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

1. 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.
2. Put your interests ahead of his or her own, at all times.
3. Disclose all pertinent facts regarding the property and the transaction to both buyer and seller.
4. 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.

For a full version of the REALTOR® Code of Ethics and the accompanying Standards of Practice, you can click here.

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/