The real estate industry is considered a professional industry with specific regulatory legislation and self-regulation through:
REALTORS® are held to a very high standard of professionalism, but determining what that looks like at street level is in question here. Let’s take a few minutes to think through some of these issues together.
Professional Competent Service
This pillar of professionalism is specific to the interactions with the consumer. The REALTOR® must maintain their professional manner in all interactions with the public whether working with the individual as a client or not. It is also an expectation of the code that every REALTOR® is competent in the services they undertake to provide to consumers. This means that where a REALTOR® may not feel confident or competent in a specific property type, transaction, or even geographic region, they should recognize the same and help the consumer to find competent representation.
Absolute Honesty and Integrity in all Business Dealings
The first duty of every REALTOR® is honesty regardless of the situation or relationship, without exception. Paired with that is integrity which means being trustworthy, responsible, incorruptible, and of high moral character. Both of these characteristics must be demonstrated in absolute and full measure in all dealings with all individuals, members of the public as well as fellow REALTORS®.
A REALTOR® must never lie, act deceitfully, or be willfully blind to corruption but should be above reproach in all their business dealings. This means that every time anyone interacts with a REALTOR® their expectation is to be treated fairly and to rely on the REALTORS® answers as true and reliable.
Utmost Civility
A REALTOR® has stressful and high-stakes interactions daily and these pressure points are a very real and present part of the role. Regardless of this reality, a REALTOR® must maintain civility in all interactions without excuse. This applies to working with the public as well as fellow REALTORS® where tensions can flare over negotiations, marketing choices, business models, or even social media posts of all things.
In all these things there is never an excuse for a REALTOR® to be less than entirely civil with anyone. Bullying, crude language, obscene gestures, or aggression have no place in any texts, emails, calls, or personal interactions of a REALTOR® for any reason.
Cooperation with and Fairness to All
The real estate industry may best be described by the phrase “competitive cooperation”. The key thought embedded in that phrase is the idea that these two things are not mutually exclusive.
REALTORS® are competitive with each other but at the same time cooperative with each other. For any transaction to come to completion, the REALTORS® for the parties will need to cooperate on several different levels. That cooperation is limited in scope to the best interest of the clients and within the fiduciary duties of their clients for each respective REALTOR® but the principle of cooperation while being competitive in the marketplace is alive and well in every real estate transaction.
Personal Accountability
As a matter of a REALTORS® membership in the Canadian Real Estate Association, they pledge to observe both the spirit and the letter of the REALTOR® Code. This means that both personally and professionally, in real estate activities or interactions with any consumer or REALTOR®, the code will be the standard that they will hold themselves accountable to and submit themselves for judgment by. There is an expectation in the self-regulation of practice standards throughout the industry and violations of those common standards will be met with the applicable force of administrative justice.
Since 1959 all REALTORS® in Alberta have pledged to meet this standard of practice and it continues to guide the REALTOR® community in a spirit of cooperation and congeniality. Like any family, the family members of that family have disagreements and disputes sometimes, but ultimately all understand that working relationships are key to the protection of the consumer and the integrity of the industry.