WHAT MAKES REALTORS SO SPECIAL?

WHAT MAKES REALTORS SO SPECIAL?
 
There are some things I just can't get my head around about the Competition Bureaus fixture on the real estate industry.
 
Because of my family's participation in the industry since the early 1950's I have seen how hard Realtors in British Columbia have worked towards insuring the highest level of professionalism, and protection of the public.
 
It’s fair to state that fifty and more years ago there was a real need for those improvement but I'll save those stores for another time.
 
There was a time that anyone who wished to become a Realtor had to first find an agency that would sponsor them. Then they could apply to the Real Estate Council to take the applicable course and than apply for licensing.
 
But other Canadians wishing to enter the trades are required to seek the sponsorship of an employers first. Why are we so special?
 
There was a time in British Columbia that there was a limit on the number of seats available for the B.C.’s licensing courses. Apparently such limititations can be interpreted as "a restrictions of trade". Today if you have the bucks for the course you’re in. Seats in law, medicine, education, physiotherapy, MBA's, PHD, and trade schools are limited. What makes us so special?
 
There was a time that a Realtor in British Columbia could not hold a license as a Realtor and work at another job either part-time or full time. Another restraint of trade? Now rather than a profession of dedicated Realtors there are a growing number of part-time Realtors who sell or list one, two or three houses a year ... friends and relatives. There involvement, market knowledge, level of professionalism is sketchy at best. How is that serving the public?
 
In the 1990s a B.C. real estate company was sold to a new owner who had the seller commit to a "non-competition" clause in the purchase agreement. A year later the old owner set up a new company in close proximity to the business he sold. When the new owner went to court to enforce the "non-competition" clause the action failed because a "non-competition" clause is deemed a "restriction of trade" and therefore unenforceable.
 
Give your head a shake.
 
I just don't get it!
 
What makes Realtors so special?