Some common criticisms members have about the Professional Standards Process are:
ROTEC
• I don’t have the time to go through all that; can’t you just call them up and tell them to knock it off?
• I don’t want to go to a hearing. It would be too uncomfortable because I’ll need to do business with this
agent or company again. You know I’ll end up having to face this agent in another cross transaction and that
will sour our relationship.
• The formal process to file a complaint is just too complicated and time consuming.
Any disciplinary action taken by the association against a member can only be imposed if the respondent
is afforded their fundamental rights of due process. The Association cannot rely solely on allegations. Taking
action without due process invites serious liability.
Any member accused of violating the code of ethics has the following rights:
• Right to face their accuser
• Time to prepare their case
• Knowledge of the articles of the code they allegedly violated
• The ability to present witnesses
• Representation by legal counsel
If you believe that another member’s activities are unethical, take the appropriate action and file a
complaint. It’s your responsibility to uphold the code, and my job to administer the Professional Standards Process. Filing a complaint isn’t squealing on the playground. If we don’t enforce our code, someone else will do it
for us.
Today the COE stands for your promise of professionalism. We are a self policing industry which comes with
the requirement to keep our peers in line if need be. Said another way, we must sweep our own shops.
Taking the enforcement of our COE seriously will keep the watch dogs off us. If members don’t take the
enforcement of our rules seriously, the new environment created will provide a fertile breeding ground (i.e.
Media) for outside interference. The real estate industry does not want to ask for additional consumer analysis
or government intervention/scrutiny.
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We work and run our businesses quite well without any additional “big brothers” watching over us and
telling us what and how to run our industry. We don’t need any additional regulations imposed upon us
because consumers think our industry is not as ethical as it should be for their protection. The perception and
reputation of the RE industry is our most valued asset.
MIREALTOR® | JUNE 2014
Grassroots is where it all starts. Don’t complain about a fellow Realtor®, instead, commit to self action and
make the time to enforce the rules that set us apart insuring all practitioners have a fair shake at buying and
selling real estate in you local market place.
And as always we know, value, respect and appreciate that ETHICS is good for business.
Marcus is the founder and broker of New World Realty, which also manages coaching and facilitation of
education classes around the world. Marcus earned his MBA from the Universit 䁽