What are the benchmarks of professional conduct?

Real estate is a relationship business, not a transaction business. Recognizing that REALTORS^® do help consumers in real estate transactions, the point is to emphasize that REALTORS^® don’t participate in the trade itself, but rather trade in the relationship they build through expertise, knowledge, and skill. This relationship element not only extends not only to consumers, but also to fellow REALTORS^®, Associations and boards, and other professionals such as mortgage brokers, lawyers, and inspectors. The relationship is key to a successful REALTORS^® and the professional conduct of that REALTORS^® is key to the relationship. Let's think through some benchmark elements of professional conduct that make REALTORS^® stand out.

Mutual Respect
The real estate market can create a hectic working environment for REALTORS^®. From chasing down the best property for a buyer client to managing tough negotiations for a seller, the transaction process is fraught with high emotion and often higher stakes. For this reason, remembering the duty of mutual respect is paramount to navigating the various tempers and personalities that make a successful transaction. Stopping to recognize that people generally don't act with malicious intent, but rather are simply approaching a situation with a different perspective or goal can help to foster this mutual respect. A negative approach never leads to a positive outcome but only degrades the relationship in exponential measure. So even where there is a personality conflict or what is being said doesn't line up with how you see it, you can still offer them the same respect you'd expect to foster continued dialogue.

Duty to Resolve Issues
We've all been there, where you want to throw up your hands and shut down communication because the path forward seems too difficult. This may be REALTORS^® to REALTORS^®, broker to broker, or interactions with clients or customers, but the top priority should always be the principle of pushing forward to resolve issues. The second law of thermodynamics says that all things left alone will tend to chaos and disorder, and this is evident in our daily lives. Start a garden with good soil and excellent seed, and leave it alone until the fall without any tending and you will reap a bountiful harvest of weeds and pests. Because of this tendency to entropy, you cannot simply walk away from difficult issues, but professional conduct mandates that you continue to push through seeking earnestly for a resolution.

Advice Constraints
REALTORS^® are specialists in real estate marketing, negotiation, and transaction, but famously generalists in many other aspects related to real estate. This general knowledge about the process, financing, construction, or taxation is typically experience-based and never to be dispensed as professional advice to be relied upon. One of the key aspects of professional conduct in real estate is the ability to speak to many different issues and topics regarding real estate in raising awareness for the client, but recognizing that real estate advice is the only topic that can be discussed authoritatively. All other information or advice required by the client should be directed to experts in that discipline, and that distinction demonstrates the true professional conduct of a REALTORS^® in protecting their client's best interest.

In the fast-paced, dynamic world of real estate, there can be no doubt that the REALTORS^® role is crucial to ensuring the successful forward progress of transactions for consumers. Although the situation in a single deal can move quickly and unexpectedly, keeping these principles at the center of a REALTORS^® professional conduct help maintain the focus on the best interests of the clients and the achievement of their goals.