There has been a lot of discussion this month among REALTORS® about raising the bar for real estate agents. It started as a result of discussion about how real estate agents are viewed in the business world. It has continued with conversations held on Twitter, Facebook, Google Wave, blogs, conferences, phone calls and face to face discussions about how and what bar to raise.
There has been concern that agents will look bad, for the public nature of the discussion, something I obviously disagree with given where I have placed this particular post. It’s not that I’m not sensitive to the idea that we shouldn’t air our dirty laundry in front of everybody, It’s more a belief that it is out there and everyone needs to see that we are interested in cleaning it up. It is the public that has said their perception of us is low; it can’t hurt to have the public know that they have been heard and we are working to improve.
However, the question does persist, as to what we need to improve. Personally, I believe that a well trained, seasoned real estate agent can add value with negotiation skills, finance, construction & market knowledge, as well as marketing skills, area expertise and be a counselor, consultant and sounding board so that the consumer can make good real estate decisions.
On the other hand, I believe that as real estate agents, we operate in the middle of a semi-adversarial process where opposing parties have very different goals. This often leads to situations where one or both agents in a transaction may be perceived as a villain for not obtaining all the goals. In other words, if a party to the transaction believes they gave up more than they thought they were going to, they may like their agent and despise all others.
I believe that we must always strive to be better or raise the bar, and I will continue to take courses, read, attend meetings, study the market, talk to economists, talk to builders and developers, and study mortgage markets, real estate law and pass it on when I can. I would also really like to hear, from REALTORS® and CONSUMERS as to what services, what knowledge, what expertise, what educational standards, in other words, what bar should be raised.
Be great,
John
