The Gallup Poll has just released its annual Honesty and Ethics rankings of the top 46 professions. Nurses ranked first for the second year in a row, and car salesmen came in dead last. Where did real estate agents rank? Right in the mediocre middle where they have languished for most years. This is only the opinions of 1008 adults contacted randomly by phone, but they are still holding a grey cloud of disapproval over the industry.

Real estate agents did move up from their dip last year, causing the National Association of REALTORS to assume that their Realtor awareness advertising campaign is working. The public awareness campaign is in its third year, subsidized by member assessments. The improvement in the public's perception of Realtors was confirmed by Riter Research, an independent research firm, which found overall more positive views about Realtors.

But if you level off the dip of last year and the improvement this year, real estate agent rankings have hardly budged since 1993. The percent of respondents ranking the honesty and ethics of real estate agents high or very high has hovered between 13 and 17 percent since the poll began in the late 1970's. It moved three percentage points this year from 14 to 17, the first time they have ranked so highly since 1991. But if the N.A.R.'s campaign was working so well, what happened in 1998 when the dip went down to 14 percent? And what accounts for the sudden rise?

I'd like to think the Internet had something to do with it. More buyers are using the Internet than ever before. Sellers should like it too as their homes are now being showcased and sold with virtual tours, slick online presentations and quick communication and action from technology-enabled real estate professionals. But, there wasn't a category for Internet real estate agent like there was for Internet journalist. Maybe next year, they will include one, and if they do, I'll bet Internet real estate agents will rank well. They deserve to because they are doing a great job.

Nonetheless, an improvement is an improvement. But, wouldn't a significant move up in the rankings be more to cheer about than a slight uptick? Real estate professionals being misunderstood by the public is nothing new, so any improvement is something to crow about. This is news that can be spun a number of ways, and most of them positively.

Real estate is one of the most highly regulated practices there is. What if Gallop ranked professions by those whose members have to adhere to standards of practice regulated by the state? Real estate agents would move from 27 up to number 13, and place themselves ahead of the clergy, auto mechanics and....journalists. We could keep it to ourselves that out of the state-regulated professions, real estate professionals would also be dead last.

What of female dominance? Real estate agents would then move solidly into third place, behind nurses and grade school teachers. Even better is ranking real estate professionals by category - sales! Then they rank second, right after stockbrokers.

It's interesting that respondents trusted their veterinarians more than their doctors. Local office holders far outrank labor union leaders,

Percent of respondents saying real estate agents rank high or very high:

Year	Percent
1993	15%
1994	14%
1995	15%
1996	15%
1997	16%
1998	16%
1999	14%
2000	17%

I feel a little funny writing about this since technically, I'm a lowly Internet journalist, and rank 44th out of 46. I'm wondering why I'm not just simply a journalist, and can enjoy a rank of 21st place, or a newspaper reporter, ranked at 29th place. Are journalists on the Internet any different from other journalists? I don't know, but I guess we'll know more the day Internet real estate agents get ranked.

Published: November 30, 2000

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