Tag: Realtor Code of Ethics

Why Wouldn’t a Listing Agent Want to Maximize the Exposure of His Listings?

Although the average real estate agent barely makes a living and either has a second income source or a high-earning spouse, about 10% of agents earn a lot of money — and want to earn even more.

Myself, I make a very good living, as evidenced by the fact that I’m writing this week’s column while Rita and I are on vacation in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. (I’ll be home by the time this column appears in print.)

But my business model does not involve doing every single thing I can to maximize my personal income. I get more satisfaction from trying to maximize my service to others, including my clients and the unknown readers of this blog. Since long before I became a Realtor, I lived by a motto that has mistakenly been attributed to Confucius. “Concentrate on giving, and the getting will take care of itself.”

My Denver Post column — what newspapers call an “advertorial” — is evidence of that strategy. As a former newspaper journalist trained on the metro desk of The Washington Post in 1968, I decided at the very beginning of my real estate career in 2003 that I’d spend my marketing dollars on buying newspaper space to publish a helpful real estate column.

It has paid off quite well. Unlike every real estate agent I know, I have never made a cold call or prospected in any way to get buyers and sellers to hire me. (This month, I just realized, is the 20th anniversary of getting my real estate license and starting as a broker associate at the Union Blvd. office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, now called Coldwell Banker Realty for some reason I have yet to learn.)

That column, which also appears in three Jefferson County weekly newspapers, is my sole outreach to potential clients, and every week I get one or more calls from someone who says, in effect, “I’ve been reading your column for many years, knowing the day would come when I’d call you to sell my home. Today’s that day!”

The above is a long-winded way of saying that I’m happy to abide by the Realtor Code of Ethics (and state law) which says I should put clients’ interest ahead of my own. This brings me back to the question posed in this article’s headline.

Last week, members of REcolorado, Denver’s MLS, received an email detailing how easy our MLS has made it to withhold a listing from all syndication, including Zillow, Redfin, and even REcolorado’s own consumer-facing website, www.REcolorado.com.

That email cast its guidance in the context of a seller requesting such limited exposure, but why would any seller give his/her listing agent informed consent to limit the exposure of their home’s listing to only their listing agent’s own website or circle of prospects? I suspect the only reason a listing agent would convince his or her client to approve such a strategy would be to maximize the chance that the agent wouldn’t have to compensate a buyer’s agent, thereby doubling his own commission earnings. That is not what anyone would call putting their clients’ interests ahead of their own.

Here’s How the National Association of Realtors Advises Its Members on How to Handle Multiple Offer Situations  

Many buyers and sellers and their agents have to deal with competing offers for new listings. The Colorado Real Estate Commission has offered no guidance on how to deal  (or not deal) with multiple offer situations. Below, however, is NAR’s guidance based on the articles and Standards of Practice from the Realtor Code of Ethics. Note: The Code only applies to Realtors, and roughly half of licensed real estate brokers are not members of their local Realtor association.

“When representing a buyer, seller, landlord, tenant, or other client as an agent, Realtors® pledge themselves to protect and promote the interests of their clients. This obligation to the client’s interests is primary, but it does not relieve Realtors of their obligation to treat all parties honestly.” (from Article 1 of the 2014 Realtors Code of Ethics)

“Realtors shall submit offers and counter-offers objectively and as quickly as possible.” (Standard of Practice 1-6)

Perhaps no situation routinely faced by Realtors can be more frustrating, fraught with potential for misunderstanding and missed opportunity, and elusive of a formulaic solution than presenting and negotiating multiple purchase or lease offers and/or counter-offers on the same property. Consider the competing dynamics. Listing brokers are charged with helping sellers get the highest price and the most favorable terms for their property. Buyers’ brokers help their clients purchase property at the lowest price and on favorable terms. Balanced against the Code’s mandate of honesty is the imperative to refrain from making disclosures that may not, in the final analysis, be in a client’s interests. (Revised 11/01)

Will disclosing the existence of one offer make a second potential purchaser more likely to sign a full price purchase offer—or to pursue a different opportunity? Will telling several potential purchasers that each will be given a final opportunity to make their best offer result in spirited competition for the seller’s property—or in a table devoid of offers? What is fair? What is honest? What is to be done? Who decides? And why is there not a simple way to deal with these situations? As Realtors know, there are almost never simple answers to complex situations. And multiple offer presentations and negotiations are nothing if not complex. But, al-though there is not a single, standard approach to dealing with multiple offers, there are fundamental principles to guide Realtors. While these guidelines focus on negotiation of purchase offers, the following general principles are equally applicable to negotiation of lease agreements. (Revised 11/01)

