Art,
Slow down, you have completely misunderstood my point. I was 71 when I took the real estate license. I have since taken at least 5 times as many CE courses as the states of Kansas and Missouri require, completed the e-PRO, and lack a couple of courses completing GRI, and will take the course work for ABR next month.
I have benefited from senior (in terms of real estate experience) agents and brokers and have absolutely no quarrel with you regarding the points you make. As a community college president I always insisted that the important thing is what you know and can do, not where you learned it. I still believe that.
My point was, and is, that our profession is plagued by too many agents (and even brokers) who are able to pass the minimal pre-licensure exams but don't really know enough about the profession to perform at a level that the public deserves. No matter what the field of study, if the school guarantees that 90% of those who enroll will pass the exam, the standard is too low.
So there be no misunderstanding. I would not make a formal educational requirement as a prerequisite for entering our profession. Rather I would set the standards higher both for initial licensure and for renewal. In far too many instances I have found myself trying to convince an "experienced" agent that she/he was in violation of the law or regulations of the state or the Code of Ethics of our profession. My broker was a huge help in my first few months answering questions that I had. But I also found that by reading the fine print of every contract document and reading the Code of Ethics, etc. I discovered things that the "old hats" did not even know about process and procedures that should be followed.
I am sure you are making a great contribution to all of the agents in your office, both the young and more experienced. I have made myself available as a mentor to any new agent who joins our office to walk them through a transaction, answer their questions, coach them when they need it, etc. I have felt this way about all of the careers I have pursued.
Best regards to you and to every REALTOR� in this group who is dedicated to elevating the status of our profession. It is not a matter of age or years of experience or college degrees held. It is a state of mind that values quality in everything we do. The late John Gardner, LBJ's Secretary of HEW (before it became HHS), said in his book, Excellence, A society that fails to value quality in both its philosophy and its plumbing, will be a society in which neither its ideas or its pipes willl hold water.
John
John E Cleek, Ph.D., e-PRO,
Realtor� and Marketing Consultant
The CrownPlatinum Team
Crown Realty of Kansas
Miami County - Linn County - Johnson County
1005 W. Amity � Louisburg, KS 66053
Licensed in Kansas and Missouri
Pho: 913-709-4423 � Fax: 913-837-2549
Finding the RIGHT REALTOR . . . Priceless!
On Feb 19, 2009, at 12:30 AM, Art Hademan wrote:
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| Professional Development John, I just had to reply to your comments. Real estate schools are set up to teach students the basics of the law and the basics of the profession but mostly how to pass the test. I was always of the opinion that your real education came from experience and guidance from the "old dogs" you work with. The comments I've read on this blog seem to indicate that the so called senior agents think new agents should be inhibited from earning a living because they haven't been in the business long enough to know what they're doing. Well, if they were good enough to pass the test and earn their license then they're good enough to earn a living. You can't learn if you don't make mistakes and if you're new in this business and stupid enough to not run your paperwork past your broker before submitting it then you deserve to get spanked. I work for a great Century 21 office in Washington State and us older agents want to see the new guys succeed so we do everything we can to help these folks. Oh, did I mention we don't require co-listing agreements with the new agents. Why starve a new agent when they do all the work of finding a buyer or seller and then walk their clients through the process? I like to see people succeed and learn but that can't be accomplished if they don't do the work on their own. Why would an older agent with a succesful sphere of influence, with a good referral base and good leads coming to them from the broker possibly think that they need to put new agents under their thumbs and collect half the poor souls commission just because they are a new agent? This is a really old argument and the old guard needs to catch up. I would have hoped that an old cuss like you, but new to this business, would have been able to waddle through that muck! Finally, as a college level educator, I'd have thought you would have considered that the success of a man is clearly evident by the successes of those to whom he passes on his knowledge. That's the crux of the argument. Art Hademan Century 21 arthademan@comcast.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Cleek, Ph.D., e-PRO" <RealTalk@RealTown.com>
To: "Art Hademan" <NWWREALESTATE@comcast.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 5:31:15 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: RealTalk: RE: Quality of Agents Today ID00DKCM
Deede makes some excellent points. I am fairly new to the
profession but have been appalled by the lack of professionalism
among REALTORS� as a group. I encounter highly professional agents
every day but it doesn't take many weak links to leave the
perception among the public that none of us know what we are
doing.
Pre-licensure requirements as well as post-licensure
requirements are too lax. Most pre-licensure courses are classic
examples of teaching to the test. All of the schools advertise that
they "guarantee" that 98 % or some ungodly high
percentage of those who take their class will pass the exam. And
they think that is a reason for bragging. As a college professor I
would have been reprimanded or perhaps let go if I guaranteed that
98% of my students would get a passing grade.
I have yet to meet anyone who says that their pre-licensure
course prepared them to be a fully qualified agent.
If the continuing education requirements were more rigorous
the weakness of pre-licensure might not be so glaring.
Upgrading our profession benefits all of us.
John
John E Cleek, Ph.D., e-PRO,
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