No. It takes effect only if both memberships vote to approve it and NAR grants administrative approval. The HLAoR and ABoR Boards have completed thorough due diligence and planning so that you have a real scenario from which to cast an informed vote.

Highland Lakes is not in crisis, and that is the point. Like every small association, HLAoR faces rising platform and technology costs and slowing membership, and our recent budgets reflect that. Acting while the association is healthy — with reserves, a valuable MLS and a name that means something in this market — is what earned the terms we got. Waiting until our options narrowed would have been the mistake. The full financial package is published above so you can judge for yourself.

The schedule is set by a hard deadline: the combination must be approved by NAR in time for 2027 dues billing in December. Missing that window costs dual subscribers another full year of duplicate fees. Diligence was thorough, counsel on both sides was engaged, and nothing is final until HLAoR members vote.

HLAoR will not have an independent NAR charter, and the HLAoR board will become a Chapter Council rather than a sovereign board. In addition, HLMLS will transition from Paragon to Matrix (and Unlock MLS rules) in mid-2027 after months of training and hands-on support.

We understand that these are meaningful changes. What HLAoR negotiated to keep is the name, the Marble Falls office, local staff, local programming, a Chapter Council, and a permanent seat at the ABoR and Unlock MLS Board table. Plus, long-term sustainability and strength. That is the trade, and it’s yours to weigh.

Members are asked to approve a Plan of Distribution (Exhibit A) under which HLAoR would wind up its business, satisfy its debts and obligations, transfer its remaining assets to the Austin Board of REALTORS®, and formally terminate as a Texas nonprofit corporation. The assets that transfer include the Marble Falls building, contracts and licenses, our trademarks and name, our website and phone numbers, employment relationships with current staff, and the shares of Highland Lakes MLS, Inc., which then combines into Unlock MLS.

That is the legal mechanism that allows one organization to continue rather than two. Nothing is sold, no member receives any payment or distribution, and your REALTOR® membership carries over without a lapse. What continues, continues inside ABoR, but under the Highland Lakes Chapter name.

HLAoR isn’t giving its assets away – it’s bringing them along. Highland Lakes members don't hand assets to strangers and walk away — they become voting ABoR members and bring the assets with them. Nothing is sold, and nothing is cashed out. Even if HLAoR were to wind down on its own, the law requires those assets to be sent to Texas REALTORS® or another REALTOR® association. The HLAoR Board approached ABoR about combination to ensure those resources continue to serve Highland Lakes’ interests. 

ABoR is taking on HLAoR’s overhead and operating costs – not just its revenue and reserves. Should the combination proceed, ABoR and Unlock MLS immediately assume the bills associated with those assets — building costs, staffing, vendor contracts, and the cost of running two MLS systems simultaneously until conversion is complete.

Any licensed agent can already work anywhere in Texas — the Highland Lakes market was never fenced off, and combining does not change who can list or sell where. What changes is the cost structure and the back office behind you, not who your peers are.

Both associations continue to operate exactly as they do today — no immediate change. But the pressures we described above don't reverse on their own just because the vote fails. Absent this agreement, your Board would be facing real decisions on its own: adjustments to dues, to member benefits, and to staffing, on a timeline we don't control as well as we do today. We're not telling you the outcome is decided — it isn't, and the vote is genuinely yours. We just want you to decide with the full picture, not a partial one.