Are Realtors Relevant?  Say what?!

And lo, the response did come, from both east and west; from the north the south - from sinners who earn a living that way:

"Of course Realtors are relevant. That's what our blog commenters have said -  as well as everyone in the real estate business attending Real Estate Connect NYC."

That was Inman News' dazzling conclusion to their blog poll which asked the question: "Are Realtors still relevant?"

Apparently they are. So full marks to Inman for their insightful poll. Hey, Inman, I've got a goodie for your next poll. How about: "Is the Pope still relevant to Catholics?" But you can only ask Christians. The ones that live within five kilometers of the Vatican. Ah, those crazy Europeans with their kilometers.

The real problem with the question of course is that the question wasn't about Realtors at all, but about real estate agents in general. Realtors, as we all know, are simply members of our trade group, the National Association of Realtors. The question wasn't about them. It was meant to include everyone. Minor point perhaps, but you'd imagine that at conference of real estate professionals, folk would know the difference - and would take more care in assembling such a probing question.

Allan Dalton, president of Move Inc.'s real estate division, rightly noted  that the agent population now needs to focus more on skills rather than service when defining relevancy. Skills like, um, knowing what a Realtor is.

"So what? you say. Who cares!? It was a great conference."

I don't doubt it. I wish I could have attended.

But I'll tell you who cares. NAR cares. Now let me tell you who else should care:

YOU. If you're a member.

Why?

Because NAR has spent millions of dollars of your money in your name to "educate" the public on precisely this small matter. Besides, our esteemed President could have suffered a catastrophic thrombosis at such a large number of professionals practicing such ignorance in public.

The real irony is that today, just two days later, NAR President Pat Combs announced the launch of NAR's 2007 public awareness campaign. Almost as if a little bird had told of the scandalous goings on in New York.

This year's campaign marks the most extensive outreach effort since the Public Awareness Campaign began 10 years ago. Ads will be broadcast nationwide from January to November and will air nearly 9,000 ads on national TV and radio and more than 25,000 times on local radio stations. And for what?

"Hey Pat!  Say, if agents still don't know what a Realtor is after ten years, how the hell are we ever gonna brainwash the public? I'm serious. Quit wasting countless thousands of member dues on "educating" the public about what a Realtor is - and do something about the state of the MLS before we all go the way of the dinosaurs!"

But we'll never go the way of the dinosaurs will we. That just won't happen. It can't.

Why?

Because we're too "relevant."

Image caption: Allan Dalton, left, president of Move Inc.'s Real Estate Division, and Glenn Kelman, CEO for Redfin, engage in a debate Monday at the Real Estate Connect NYC conference.

p.s. I love Inman.