Is Your Agent A Realtor And Should You Care?
Before I get into this I’d like to make something clear. Not every real estate agent is a Realtor. In other words, “Realtor” is not a job description like “real estate agent” is.
A Realtor is a real estate agent (or broker) that is a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The association bestows the name “Realtor” on real estate agents that are granted membership into the association and, more importantly, are willing to pony up the annual dues that allow them to wear a shiny little pin with an “R” on it and call themselves Realtors.
To answer the question in the title of this post, namely: Is your agent a Realtor and should you care? The short answer in my opinion is no, you should not care.
The most important things you should concern yourself with when seeking a real estate agent are things like whether or not you feel that the agent is knowledgeable, experienced and most importantly, trustworthy.
There are a lot of real estate agents out there, so be sure you take the time to pick one you genuinely like and that you feel is an honest and trustworthy person. Don’t sign any papers until you are sure you want to work with an agent.
If you talk to an agent you are not comfortable with, simply move on and find another one. Like I said, there are many to choose from so don’t settle on someone you are not completely comfortable with.
Not all good, trustworthy agents are Realtors and not all Realtors are good, trustworthy agents. Despite what those clever Realtor commercials on TV would have you believe.
Those commercials make is look as if every Realtor on Earth has been sent down from the heavens as a gift to all those seeking to sell or purchase real estate.
Since I was once an actual, bona fide Realtor myself, I can speak from a bit of experience on this subject.
While I was attending my real estate licensing classes here in New Hampshire, there was a fellow in our class who had been working as a real estate agent for a while and was in the class just to pick up the additional classroom time he needed to take the broker’s exam.
One day the subject of Realtors came up and this fellow remarked that the National Association of Realtors was basically just the real estate agent’s union. I’d be hard pressed to think of a better description of the organization myself.
After being hired by the real estate office I worked in, I was told that I had to join NAR. No, I did not have a choice. If I wanted to work in that office, I had to join and come up with the dues, which were around $400 a year at that time, as I recall. That was the policy of the company I was working for at the time. No NAR membership meant no job with that company.
What, you might ask, does the NAR actually do? Well, as they are so fond of informing the public about, they have developed a code of ethics that all members are sworn to abide by. They do a lot more than that, but that’s their big selling point that they want to get out there in front of the real estate buying (and selling) public.
Before you start picturing intensive classroom training for weeks, or even days, which instills a deep sense of responsibility and ethics in all the attendees, let me fill you in on exactly how it all played out.
I was required to attend approximately four gatherings of other new applicants at various locations around the state. If memory serves me correctly, the lengthiest of these gatherings lasted about four hours – give or take an hour or so.
I will say that a lot if the information and material that was presented at these gatherings was indeed very good and useful information for new agents. All the advice and guidance given was helpful to me and I was happy to have had the opportunity to receive it.
The final gathering was where the actual swearing in took place. The location was a very nice country club in Manchester where all of the new members were provided with a breakfast buffet (which was actually quite good) to enjoy while we listened to the local NAR luminaries drone on about how wonderful the association is.
I must admit to feeling a bit silly and perhaps rather like a Boy Scout toward the end of the event when all of us newbies were directed to stand up at the front of the room and recite (in unison) the association’s pledge (or whatever they call it) with right hand raised. I half expected a secret passage to open behind the fireplace for the purpose of granting access to the Bat Cave for the assembled newly-minted Realtors.
Beyond feeling a bit ridiculous, I felt that the stated goals of the association were worthy ones and that I would be a better real estate agent as a result of my NAR membership.
The gleam of a new penny will, of course, diminish with time. And being a bit of a cynic at heart (can you tell?), my opinion of the association evolved over time. Accelerated perhaps just a bit each time I found myself in receipt of a billing notice for dues.
Beyond their efforts to assure that their members are not screwing the public over (how anyone could, while wearing the coveted “R” pin is beyond me!) lies the primary reason for the associations existence.
Money, of course. How could you imagine otherwise?
That’s a bit simplistic perhaps. The money that is extracted from their willing (and perhaps no-so-willing) members is used in great quantities for political lobbying purposes. Another great surprise!
Just like any other association, they are most interested in furthering the causes of their industry. And you can be sure there is no shortage of bottom-feeding, low-life politicians in Washington and elsewhere with palms extended and a receptive ear for the taking.
Favorable legislative outcomes mean more money for the real estate industry just as they do for any other industry. It’s all about the money, as it nearly always is.
Another huge portion of the associations coffers are utilized for the public relations campaigns. Among them, the commercial advertisements you may have seen on television that encourage you to be sure that your agent is a Realtor.
More customers asking if their agent is a Realtor means more Realtors, which means more money for NAR, which means more money for legislative initiatives, which means more money for the real estate industry. See how simple it all is?
The guy in my real estate licensing course was right on the money, so to speak. NAR’s goals and actions are hardly different than that of any other labor union.
This is not intended to be a hatchet job on NAR. After all, as I pointed out, they are hardly any different from the steel workers union, electricians union or any other union whose main goal is to protect their industry.
They also do actually provide a ton of useful information and resources for their members, including a very extensive web site. They also have another nice web site that lists real estate for sale all over the country for anyone to utilize.
My real motivation for writing this is because I hate to think of some hard-working and honest real estate agent who is not a Realtor losing out on some business because a potential customer ended up with the impression that their agent just had to be a Realtor.
I can easily understand why some agents might want to reject the “party line” and keep the $400 (or whatever it is these days) that would otherwise go into the NAR coffers each year. Maybe they just don’t like unions.
The bottom line is this: If you find and agent you like and feel that you can trust, don’t give the question about whether or not they are a Realtor a second thought.
[tags]realtor, national association of realtors, real estate, agent[/tags]
