Have you noticed that there has been an explosion of foreclosure experts wanting to teach their secrets to REALTORS?  Yes, in most cases these folks never dealt with foreclosures before.  After taking a weekend seminar from one of the known information peddlers, they get some business cards printed up, and now they are experts. It's a shame that this area of our industry isn't more regulated.  Realtors Beware!

There are the broader issues of embellishment and puffery that need to be addressed before we can tackle this one.  Indulge for a moment me if you will, one of the things that I noticed when I got into the real estate business was that most people labeled themselves as "experts."  There are neighborhood experts, functional experts, luxury homes experts, military relocation experts, and the list goes on and on.  My question is, how does an individual who has never been trained in military relocations for example, get away with the title military relocation expert?  As a military retiree who has had experience in military relocations, I don't even use the term to describe myself.  The fact that a Realtor closed some transactions with military members should not be a qualifying criterion.  There is a lot more to military relocation than merely assisting with the purchase or sale of a home, and I firmly believe the military does a good job with military relocations.  

The term "expert" is used too loosely in our industry.  I would not have a problem if we only used the term "professional" because that's what we are.  But "expert" is the buzz word used to attract customers. Everyone uses it. But are we really experts?  In the same way the term is used by Realtors to attract customers, it is also used by the fly by night “training expert” to attract us.

Most of you would agree that standards in the areas of continuing education and training for real estate professionals need to be tightened up.  Until that’s addressed, I do not see much change occurring in our industry.