I have been a long time proponent of the ideal that real estate agents must represent their clients with absolute honesty and integrity, and I believe that this ideal should still be held as the top priority of any person seeking a career as a licensed real estate agent.

However, I have recently been forced to rethink my ideals.  The question that brought about this reevaluation was "Is an agent who handles every transaction, whether representing a buyer or a seller, with honesty and integrity doing enough?"  I have reached the conclusion that the answer is overwhelmingly "No!"

It is quite clear that I need to add an additional minimum qualification to my expectations, and the following is what I have come up with:  "No individual should seek to gain their real estate license and to represent the public on what is, in nearly every case, the biggest investment they ever make, buying or selling their home, without holding the absolute ideals of honesty, integrity and COMPETANCY."

It is my feeling that the majority of the general population takes for granted, when they speak with a licensed real estate professional, that this person is competent in the field of real estate.  While it is true that Virginia requires licensees to meet certain "minimum" education requirements and pass a basic state and national exam in order to attain licensure status, these "minimums" are far to little to ensure that real estate licensee possess a true competency in the vast spectrum of knowledge and expertise required to give their clients the best levels of representation through every phase of the real estate transaction.

If you are new to the business, you may say "Well, the State of Virginia and the Virginia Real Estate Board gave me a license; therefore, I am deemed competent in their eyes."  However, I maintain that, without further experience and training, no agent is competent to conduct a transaction in today's real estate market.

There are too many facets to a real estate transaction for a new licensee, a part-time licensee or even a full-time licensee to understand without advanced training and strong guidance.  This begs the question of "How does a licensee gain the competence required to best represent his or her clients?"

According to the VREB, the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of that agent's Broker of Record.  While I agree whole-heartedly that every broker should make sure that no agent under his or her supervision is practicing real estate in an area exceeding that agent's basic understanding of real estate practices and that every broker should work diligently to train, guide and, when necessary, hold that agent's hand through every difficult stage of the client's transaction, I believe the responsibility is further reaching.

No brokerage, no matter how well structured and supervised, can oversee every decision the agent makes.  Agents, for the most part, are independent contractors of the brokerage and are, therefore, not subject to all of the rules and requirements of a typical employer/employee relationship.  Yes, a responsible broker will terminate the independent contractor relationship with an incompetent agent, but, more often than not, this "incompetency" will only come to the broker's attention AFTER the damage is done.

We might also say that the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of the individual agent, and I whole-heartedly agree that each individual agent is solely responsible for seeking his or her own destiny in real estate.  Every agent, whether new or seasoned, should seek to always be a "sponge" and soak up every last drop of available information to ensure proper representation of their clients.  Everything from learning how to properly enter "unambiguous" information into contracts, handling negotiations, knowing your ever-changing market conditions, attending more continuing education than the "minimum" requirements and countless other actions to gain understanding and competency is critical for the agent to seek out, retain and apply to their real estate practice, or else the agent is not performing his or her duty to represent the public professionally, honestly and ethically.

In conclusion, I believe the real estate community owes it to itself to work together diligently to ensure that every licensee is conducting business with honesty, integrity and competency.  The responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of each and every licensee and overseeing organization to pay attention to how individual licensees are conducting themselves and to call these licensees on actions that either put their clients at risk or damage the integrity of the industry.  It is the responsibility of the Virginia Real Estate Board to effectively "filter out" both potential and current licensees through education and proper oversight.  It is the responsibility of the individual Realtor organizations to police their members and ensure compliance with the rules and regulations handed down through the appropriate governing bodies.  It is the responsibility of the supervising brokers to only allow competent agents to affiliate with their organizations, or, at a minimum, to ensure proper training of these agents prior to "unleashing" them onto the public, and it is ultimately the responsibility of each individual licensee to look at themselves to identify areas of weakness, to work diligently to strengthen themselves in these area and to never venture outside of these area of competence without first receiving the proper guidance and training from a reputable source.  Ultimately, I might add, it is the responsibility of the general public to ask appropriate questions and listen carefully to the responses before jumping into an agency relationship with any licensee, because the bottom line is "You don't always get what you pay for, and, sometimes, you pay too much!"