines without paying tribute to every board in the path. They have resisted unification for decades — not because unification would harm the profession, but because fragmentation protects their revenue.
Against Zillow and the Lead Tax Economy:
They have taken listings created by agents, published them for free, and sold those same agents’ own leads back to them at $300–1,000 per month. They have built a billion-dollar business on the labor of the very people they charge to participate, positioning themselves as the consumer’s first stop while making the agent invisible in the transaction they originated.
The Declaration
We, the undersigned, do hereby declare that the American Real Estate Cooperative exists as a member-owned alternative to every institution named above. Its members own it. Its finances are public every week without exception. It accepts no political donations, pursues no lobbying agenda, and returns surplus to the people who created it. Membership is $49 per month — flat, transparent, and complete.
We declare that every member shall have a vote. That no board may make a decision the membership has not authorized. That this is a platform built by the doers, owned by the doers.
We declare that this document, once signed, is permanent. The names upon it are the record of those who chose a different path — before it was easy, before it was inevitable, before history had already written the outcome.
We pledge to each other our professional reputations, our networks, and our sacred commitment to an industry that finally works for the people who built it.
Signers of the Declaration
Matthew Garrison
Founder & CTO — MLS of America · Mount Dora, Florida
Jennifer Garrison
Broker-Owner, Garrison Realty Group · Mount Dora, Florida · 20-year veteran
Citizens of the Revolution
George Jefferson
✦ Signing closes midnight, July 3rd, 2026 — The Declaration is sealed on Independence Day ✦
Founding Fathers ($199) and Paul Reveres ($500) are named Signers — their names appear on this document permanently.
Sign the Declaration →
