What is the Purpose?
I was recently preparing to deliver a sermon at my church and began going through the concept of “appropriate punishment” for wrong doing. I think we can all go through a list of what we feel is an appropriate punishment for a particular misdeed; but somehow we almost always forget the lingering stigma or peer perception that the accompanies an inappropriate act. This is typically far worse than any other punishment. Real Estate is inherently a gossip ridden business and it transcends into DPOR or Ethics violations. So, I am left asking what should be the point of Professional Standard Hearings or even DPOR findings?
The System
In this current market climate it seems that there are just far too many practitioners and far too few clients. Each agent is taking a small piece of a bigger pie and making it even more difficult for many agents to get sufficient number of clients to actually make a living. Unfortunately we’re seeing a growing number of inexperienced agents taking on more problematic transactions such as short sales, and not doing a great job with it. Many of these agents have dual careers and cannot or will not make time for education in these challenging times. Moreover, they aren’t working with enough clients to really building that experience that’s needed to learn “the system”.
The System is very complex and honestly has several components of oversight. For example, REALTORS need to know Virginia statutes, the DPOR administrative code, RESPA guidelines, general contract knowledge, the Code of Ethics, local practices, countless forms, the job of the lender, the required disclosures documents, HOA regulations, county or city compliance issues, etc…. The list goes on and on and what some practitioners forget is that no one is beyond making a mistake. There is not one agent who has ever worked with any number of clients and not made a mistake, generally through lack of knowledge. I promise anyone that challenges me on this, upon close review, I can find at least one potential violation of the the regulations overseeing the industry in their practices.
It Should Be Hard
More than once a student has remarked that its too hard to follow all the rules or to even know them. They’ve commented that if all the rules were followed to the strictest sense they would never make any money. I haven’t decided if I agree or not. I do know that I have loss business because of my hyper-vigilant interpretation of the rules. I’ve studied very hard for the past six years to know as much about the practice as possible and each time I learn something new, it makes the job a bit harder.
Other agents have commented that dealing with the Lender, the client, the settlement attorney, etc… is too difficult. Yes, it is a difficult job and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can move forward and do the job as opposed to trying to find the path of least resistance. It the job was any easier there would even more agents out there than there are AND the consumers wouldn’t need any of us! The fact that real estate transactions are complicated is a primary reason that consumers need a practiced, proven, educated practitioner assisting them.
Corrected Behavior
The fact that being a REALTOR is hard, that education is paramount and there are so many rules are all reasons why I think that corrective processes, such as Code of Ethics hearings and DPOR hearings need to be directed toward re-education and to correct behavior and not alienation. Lots of REALTORS are yelling that agents found in violation of Ethics cases should be removed from membership. Well, let me again say, that not one of us are without our mistakes and failings. I agree that those who intentionally move to harm consumers should be treated differently, but in years of reviewing case studies, listening to Professional Standard Hearings and Grievance complaints, I am fully convinced that ignorance of the rules is the reasons why agents get “in trouble.” I’ve only heard a handful of cases where the agent intentionally harmed someone.
This is why I think that findings of violation should be directed to correcting behavior, re-education and moving on. Each time I hear another REALTOR say that “So and So should just have their license taken away” I cringe – no one is above reproach and you will be judged to the same measure that you judge others.
So, remember the next time that someone is complaining about the behavior of another agent, that someone has probably said the same thing about you. Juding another practitioner without context and both sides of the story, is showing your lack of humanity and benevolence. We should all be working to educate other’s to do a better job. We should all be working to serving the client’s needs in the best possible way.
Remember that typically the same level of judgement you give others, will be used to judge you.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I agree with you 100%.
DPOR has to think about correcting behavior through encouragement of the agents to acquire more education rather than alienating agents. I have sat through some hearings as well. It definitely feels like DPOR is trying to make a living through these processes rather than doing what initially DPOR hearings were meant to do.
There are agents who stole thousands from people, falsified documents too complex for DPOR investigators to even figure out, yet they go after those agents with simple mistakes or errors to punish. I have also noticed that the punishment does not fit the crime. I travelled through 30 offices and asked at least 100 agents in a gathering of what they thought about DPOR. There was not much positive things said about DPOR staff. They all complained the wrong path DPOR is taking as you well worded it out in your blog. They often spoke about the discriminatory investigation done by DPOR staff, where clearly minorities were bashed and others let go for similar mistakes. This bothers me the most since I sat through some hearings where this allegation was well noted.
Finally you are correct when saying that maybe a handful of agents may want to intentionally cheat the public. However, I have found that in more experienced agents with high volume of sale because they know how to cover up and go through the system. Those agent with minor errors have committed mistakes out of their ignorance, lack of education, and lack of having experienced and educated brokers to help them put theory into practice.
Instead of punishing an agent for minor mistakes, DPOR must force the agent to take courses instead of depleting them out of little money they make to contribute to DPOR’s “piggy bank”. As you said, our industry is one that gossip and talk follows the agents. This is enough punishment of its own. I hope our board members at DPOR and our directors re-haul the DPOR policies, and how investigators and alike deal with agent with minor mistakes. Thank you for your blog. Many of us feel the same as you but no one takes the time to express and on one at DPOR cares to read and do something about our concerns and opinions. I hope that changes soon.