There is a constant background conversation in the real estate industry that has to do with increasing the standards for real estate licensing as a means of improving the quality of licensees and public perception of the industry as a whole. Agents all over the country engage in this conversation every year, and talk has become louder and louder as the overall number of real estate licensees has increased.
The argument that people make for increasing licensing standards usually goes something like this, “it is too easy to get a real estate license. If we made it harder, then we could increase the overall quality of real estate licensees and real estate agents would have a better reputation as a whole.” People then go on to suggest increased standards such as requiring a college degree, increasing the amount of pre-licensing education, making the required tests more difficult, etc. To me, all of these suggestions and the argument put forth to support them are complete bunk. Here’s why. . .
More extensive barriers to entry do not automatically create better agents. As just about anyone with a real estate license will tell you, the education that you get prior to being licensed does very little to ensure your success in business, other than informing you of the legal requirements and obligations that, when followed, will allow you to keep your license. The things that make for good agents are not covered in any licensing class. They are learned after the agent begins working. They are learned through broker training classes, or through mentoring, or through the time-tested technique of trail and error. The idea that making it harder to earn a license will increase the quality of the agents is preposterous because it ignores this fact.
There is another factor at play here as well, the human factor. For the most part, people are who they are. Their individual practice of their profession will reflect this. Bad people are going to do bad things whether they are practicing real estate, medicine, law, or automobile repair. Making the required eduction longer, or requiring an advanced degree isn’t going to turn these people good. In fact, many of the people that I have come in contact with whom I would describe as “bad apples” possess college degrees.
If people truly want to make the profession better, and increase its overall public perception, the most impact can be made once people earn a license. It is at this point that an agent is most vulnerable to influence from external sources. A new licensee is (hopefully) going to absorb just about everything that comes his way. He will learn mainly from the examples set by the agents around him. If those are good, ethical agents, then the new agent’s opportunity for success is greatly increased.
Brokers play perhaps the most important role in the success and failure of new agents. Brokers are charged with protecting and enhancing the reputation of not only themselves and their companies, but also the reputation of the industry as a whole. This is done through their actions, and by leading through positive examples of what should be done. Sure, you could increase the licensing standards, but if those already licensed are practicing unethically or illegally, all is for naught.
If the goal of those who advocate the increasing of licensing standards is truly the reputation of the profession, then they should turn to themselves and seek out the new agents around them and act as a mentor or at least a positive example of the real estate professional. That will have a far greater impact on the profession than any increase in education requirements.
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