Debra Stone

I believe that the real issue in the real estate industry involving trust comes from a variety of issues. First,it is not seen as a true profession. The barrier to entry is very low. Most of us realize that almost anyone can get a license. Requirements are not high, so we should not be surprised at the results. We need to really change the requirements for licensing and demand higher standards from the real estate industry, if we want to gain respect in the eyes of the public. If your industry itself values entry requirements so little, how can we expect the public to respect our license. We must raise our standards ourselves to regain our position as trusted advisors for our clients. Second, the regulators do not have sufficient staff to make sure that all are following the regulations. More auditing and other checking of standards needs to be done in order to monitor the industry. The public needs to understand how the industry works. For the most part, because of lack of staff, the regulators rely on brokers to do their part. But with so many agents and so much activity, we all know it is difficult to monitor the process. One idea would be to have brokers audit each other. This is done with other professions, like CPA's. Better oversight and more transperancy would be the result. Finally, if we work together, we can change our industry for the good. The first step is recognizing that we need to change ourselves, then we can take action. For the most part most Realtors or agents are competitors, many of us do not get involved in the process of the business of our industry as a whole. Serious Realtors must get involved in their associations and industry groups to work for change.