Which Real Estate Designations Provide Value to You and Help You Better Serve the Public?
There are a lot of reasons real estate agents pursue professional designations and most of these reasons provide great value to the agent professionally and educationally, while greatly helping them serve the public better as well. As members of an ever evlolving industry it's important that we immerse ourselves in continuing education, and most real estate commissions require it for us to maintain licensure. Continuing to learn about topics that affect home ownership and all of the issues that surround it make Realtors and agents more useful to the public. However, while we derive benefits from the education that may even make us more qualified to serve the public, I'm not sure that having all of the alpahabet soup after our names makes much of a difference to the public if we don't articulate the benefits they can derive from working with someone who has taken such effort to become a knowledgeable expert.
I've always felt it made sense to pursue designations to meet the continuing education requirements, I feel that these courses are better laid out in a way that builds a strong framework and allows me to experience personal growth while providing much greater value to the public. Over the years I've taken the ABR, and GRI I, II, and III courses to meet these requirements. Further, completing GRI has allowed me to sit for the brokers cram course as well, and I hope to be an Associate Broker next month. The quality of instruction, networking opportunities and personal growth I've obtained during these courses has provided excellent value to me and to my clients.
I hope you will help in answering the questions below, and commenting on what they mean to you. Also, as I pursue 24 Hours before December, I wonder which designation I should pursue next? I'm thinking about CRS, but have interest in CIPS and several others, so I welcome your insights!
Which designation do you feel provides the best value, and if you could choose one, which would it be?
How do your designations better help you serve the public?
Do they set you apart from your competitors?
What can someone with your designation accomplish that someone with less experience and education might not be able to do?
What does it mean to your buyer that you are an ABR?
Do sellers understand how your obtaining the GRI, CRS or E-pro designations help them?
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