I was in a meeting last week with non-Realtors and one of the questions was, “why hasn’t the real estate industry changed more?” as other industries have? One reason: we don’t talk about our deficiencies publicly.
… I wonder what an open source real estate profession would look like.I’ve long held this thought about the real estate profession, but it makes sense when looking at wordpress plugins, too … this time from a security standpoint:
The most popular plugins have had the most eyes looking at the source code. If you stick to the top 1/3 most popular plugins, you will be in pretty good shape. Less popular plugins will have been reviewed less often and are more likely simply be easy ways for people to add data to your database and files to your site.
Couldn’t the same be applied to real estate agents?
Jim,
Excellent, provocative post.
Here’s the problem: when you raise this issue, you will IMMEDIATELY get a knee-jerk response from certain people (I can give you their names) who will rise up and say, “YOU’RE VIOLATING THE CODE OF ETHICS by merely HAVING this conversation.”Â
Don’t get me wrong: I am with you on this. I am just telling you there is this contingent of people out there who WILL shout you down…
Keep posting stuff like this…
Best,
Michael
Thanks, Michael. For a fun exercise, ask productive Realtor leaders how many Code of Ethics violations they’ve witnessed; then ask how many times they’ve filed a violation with their local Board of Realtors.Â
I’m not saying that all or most Realtors are “unethical” but there are plenty of opportunities to test the system to see if it works.Â
We need to own our limitations and weaknesses – admit them, accept them, and work to solve/improve/eliminate them.Â
Hiding them doesn’t work.