Be aware of your duties to your client — seller or buyer — both as established in the Code of Ethics and in state law and regulations. (Revised 5/01)

The Code requires you to protect and promote your client’s interests. State law or regulations will likely also spell out duties you owe to your client. The Code requires that you be honest with all parties. State law or regulations will likely spell out duties you owe to other parties and to other real estate professionals. Those duties may vary from the general guidance offered here. Realtors need to be familiar with applicable laws and regulations. Be aware of your duties to other parties — both as established in the Code of Ethics and in state law and regulation. Remember that the decisions about how offers will be presented, how offers will be negotiated, whether counter-offers will be made and ultimately which offer, if any, will be accepted, are made by the seller — not by the listing broker. (Revised 5/01)

Remember that decisions about how counter-offers will be presented, how counter-offers will be negotiated, and whether a counter-offer will be accepted, are made by the buyer — not by the buyer’s broker. (Adopted 5/01)

When taking listings, explain to sellers that receiving multiple competing offers is a possibility. Explain the various ways they may be dealt with (e.g., acceptance of the “best” offer; informing all potential purchasers that other offers are on the table and inviting them to make their best offer; countering one offer while putting the others to the side; countering one offer while rejecting the other offers, etc.). Explain the pluses and minuses of each approach (patience may result in an even better offer; inviting each offeror to make their “best” offer may produce a better offer[s] than what is currently on the table—or may discourage offerors and result in their pursuing other properties). Explain that your advice is just that and that your past experience cannot guarantee what a particular buyer may do. Remember — and remind the seller — that the decisions are theirs to make — not yours, and that you are bound by their lawful and ethical instructions. When entering into buyer representation agreements, explain to buyers that you or your firm may represent more than one buyer-client, that more than one of your clients or your firm’s clients may be interested in purchasing the same property, and how offers and counter-offers will be negotiated if that happens. (Adopted 5/01)

Explain the pluses and minuses of various negotiating strategies (that a “low” initial offer may result in the buyer purchasing the desired property at less than the listed price — or in another, higher offer from another buyer being accepted; that a full price offer may result in the buyer purchasing the desired property while paying more than the seller might have taken for the property, etc.). (Adopted 5/01)

Explain to the buyer that sellers are not bound by the Code of Ethics. Sellers, in multiple offer situations, are not prohibited from “shopping” offers. Real estate brokers may, unless prohibited by law or regulation, “shop” offers. Therefore, Realtors assisting purchasers in formulating purchase offers should advise those purchasers it is possible that the existence, terms, and conditions of any offer they make may be disclosed to other purchasers by sellers or by sellers’ representatives except where such disclosure is prohibited by law or regulation. (Adopted 5/05)

Remember — and remind the buyer — that the decisions are theirs to make—not yours, and that you are bound by their lawful and ethical instructions. (Adopted 5/01)

If the possibility of multiple offers — and the various ways they might be dealt with — were not discussed with the seller when their property was listed and it becomes apparent that multiple offers may be (or have been) made, immediately explain the options and alternatives available to the sellers — and get direction from them. When representing sellers or buyers, be mindful of Standard of Practice 1-6’s charge to “. . . submit offers and counter-offers objectively and as quickly as possible.” (Revised 5/01)

With the seller’s approval “…divulge the existence of offers on the property” consistent with Standard of Practice 1-15. (Adopted 11/02)

While the Code of Ethics does not expressly mandate “fairness” (given its inherent subjectivity), remember that the Preamble has long noted that “. . . Realtor has come to connote competency, fairness, and high integrity. . . .” If a seller directs you to advise offerors about the existence of other purchase offers, fairness dictates that all offerors or their representatives be so informed. Article 3 calls on Realtors to “. . . cooperate with other brokers except when cooperation is not in the client’s best interest.” Implicit in cooperation is forthright sharing of information related to cooperative transactions and potential cooperative transactions. Much of the frustration that occurs in multiple offer situations results from cooperating brokers being unaware of the status of offers they have procured. Listing brokers should make reasonable efforts to keep cooperating brokers informed. Similarly, buyer brokers should make reasonable efforts to keep listing brokers informed about the status of counter-offers their seller-clients have made. (Revised 5/01)

