What do REALTORS® and Kleenex Have in Common?
OR What is the Code of Ethics and How Does it Affect You as a Home Buyer or Seller?
Do you notice how certain words, when used repeatedly, become synonymous with others?
For example:
- we call tissues Kleenex, even though not all tissues are Kleenex brand
- we call photocopying, Xeroxing
- we call soda pop, Coke (at least in Atlanta we do!)
We call real estate agents, REALTORS®...
But as with the above examples, not all real estate agents are REALTORS®, just as not all photocopy machines are Xeroxes.
The major difference is the Code of Ethics, which all REALTORS® are bound to follow and honor. You see, most of the time, when a person receives his or her real estate license, they place it with a brokerage, under whose name they work. That broker may require that real estate agent to join their local Board of REALTORS®. The Gebhardt Group are members of the Atlanta Board of REALTORS® - by paying our dues to our local Board, we are also members in good standing with the Georgia Association of REALTORS® and the National Association of REALTORS®.
If you hire a REALTOR®, you can be assured that REALTOR® will
- Be honest with all parties in the transaction - not just with you, as his or her client, but also with the other real estate practitioner and his or her clients.
- Put your interests ahead of his or her own, at all times.
- Disclose all pertinent facts regarding the property and the transaction to both buyer and seller.
- Be truthful in all communications with the public.
If you hire a real estate agent, he or she may act with the same ethicics, but is not honor-bound to do so. With a REALTOR®, you know what you're getting.
Hire a REALTOR®.
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Maura Neill, ABR, CRS, MA
The Gebhardt Group
RE/MAX Greater Atlanta
10220 Medlock Bridge Road
Johns Creek, GA 30097
(770) 238-0595
email: Maura@GebhardtGroup.com
website: http://www.GebhardtGroup.com/
blog: http://www.GebhardtGroupBlog.com/
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