I have two questions for you:

If you were a prospective home buyer, would you prefer to be represented by:

1. A real estate agent with one month's experience, or

2. An agent with 10 years experience?

The obvious answer is "b."

If you were a prospective homebuyer would you prefer to work with:

1. A Realtor with one month's experience who subscribes to a strict code of ethics, or

2. A real estate broker with 10 years experience who is not a member of the National Association of Realtors?

According to the National Association of Realtors, the public should select "a," the agent with one month's experience and is a member of its association. After all, this agent subscribes to a code of ethics.

But does this mean that the broker, because he or she is not a member of the Association of Realtors, is unethical? Does it mean the Realtor will provide better service by virtue of a few hours, weeks or days of training compared to years of on-the-job experience and the attainment of a broker's license?

Maybe it's time that the Association challenges its definition of "professional." What does the word really mean and how much of a role should experience play?

I was a Realtor from 1975 to 1991. I was a featured speaker at the 1985 national convention. I believe in everything the National Association of Realtors stands for politically and ethically. But I do not agree that just because a person gets a license and joins the Association, the agent becomes a "professional in real estate."

It stretches the truth. An agent may be on her way to becoming professional in real estate, but experience will have much to teach her, too.

That's why I believe that the time is ripe for the association to review its definition of "a professional in real estate."

Even within its own ranks, the NAR could draw a clearer line of distinction.

For example, who do you think is likely to be more professional:

1. A Realtor with three months experience, or

2. A Realtor with one or more of the following designations: CCIM, GRI, ABR,CRS, CRB?

"B" is the obvious answer. Do you think the "b" group is more professional, more committed, and more competent once they have gone to the extra effort to obtain those designations? I certainly do.

The public has no idea what these designations mean or how difficult it is to earn them. Yet, the people who have earned them are considered no more professional by the public than a "Realtor."

Wearing the Realtor pin, usually within the first 30 days of becoming an active real estate agent, doesn't make the agent a professional. The agent knows it. The broker knows it. Other agents in the office know it. They also know that many of the new agents will not be in the business in six months, and so does the National Association of Realtors.

Agents join the National Association of Realtors whether they want to or not or whether they can afford it or not, because they have to, if their broker is a Realtor. Their Realtor has joined the Association in many cases to get access to the MLS.

It doesn't matter if new agents are full time or part time, as long as they pay a substantial fee to join the Association and attend a few hours about the code of ethics and a few hours about the MLS, they can proudly wear the Realtor pin and be considered "a professional in real estate."

Surely, it takes more, and at that point we can determine the requirements for real estate agents to be called one.

Not only will the public be better served, but the true professionals in real estate will be, too.

Published: September 14, 2004

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David Fletcher directs the condominium conversion team for Keller Williams Realty in Orlando, Fl and provides downloadable sales and listing training solutions for real estate agents and broker/owners through Agents Boot Camp, Inc., a company he founded to provide affordable training systems newly licensed real estate agents. He has been involved with more than $3 billion in Florida residential sales, chaired the Florida Homebuilders Associaton's Sales and Marketing Council, and been a featured speaker at NAR's national convention. You may see his training products at www.agentsbootcamp.com or contact him directly at 888.222.1935.