Realize that in multiple offer situations only one offer will result in a sale and one (or more) potential purchasers will be disappointed that their offer was not accepted. While little can be done to assuage their disappointment, fair and honest treatment throughout the process; coupled with prompt, ongoing and open communication, will enhance the likelihood they will feel they were treated fairly and honestly. In this regard, “. . . Realtors can take no safer guide than that which has been handed down through the centuries, embodied in the Golden Rule, ‘Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them.’ ” (from the Preamble to the Code of Ethics). (Revised 5/05)

Integrity, for the Most Part, Still Rules in Real Estate

We all need to be careful that we are not scammed. We see scams all around us — in our emails, phone calls, text messages, and snail mail. Seniors in particular are targeted by scammers who have no shame about cheating someone out of their life savings.

Title companies warn buyers and sellers about wire fraud. Buyers have been known to get emails purportedly from their agent or title company giving them wiring instructions for their down payment or, in the case of a cash buyer, for the entire purchase price of a property they are buying, only to discover that they wired the money to a scammer on another continent from which it can never be retrieved.

Time shares (or fractional ownership) is another area rife with misrepresentation and deceptive practices that can trap an unwary buyer in the purchase of something they don’t really want and can’t really sell. (I speak from personal experience.)

And, yes, there are a few local real estate professionals who engage in illegal or improper behavior for which they get disciplined by the Colorado Real Estate Commission.

But I have to say that overall I have been very impressed by the level of integrity that I encounter among my fellow professionals.

Ask any Realtor, in particular, and he or she will probably tell you, as I can, that they can hardly recall a time when a fellow professional intentionally lied to them or misrepresented a client, listing or situation.

If, for example, I’m representing a buyer and the listing agent says there are three other offers and they’re all above full price, I’m confident in believing that to be true. I’ve completed hundreds of transactions and can’t recall one where I was told something that turned out not to be true or a fact withheld by the agent. Most sellers, I have found, are also aware of their responsibility to disclose all known defects, and, if not, their agent lets them know.

As an industry, we need to trust our fellow professionals, and I have found little or no reason not to. We are not just “honor bound” to be truthful. Being dishonest puts our very livelihood at risk, since any colleague or member of the public could report us to the Real Estate Commission, our MLS, or our Realtor Association, possibly resulting in a fine or even the loss of our license to practice real estate.

Can We Say Goodbye to Agents Claiming to Be ‘5280 Five-Star Professionals’?

For years I have complained about colleagues who claimed that 5280 Magazine had honored them as “Five Star Professionals” when in fact the magazine had nothing to do with the honor.

Rather, Five Star Professionals is a Minnesota company which runs the program by that name and would purchase a large block of pages in the September issue of 5280 Magazine every year to promote the “winners” of that award.

Each year I am notified of my “nomination” to be named a Five Star Professional, and one time I responded to see how their program operates. It’s basically a scheme to get agents to buy, among other things, large display ads at inflated prices within that large block of advertising within 5280 Magazine’s September edition. What bothered me the most was that both 5280 Magazine and Five Star Professional looked the other way when the “winners” would then promote themselves as “5280 Magazine Five Star Professionals” for years to come.

I won’t dispute Five Star Professionals vetting process here (although I have in the past), but I welcome the fact that their advertising may no longer appear in 5280 Magazine and that “winners” can no longer mislead clients and colleagues by implying that the magazine awarded them the Five Star Professional citation.

I only realized this change when I saw Five Star Professional’s block of advertising in last Saturday’s real estate section of the Denver Post. My question now is whether the “winners” will now claim to be “Denver Post Five Star Professionals.”

Searching my email inbox just now, I found several emails with phrases such as the following in some agents’ email signatures: “Recipient of 5280’s ‘Five Star Real Estate Professional’ Award 2019 & 2020!”; and “5280 Magazine Five Star Professional Ten Year Award Winner.”

Most recipients of this “award” are also Realtors, meaning they are bound by the Realtor Code of Ethics, which they are violating when they represent that 5280 Magazine gave them an award that it has nothing to do with.

