Many real estate agents have a tendency to voice their complaints.  What do they complain about?   Mostly, other agents. 

                                                                             It isn't the lack of training, or the contract documents, or the difficulties with foreclosures or short sales (don't get me wrong, everyone is frustrated with the lack of standardization and regulation of short sales), but by a wide margin the complaints are centered on the lack of professionalism in the business.  I know, the phrase "lack of professionalism" can mean any number of things.  But, for our purposes, let's break it down into four areas, 1)  Honesty; 2)  Answering inquiries;  3)  Lack of knowledge;  4)  Poor customer service.

While each of these areas can examined a bit more closely, for the purposes of this short article, assuming these are true, why is this tolerated?  What is it about the real estate profession or culture that encourages these?  A good place to start might be with the barebones and inexpensive prerequisites required to get a license as an agent.   

According to the Virginia Code, 60 hours of classroom (distance learning works as well) in the principles of real estate, and passing the state and national portions of the salesperson examination is what's required for licensing as an agent.   Do those 60 hours include any training in Ethics?  Are prospective agents required to memorize the national Association of Realtors Code of Ethics?  What about their Standards of Practice that practicing Realtors are bound by?  Do aspiring Realtors have to be familiar with the Standards they are obligated to follow as practitioners?  Or, are the Standards simply picked up piecemeal along the way?  Apparently that's the status quo.  And, if that's the case, what's needed to change the way we do business? 

Transformational Leader                  

The real estate profession needs leadership that will change the culture and the marginal "accepted" practices of its members.  Changing the culture or accepted norms of any organization requires leadership that has vision, demands excellence, and is willing to make tough decisions.  These hard choices demand more than the usual "care taker" type leaders we've come to accept.  What's necessary, is a new breed of leadership that models the professional disciplines of competence, quality performance, and moral courage.  The new leadership needs to be nothing short of transformational, establishing a vision for a higher standard of performance, and demanding accountability.  

Real estate has witnessed a number of changes over the past few years, many of those due to technological innovation, and the new business models that benefitted from them.  And, in many ways, we've enhanced the product we provide our clients.  But we've only touched the surface of what's needed to improve our profession.  It's now time to work on skill sets and the character of the practitioners.  And, to make that a reality, we need leadership that is more concerned with the quality of our business than the quantity.  

Are our leaders ready to meet that challenge?     

To Continue Reading this Article, Click Here: Are We Being Led, Or Led On? (Part II)