Realtor Ethics - Confessions of a Realtor

Confession of a Realtor from Patrick.net,

My general approach to life is to observe as objectively as possible then to make adjustments accordingly. After all, as we say in Real Estate, motivated people face reality and take action. That's me. I'm motivated. Ms. Motivation.

I started working as a loan officer three and a half years ago and then transitioned into real estate sales. I really loved this business from the beginning. I love the variety of tasks, learning the laws, the lender guidelines, working with people. So I furthered my education and joined 'the board'. Now I am a full-fledged Realtor. Joy.

Being a loan officer for a while, you figure things out as patterns emerge. You've got a broker shop with an owner who employs their friends and family. You've got a revolving door of loan officers who come and go. And the only people who seem to make the money, consistently, are the owners and the friends and family. Yes, there is a lot wrong with this picture, but I won't go into that here.

"Well", I thought, as one brilliant thought followed another, "I'll transition into real estate sales. It's gotta be better there. The people present much better, That's for sure."

Since I'm relatively intelligent -- well, I guess this depends on who you talk to -- I pick up on things a lot faster now than I used to. You know, the duplicity, the illusion, right? Took me a while to see it in the mortgage world. The view of the world that "we think like this. If you are to be one of us, you will think like us." You get it, right? Collective CYA (Cover Your Ass). Let's start our new real estate careers in fear, shall we?

When you "join the board", which is a requirement to gain access to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), you must attend "Ethics Training". If you don't, you will be denied access to the MLS, even though you paid your fees. OK, well, ethics training. Great!! Let's have some. Bring it on. I love ethics. I read about it and try to live it.

The trouble is that in all the books I've read and all the seminars I've been to, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) seems to define "Ethics Training" to include a few add-ons. Call me naive, but what do you expect? I thought I'd learn all about how to treat clients, to be honest, even if it's not what others want to hear, above all else, to put clients' interests first. And we did briefly touch on this. Not ethics training -- "nethics" training.

NETHICS (noun): Ethics according to the National Association of Realtors.

First and foremost on this agenda is do not ever, ever, never under any circumstances give the slightest smidgeon of a passing thought that brokers fix commission prices. The first and only video we viewed trained us specifically on the "commission objection", to basically say whatever you want, other than "this is a typical charge for the industry" and certainly NOT "this is what everyone charges". This message from NAR took up the first hour of a four-hour training class on ethics. I was sitting there just shocked.

Secondly, we never ever under any circumstances say anything negative about other Realtors. What? If I have personal knowledge that some agent is a real snake, I can't warn people? That's right folks. Any and all such comments must be sent to the "Ethics Committee" and dealt with behind closed doors. Hmmm. What about the public's best interest? This second message took up another hour of this four-hour seminar.

So there you go. I'm a full-fledged, ethical Realtor. We don't fix prices and we don't talk bad about each other. Would you like to see some property?

It's not that I think these are bad ideas. But why are these two things the very most important "ethical" topics in real estate? Am I missing something here or is something really missing? This just doesn't make sense, unless... hmmm...

NO. THAT couldn't be. Its just not possible that the most important thing to NAR leadership is staying in control and staying in power and covering their asses, even though they are not competent to run the organization. It just COULDN'T be smoke and mirrors. It COULDN'T be that their time has passed, that they need to evolve and adjust to the vastly different new paradigm in which the world now operates. Could someone please tell NAR that the iron-fist approach is just passe?

With so much emphasis and focus placed on CYA, is it any wonder NAR has missed so many opportunities to be a voice for transparency and honesty? That's not even on the radar.

As for me, I continue my pursuit of a more ethical profession. I'm pondering law school. (Just kidding.)