In my email, I also found a 2017 email from Five Star Professional, offering me, as an awardee, a 1/9th-page display ad in 5280 Magazine for $1,250.  A 1/4-page ad was available for $2,095.

One red flag in Five Star Professional’s program of identifying nominees and awardees was that they would never disclose, even to me, who nominated me. Instead, I got an email which said, “One or more of the clients you work hard to serve every day has nominated you for the Five Star Real Estate Agent Award.”

I consider the whole program suspect and just another example of profiteering on real estate agents who are easy targets for such promotional programs. 

Benefit From Knowing the ‘Realtor Advantage’

As you probably know, not all licensed real estate agents are “Realtors.” To be a Realtor, one has to be a dues-paying member of a local Realtor association, which automatically makes the agent a member of the state Realtor association and the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Many low-producing real estate agents are reluctant to cough up roughly $500 per year in Realtor dues, so they join a non-Realtor brokerage like HomeSmart Realty in Greenwood Village or Trelora Colorado in downtown Denver. Agents with those firms can’t call themselves “Realtors.”

You’ve probably seen TV commercials by NAR saying “Make sure your agent is a Realtor.” Their current campaign features the theme, “That’s Who We R.” Both campaigns stress the point that only Realtors subscribe to the Realtor Code of Ethics. There is no code of ethics for non-Realtors.

In fact, however, violations of the Code, such as failure to disclose negative information about a listing or contacting another agent’s client directly, are also violations of state licensing laws. To me, the greater value of dealing with a Realtor like those of us at Golden Real Estate is our commitment to professionalism and to the industry, expressed in part by our willingness to pay those dues.

NAR’s lobbying on behalf of property rights benefits all agents as it does all property owners, and deserves the support of all licensees.

National Association of Realtors Promotes “Pathways to Professionalism”

As you are probably aware, members of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) are sworn to abide by the Realtor Code of Ethics. It’s what separates them from the men and women who are licensed to practice real estate but choose not to pay roughly $500 in annual dues to be a member of the local, state and national Realtor associations.

Golden Real Estate requires all its broker associates to join the local Realtor association, which automatically enrolls them in the Colorado Association of Realtors and NAR. Most of us are members of the Denver Metro Association of Realtors, although agents have the choice of which local Realtor association to join.

In addition to the Code of Ethics is the voluntary and lesser known Pathways to Professionalism. It is a collection of recommended courtesies which all Realtors should embrace, as we certainly do at Golden Real Estate. Here are those courtesies, broken down into three categories. It should be noted that failure to practice these courtesies cannot form the basis of a complaint by fellow Realtors or members of the public. Here they are, highlighting ones I particularly like:

Respect for the Public

1) Follow the “Golden Rule”: Do unto other as you would have them do unto you.

2) Respond promptly to inquiries and requests for information.

3) Schedule appointments and showings as far in advance as possible.

4) Call if you are delayed or must cancel an appointment or showing.

5) If a prospective buyer decides not to view an occupied home, promptly explain the situation to the listing broker or the occupant.

6) Communicate with all parties in a timely fashion.

7) When entering a property ensure that unexpected situations, such as pets, are handled appropriately.

8) Leave your business card if not prohibited by local rules.

9) Never criticize property in the presence of the occupant.

10) Inform occupants that you are leaving after showings.

11) When showing an occupied home, always ring the doorbell or knock—and announce yourself loudly before entering. Knock and announce yourself loudly before entering any closed room.

12) Present a professional appearance at all times; dress appropriately and drive a clean car.

13) If occupants are home during showings, ask their permission before using the telephone or bathroom.

14) Encourage the clients of other brokers to direct questions to their agent or representative.

15) Communicate clearly; don’t use jargon or slang that may not be readily understood.

16) Be aware of and respect cultural differences.

17) Show courtesy and respect to everyone.

18) Be aware of—and meet—all deadlines.

19) Promise only what you can deliver — and keep your promises.

20) Identify your REALTOR® and your professional status in contacts with the public.

21) Do not tell people what you think — tell them what you know.

Respect for Property

1) Be responsible for everyone you allow to enter a listed property.

2) Never allow buyers to enter a listed property unaccompanied.

3) When showing a property, keep all members of the group together.

4) Never allow unaccompanied access to a property without permission.

5) Enter a property only with permission even if you have a lockbox key or combination.

