What price can you put on your professional reputation? On your good name? On your company's image? It all boils down to how you are perceived by the public and other industry professionals. They only have one true guiding beacon on how you conduct yourself professionally: your ethics.
Bill Lublin began his career in real estate when he was 21 years old. Today, he is the CEO of Pennsylvania's largest Century 21 firm, Century 21 Lublin-Beck, a five-office company. He is one of only two people to qualify as a Diamond Level Broker Owner in Philadelphia. Lublin has just been inducted into the Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors Hall of Fame. As a past president of the association (1996), Lublin currently serves as the state professional standards chair, and he is a NAR certified professional standards chair. He teaches Internet courses for Realtors and is currently teaching ethics for the state MCE.
According to Lublin's definition, professional standards are the foundation of a lifelong real estate career. "The ability to do repeat business is a direct function of doing business in an ethical manner," he says. "Personally, I think the word 'professional' is misused. We use it because we have aspirations to increase the level at which we operate. It means something is being done in a practiced, polished manner, but the real focus should be on professional standards and ethics."
Professional standards may have a lot of gray areas, so determining the proper course of action is not always easy. How do you know which path to follow? Lublin explains some of his winning strategies in this exclusive Agent News interview with Blanche Evans.
A.N.: With your production level, you certainly can make a case that having ethics is good for business.
B.L.: Absolutely. As a matter of fact, there is at least one instance I can name in which ethics was the reason I was awarded a listing. There were three agencies competing for a FSBO. Agency A went to the owner and spoke negatively about Agency C, but said nothing negative about me. Agency C went in and spoke negatively about Agency A, and again, said nothing about me. I went in, and when the owner asked my about my competitors, I answered that they were fine companies. I didn't say anything negative, and they liked that. By taking the ethical high road, I got the listing.
A.N.: What does the word "ethics" mean to you?
B.L.: To me, ethics is a moral code, a system of beliefs ... the manner you conduct yourself with everybody you know. Everybody meets ethical challenges on a daily basis, where the challenge is to give back that $1.50 when you're given too much change, or advise a seller not to take an offer that might lose you a commission but isn't the best thing for them to do. If there is a good way to keep that bar at a high level, it is because you concentrated on the task rather than the compensation.
A.N.: What causes most disagreements over ethics?.
B.L.: I can tell you most often it is when money is on the table. If you and I come to an agreement on a commission split before the money is earned, chances are everything will go smoothly. But when money is there, our vision gets blurry. When there isn't money on the table, it is easier for people to make the right choice. One of the hardest decisions I ever had to make was when a corporate seller offered us an extremely high commission level, but before the closing, they lowered the total compensation, and I refused to change the compensation to the selling agent. We took away very little from the table, which wasn't fair, but I didn't think it was fair to carry that unfairness further. Now there were a lot of ways that situation could have been handled, but not without greater costs in the long run.
A.N.: What do you try to get across about ethics in your seminars?
B.L.: I teach a lot of things. I'm an approved facilitator for Century 21, I teach mandatory continuing education for the GPAR at a community college, I teach professional standards for Pennsylvania Association of Realtors, and I have been certified twice as a professional standards instructor at NAR. I think professional standards is the most interesting subject because of the right of the membership to obligate a member to abide by a code of ethics. The member has a right to utilize the board facility for arbitration, rather than relying on a court of law, which may not fully understand our industry. If you and I have a commission dispute, we can go to an arbitration hearing from professional standards. And since they are also practicing Realtors, they understand why we did what we did. The code predates most of the licensing laws. Now this was a bunch of real estate guys who wanted to make sure that others would do the right the thing and operate on a high moral level.
A.N.: What is the basis of the code of ethics?
B.L.: The golden rule. Do unto others.
A.N.: Why is the golden rule cloudy for so many people?
B.L.: They allow the dollar to get in the way of what's right. It may be need rather than greed. The dollar obscures what is right and wrong. If you are a new agent, it is more painful to lose a commission in a dispute. Most situations arise more from lack of knowledge than maliciousness.
A.N.: What can Realtors do to avoid disputes?
B.L.: Have an open ear to the other party, and sit down and talk it out. Be familiar with the code. Be active on the board. Be meticulous in business dealings. It is really basic stuff. One thing somebody said in an ethics discussion once is that if you can tell your mom about something you did, it is probably OK. If you are embarrassed, it's probably not OK.
A.N.: Is it possible for a Realtor to make as much money with ethics as without?
B.L.: I think you make more. The people who are really successful operate at a high standard, and they stay abreast of what is happening in the business. Many people don't take the time, and that is what is part of the problem. If I want to do a good job, I need to read and learn and find out what my competition's doing. The work isn't just a means to an end; you have to be in it for the long haul. You have to say to yourself, "This is what I do. If I don't do business with you this year, then maybe I will next year. This is a lifetime business. If I don't treat you properly, I won't get another chance to do business." I recently got a listing from an appraiser who had been an agent more than 15 years ago. I hadn't seen him in all that time, but he just sent my company business based on what he knew about me as an agent from back then. What is the value of that? That is the heart of the business. If I stopped marketing myself today, I believe I would still have business coming to me for several years. I would have to mess it up not to have it continue.
A.N.: What kinds of ethics do you think are missing from today's Realtors?
B.L.: Generally, where I see a lot of disputes is between offices over commissions, and with consumers, it is the issue of ethics. A lot of times people don't know what they are doing wrong. If we aren't clear, how can the consumer be clear?
A.N.: Can you give an example of some particularly sticky ethical situation and what the right course of action would be?
B.L.: If an issue is gray, it is always better to lean toward the light. I think one of the safe things to do is to turn the situation around and ask yourself how you would feel. If it is a gray area, the answer will be clear then. In my company, we reward the agents who have been with the company a long time and do a good job. One time a seller called and gave a listing to the agent who answered the phone. Although another of our agents had sold the home previously, the owner didn't want that person again because they had moved to another office. But we gave the agent a referral fee anyway. Why? We didn't have to, but we tried to find a middle ground. The consumer is happy, the phone agent is happy, and the original agent was happy. There are ways to handle any situation. What you want is a solution that addresses everyone's needs.
A.N.: What do you believe is the cost of lack of ethics?
B.L.: I don't believe the bad guys sleep as well. What goes around comes around. I do believe the good things you do come back to you, and so do the bad ones. I think practicing bad ethics actually diminishes your quality of life. It sounds a little soap opera-y, but my 21-year-old kid is proud of me. He never is embarrassed by what I do or how I do it. And that feels good.
Published: March 24, 1998
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