Over 115 association and brokerage leaders representing about 200,000 members from almost all 50 states have pledged over $100,000 toward research and development funding in their quest to improve and nationalize practice standards for real estate salespersons.

The grassroots movement doesn't have a name and isn't an official organization, but it does have passionate volunteers and the encouragement of the NAR. Leaders from the Orlando, Houston and Chicago Associations of Realtors have been instrumental in planning two events, one in Orlando and the other in Washington D.C. at the mid-year convention last month, to discuss the growing problem of poor practice standards among real estate practitioners and possible next-step solutions to improving the Realtor-to-Realtor and Realtor-to-consumer interactions to a higher standard.

Greg Rokeh, the volunteer leader of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, explains, "Back in February. we hosted a national conference open to any professionals or organizations on standards of real estate practice, and we had representatives from over 100 local and state associations from around the country. The purpose was to look at standards of business practice.

"One of the results is that there was broad agreement that there was a need for heightened standards within the real estate industry, and we agreed we wanted to meet together again and determine what steps to take," says Rokeh.

Standards of practice are different but similar to the Code of Ethics provided by the National Association of Realtors. The NAR's subsidiaries address standards of practice as they relate to the unique specialties and practices of the suborganizations including buyer's agency, property management, or brokerage management, but the NAR acknowledges a groundswell of interest in calling for standards.

This could be a result of the 25 percent gain in membership that the NAR has experienced over the last three years. New members are less experienced and could be more likely to make practice gaffes, as are long-time members who fail to update their training, such as is required by NAR subsidiaries.

Explains Steve Cook, spokesperson for the NAR, "We have a code of ethics which addresses ethical behavior, but that doesn't mean they have to be really good at selling a house. It speaks to a whole different set of criteria. To be a Realtor does not mean that you follow certain procedures. Is this replacing something that is already there? As far as the NAR is concerned, we have the various designations which do address standards of practice, exams, education, and experience.

Rokeh says that compliance with any standards the grassroots organization creates will be strictly voluntary, and not subject to testing, designation qualification, or any kind of failure and expulsion from member services such as access to the MLS.

"The Code of Ethics covers business ethics, it doesn't cover the things consumers may be more interested in," says Rokeh, "such as communications from your agent, how they handle telephone calls, what rules they use to communicate amongst themselves. It can be as simple as working with consumers that they follow all the rules that they don't smoke in the house, turn the lights off when they leave after a showing, call when they are late, and follow proper protocol. Within our industry there are folks whose performance is less than ideal, but not unethical. There is this feeling at ground level that we need to do something to elevate the level of expectation that consumers have about our industry."

When the loosely organized group met recently in Washington D.C. at the NAR mid-year conference, a consensus was reached that participants want standards handled from the bottom-up, rather than the top-down level.

"One thing that came out of the follow-up meeting was desire on the part of associations at local an state levels that they wanted to pursue a written national consumer-centric standard," says Rokeh, "and set up an independent third party that would develop and administer the standards, train Realtors and track and evaluate companies adhering to the standard."

He admits that it is a long road to organizing the effort. "We are at the beginning phases of this. We recognize a problem and are just beginning to come up with solutions. There is no organization - just an agreement among 50 plus associations that we want to go forward with investigating and determining the best mechanism to do this."

So far, says Rokeh, associations representing one-fifth of the NAR membership feel strongly enough to take the first step toward the creation of an organization to train and administer standards.

Published: May 28, 2004

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.