6) When the occupant is absent, leave the property as you found it (lights, heating, cooling, drapes, etc.) If you think something is amiss (e.g., vandalism), contact the listing broker immediately.

7) Be considerate of the seller’s property. Do not allow anyone to eat, drink, smoke, dispose of trash, use bathing or sleeping facilities, or bring pets. Leave the house as you found it unless instructed otherwise.

8) Use sidewalks; if weather is bad, take off shoes and boots inside property.

9) Respect sellers’ instructions about photographing or videographing their properties’ interiors or exteriors.

Respect for Peers

1) Identify your REALTOR® and professional status in all contacts with other REALTORS®.

2) Respond to other agents’ calls, faxes, and emails promptly and courteously.

3) Be aware that large electronic files with attachments or lengthy faxes may be a burden on recipients.

4) Notify the listing broker if there appears to be inaccurate information on the listing.

5) Share important information about a property, including the presence of pets, security systems, and whether sellers will be present during the showing.

6) Show courtesy, trust, and respect to other real estate professionals.

7) Avoid the inappropriate use of endearments or other denigrating language.

8) Do not prospect at other REALTORS®’ open houses or similar events.

9) Return keys promptly.

10) Carefully replace keys in the lockbox after showings.

11) To be successful in the business, mutual respect is essential.

12) Real estate is a reputation business. What you do today may affect your reputation — and business — for years to come.

Agents Who Submit ‘Love Letters’ Risk Committing a Fair Housing Violation

Until recently it was a common practice for buyers’ agents to submit a “love letter” with their offers, hoping to convince the seller to choose their buyer over others in a bidding war.

That practice has fallen out of favor, however, as doing so might constitute a violation of federal Fair Housing rules as well as of the Realtor Code of Ethics.

Article 10 of the Code includes the following: “Realtors shall not be parties to any plan or agreement to discriminate against a person or persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.” Such discrimination is also a state and federal fair housing crime.

It would be hard not to reveal any of the above characteristics in a “love letter,” especially if it contains a photo of the buyer or buyer’s family. But there are other subtleties to consider. One of the sessions at last month’s National Association of Realtors conference was titled, “How to Stay Out of Trouble: Risk Management and the Code of Ethics,” taught by Barbara Betts, a California Realtor who is also a hearing officer for violations of the Code of Ethics.

In her talk, as reported by Inman News, Betts described how risky such letters could be, especially for the seller and listing agent. “Sellers are humans. Even though they are not purposely trying to create a fair housing situation for themselves, they inadvertently are,” she said. “When the seller gets these letters, they get excited to sell the home to someone they feel will fit into their neighborhood, and that’s where there’s a problem.”

The danger is intensified when there are competing love letters. Imagine, for example, that one of the buyers reveals himself to be a single African American who says your home is perfect for him because he is wheelchair-bound, but your seller chose a family with children who liked your home because it’s close to their synagogue. That choice has offered a veritable smorgasbord of fair housing violations that the rejected buyer could mention in a fair housing complaint, and that their broker could cite in a Code of Ethics complaint against the listing agent.

“We need to consider raising fair housing concerns with our buyers,” Betts advises her fellow Realtors. “Don’t read or accept these letters that are drafted by a buyer. Certainly do not give any support or suggestions. As listing agents, we definitely need to discuss the potential liability during the listing interview and not deliver or accept these letters for the seller.”

Betts added, “If the letter is all about ‘I love your home. It’s beautiful. I love how you’ve remodeled it, I promise I won’t tear it down and remodel it,’ there aren’t any fair housing violations in those statements. The second you start talking about family, color, race, religion, marital status, those things instantly become possible fair housing violations.”

For all these reasons, the agents at Golden Real Estate no longer submit or accept “love letters” from buyers. If we receive one, it’s best that we don’t even read it and that we inform the buyer’s agent that we have deleted it.

There are other ways in which Realtors can commit a fair housing violation, perhaps unconsciously. One is the practice known as “steering,” in which an agent recommends different neighborhoods to different buyers based on where they would “fit in” because of their race, color or religion. We must truly be blind to such characteristics and give the same information to all buyers. Fortunately, buyers do their own searching most of the time. As agents, we must show any buyer what they want to see without comment of any kind.

