Lately, I've had the displeasure of dealing with a couple of new agents who are so obviously NOT experienced enough to be handling their side of the transaction. Let me clarify....my displeasure does not come from dealing with an inexperienced agent. As a matter of fact, I will usually go out of my way to accommodate a new agent and assist them as much as I can without crossing the line of misrepresenting my own client.
My frustration comes from the irritating manner in which these agents try to disguise or compensate for the fact that they are inexperienced by being overly aggressive, argumentative, and just plain rude. Do they believe that in order to represent their clients in the highest manner, they must fight a vicious, bloody and grueling fight of epic proportions on the field of battle with me? (Of course, spoken with sarcasm) Or if they can somehow create the illusion with their client that they are dealing with an incompetent agent on the other end, it will somehow elevate them in their client's eyes and hide their own inexperience and inadequacies? Either way, I have had to hold myself in check more than once recently when tempted to expose them for the incompetent agents they really are in front of their own clients.
Prior to real estate, I spent 12 years as a paralegal. One attorney that I worked for, Jim Newberry, was a mentor to me, and his lessons regarding life left a lasting impression on me. Back in 1995, he was asked to speak to a group of attorneys, and his words of wisdom were so eloquent and powerful that they were framed and displayed in the Greene County Courthouse. I've been thinking of that speech and how appropriate that speech is for OUR profession as well.
Our trust is more sacred than that of any other profession. Individuals trust their health to doctors and dentists. They trust their accountant with the management of their money. They trust architects and engineers with the soundness of their structures and products. We help with all of these things, but more importantly, the public has trusted us with the truth. Whatever we’ve done to cause the public to lose respect for us, we must change.
We must remember and live by this: Our first duty is not to our client…it is to the Court…the system we serve. If we live by this, our conduct will give no one cause for complaint.
We will seek to solve disputes, not create them.
We will make things simpler, not more complex; easier, not harder.
We will see the formality of the process not as an obstacle; but as an affirmation of our traditions…traditions that have worked.
Our clients do not need for us to be angry. They do not need us to be rude. They do not need us to be petty and mean-spirited. They easily manage all of this by themselves. It is because this comes so readily to them that we are needed…needed to calm the stormy seas…to be steady at the helm…to find safe harbor before all is lost.
If we cannot, as a group, do this...we will all go and be not missed or mourned. If, on the other hand, we are the solutions to the problem and not its cause, if we are the grease, not the grit, everyone will feel better about us and we will feel better about ourselves.
Unless we honor our profession by what we say and do, we cannot expect anyone else to do so.”
Installation Banquet Remarks
January 21, 1995
I know a couple of REALTORS® who could use this speech right now. Until we begin to show respect for each other, we cannot expect the public to show respect for us. If we are unhappy with the ugly stigma that has been placed on our profession, we have only ourselves to look to for a solution.
Until we place our own Code of Ethics back to the forefront of our profession, and we work harder to not just enforce, but wholeheartedly SERVE them, we will continue spiraling down the rankings of public opinion until the public finds us more burdensome than beneficial.
"---Realizing that cooperation with other real estate professionals promotes the best interests of those who utilize their services, REALTORS® urge exclusive representation of clients; do not attempt to gain any unfair advantage over their competitors; and they refrain from making unsolicited comments about other practitioners.
In instances where their opinion is sought, or where REALTORS® believe that comment is necessary, their opinion is offered in an objective, professional manner, uninfluenced by any personal motivation or potential advantage or gain.
The term REALTOR® has come to connote competency, fairness, and high integrity resulting from adherence to a lofty ideal of moral conduct in business relations. No inducement of profit and no instruction from clients ever can justify departure from this ideal.
In the interpretation of this obligation, REALTORS® can take no safer guide than that which has been handed down through the centuries, embodied in the Golden Rule, “Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them."
Preamble
Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
Effective January 1, 2011
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Lina Robertson Jones
Owner/Agent
RE/MAX Solutions
1715 James River Road
Ozark, MO, 65721 |
Mobile: (417) 844-7265
linarobertson@remax.net
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RE/MAX - Outstanding Agents, Outstanding Results!
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About the author: I am full-time REALTOR® with RE/MAX Solutions in Springfield, MO, and a member of the Greater Springfield Board of REALTORS®. I have helped hundreds of families in the Springfield, Nixa, Republic and Ozark real estate markets, whether buying a home, or selling a home. Visit my website at www.ozarks-realestate.com to search for All Springfield MO Area MLS listings. Want to know what our market is like? My website is also an excellent resource for current Springfield MO Area Real Estate Market Reports, as well as current market reports for Ozark, Nixa, Republic, and Rogersville.