When a buyer from out of town asks us to describe our neighborhoods, it’s best to avoid all demographic descriptions, limiting ourselves to describing the housing stock, price range, etc. We must not provide such information with an intention to steer them based on their profile.

Meanwhile, sellers expect us to show their homes only to qualified buyers, but if we ask some buyers but not others to be pre-qualified by a trusted lender before showing a listing, we open ourselves to possible fair housing complaints.

We’d all like to believe that racism and other kinds of systemic or cultural discrimination are artifacts of the past, but we are more aware than ever that such discrimination exists even within ourselves, hopefully unconsciously. Unconscious or not, we need to realize that beyond being morally wrong, it can get us into serious professional trouble as agents and that it can also put our clients at risk, making it more important than ever that we educate our clients about the risks they could be facing.

Realtor Code of Ethics to Address Hate Speech

A couple weeks back, I wrote about how the National Association of Realtors is taking fair housing seriously. This week I read in an email newsletter that NAR is proposing changes to its Code of Ethics and professional standards to crack down on racist and discriminatory speech and behavior.

If implemented, the changes would apply NAR’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice to all activities, not just those related to real estate, prohibiting hate speech against protected classes. Protected classes under the Code of Ethics include race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Once these changes are adopted, the Code would prohibit all discrimination, not just willful discrimination, against protected classes and would recommend that ethics violations be considered under membership qualification criteria. Ethics violations could also be referred to governmental agencies for action.

 Discrimination would be deemed “particularly egregious” when determining appropriate discipline, which could include termination of membership for up to three years.

Real Estate Agents Have a Responsibility to Report Wrongdoing

As with many professions, we real estate professionals are largely, though not completely, self-policing. Indeed, in a recent continuing education class, we were taught that we have an “affirmative responsibility” to report wrongdoing by our colleagues, whether the offense is illegal, contrary to real estate commission or MLS rules, or, in the case of Realtors, is unethical.

(Many real estate agents belong to brokerages where membership in the Realtor association is not required, and only Realtors are bound by the Realtor Code of Ethics and can be disciplined for violating it. Ask if your broker is a Realtor.)

Of course, the public can also file complaints against licensees. You can do it online here or you can mail a complaint to the Division at 1560 Broadway, Suite 925, Denver CO 80202. You can ask to remain anonymous, but an investigator will call to interview you.

Unless a broker is independent, you can also complain to his brokerage. Ask to speak with the managing broker. If he’s a Realtor, you can file an ethics complaint with his Realtor association. Here’s a link for doing so online.

I have filed complaints about illegal behavior with the Division. I have also sent numerous emails to our MLS about violations of MLS rules and regulations — including last week when a listing agent listed himself instead of one of our broker associates as the selling agent for his listing. (Email compliance@REcolorado.com.) I have also filed ethics complaints against a fellow Realtor through my Realtor association.

By accepting that “affirmative responsibility” to report wrongdoing of any kind by fellow licensees and fellow Realtors, we protect and advance the reputation of our industry and of the Realtor brand. As managing broker at Golden Real Estate, I promote this responsibility, as I did at our weekly office meeting earlier this month.

Although some people like to demean real estate licensees and even Realtors, I have found that the vast majority of us are true professionals who put our clients’ interests above our own, as required by both law and ethics, and I am proud to be a member of this profession.

Thanksgiving’s Here, and We at Golden Real Estate Are Thankful

Some weeks I struggle to come up with a topic for this column, but not so this week. Allow me to share some of the ways in which our broker associates, my wife and I are all thankful.

First, Rita and I are so thankful to be Americans. In school I studied many languages — French, Russian, Latin, Greek, German and Japanese — and I have traveled extensively around the world, although not so much recently. I attended my sister’s wedding in Sweden, attended “citizen diplomacy” conferences in the Soviet Union, and visited Beijing right after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre (and twice since).

I have visited and marveled at Japan and its culture more than once. I visited the Russian port of Vladivostok (the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway) on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific. I remember noting that pay phones there were free because Russian coins were essentially worthless due to inflation, and that most of the cars on the road were right-hand drive Toyotas and Nissans purchased used from nearby Japan.

Rita and I particularly like France and Italy and long to return there again soon. We enjoyed a week in London following a two-week Atlantic crossing on Cunard’s Queen Victoria with stops in  Bermuda and the Canary Islands. When and if I retire from real estate, we look forward to more international travel. 

Every trip is great, but we are always happy to be back in America and especially in Colorado. We are, as I said, thankful most of all to be Americans — and Coloradans.

Part of being an American is the opportunity to participate in our capitalist free enterprise system. I’ve always been an entrepreneur. I like to say that, except for my stints at the Washington Post and the New York Post, every paycheck I’ve ever received was signed by me. I remember when I visited the Soviet Union in 1978 learning that Russians could be self employed but only the state could have employees. I realized then that the freedom of enterprise was the core freedom I value most.

Nearly every real estate agent is self-employed, even if they work for a brokerage. I suspect that 95% or more of all Realtors are independent contractors (1099 workers) responsible for their own taxes and expenses (phones, cars, computers, software, etc.) and receive no benefits of any kind. The dropout rate among new agents is as high as 90% and those who make it five or more years have demonstrated a fortitude that deserves respect. I am thankful for Golden Real Estate’s seven top-producing, highly-experienced broker associates whose cell numbers I am pleased to list below.

Next I am thankful for the readers and other members of the public who recognize that we are professionals, not just entrepreneurs, and that we earn what we charge by providing an invaluable service for one of life’s most significant financial transactions. Not everyone sees our value or respects what we provide, so we thank you.

Not every licensed real estate agent is a Realtor — that is, a member of the Realtor association.  Everyone who joins a Realtor brokerage like ours must join the Realtor association and pay Realtor dues, which run about $500 per year. But there are non-Realtor brokerages such as HomeSmart Cherry Creek Properties, Redefy, and Trelora Colorado, whose agents don’t pay Realtor dues and don’t have to abide by the Realtor Code of Ethics. I’m thankful for all those firms, like ours, that have chosen to be Realtor brokerages.

Why? Because the National Association of Realtors (NAR) lobbies for your property rights, not just the interests of its members. For example, when the Trump administration tried to dilute the capital gains exemption for home owners ($250,000 single and $500,000 married), it was NAR which lobbied successfully against that change. I could cite countless other examples where NAR’s lobbying efforts have benefited home owners and all those agents who don’t pay NAR dues. To me it’s a matter of professional and corporate responsibility to support NAR with our dues. So, yes, I am thankful for NAR, even when I gripe about dues increases!

Like everyone in our profession, I have individual clients — buyers and sellers — for whose friendship and patronage I am grateful.  You know who you are! You have not only granted me the opportunity to be of service, but you have allowed me to learn new things from every transaction. Perhaps you have introduced me to a new service provider such as an estate sales company, a roofer or plumber, or just a great new restaurant! As I have said many times, judge us agents not by our years in the business but by the number of transactions we have completed, because that’s our most valuable continuing education program.

I’m also thankful for my colleagues from other brokerages. Real estate is different from many other professions because of the tradition of “cooperation and compensation” embodied in our shared multi-list service, aka “MLS.” Some people compare us to car salesmen, but consider the following scenario: You go to a Ford dealership and describe what you’re looking for. The salesman realizes that the right vehicle for you is not a Ford but another brand, so he shows you other cars on his computer and then takes you to those dealerships for a test drive, knowing that he can write the purchase contract and get paid for selling you another dealer’s car just as he can get paid for selling a car from his own dealership. That’s how real estate works, made possible by the MLS.

You’d be impressed to see how agents share the keys to their success with each other. I recall once when I made a presentation at a Realtor meeting on how to shoot and edit video tours of listings, happy to have others do videos for their listings, even though video tours are a point of differentiation for us at Golden Real Estate.

So I’m thankful for how the real estate business works and for the many Realtors whom I consider friends, not just competitors.  If I or one of my Golden Real Estate broker associates is not the perfect agent for a given buyer or seller, I don’t hesitate to recommend one of them.

Lastly, I’m thankful for the Denver Post and four Jefferson County weekly newspapers which publish this column. Remember, you can also receive it by email, so just send me an email with your request.  Several years of prior columns are online at JimSmithColumns.com.

Our Broker Associates:

Jim Swanson — 303-929-2727

Carrie Lovingier — 303-907-1278

Kristi Brunel — 303-525-2520

Chuck Brown — 303-885-7855

David Dlugasch — 303-908-4835

Andrew Lesko — 720-710-1000

Carol Milan — 720-982-4941