I had an interesting incident with another agent recently. I wrote about that in another post. When I wrote it I promised to reflect in a later post on some of the larger industry issues involved.

In many professions there's a tension between the desire to protect the public and the desire to protect the members of that profession. And so, while the Hippocratic oath has doctors promising to "First do no harm" there is also a very strong taboo against criticism of other doctors.

It's really no different in real estate. (Although the stakes are a lot lower!) Part of our code of ethics says that we'll speak no ill of another agent. And, most agents are careful to adhere to that. I have no problem with not indulging in idle gossip about my peers. And, it's certainly much too easy in a very competitive industry to decide it's your job to cast aspersions at those you deem less "professional" than yourself.

But you can carry this too far. It's a thin line you walk and I think we've leaned too far towards protecting our colleagues at the expense of protecting the public. When another agent thinks I have a greater responsibility to protect her and her business than to be honest with the consumer, I think it's a problem.

The thinking in the industry is that my responsibility is to clients who have hired me. The agency relationship with them obligates me to put their interests first. However, even to a customer (otherwise known as the general public) I still owe the duty of honesty.

You can ask whether "honesty" is defined by answering direct questions with honest information or whether it obligates volunteering information for which we weren't directly asked. I'm going to suggest that splitting such hairs is the kind of behavior that makes real estate agents rank very poorly in polls that gauge trust by profession.

As I said, the line is thin. But I think it's time to start leaning the other way!

I got a call from a lender yesterday on a deal we're working on together. She's got some potentially bad news for my clients and wanted to let me know the scoop. It's the kind of heads up I very much appreciate!

But she also proceeded to tell me that she wasn't going to call my clients with this information for a couple of days. She wanted to research all the options and have every potential question answered before she called them.

I understand that instinct. It's hard to call someone and know they'll have questions and know you won't instantly be able to answer all of them.

But, I have a basic belief that I shouldn't know something about your transaction that you don't. This is NOT part of the canon of ethics for the National Association of REALTORs. There are plenty of other agents who think this goes a step too far and that in some cases we should be protecting our clients from things they don't really need to know.

But, I don't necessarily appreciate it when other people decide what I should and shouldn't know. I can't believe most of my clients would appreciate that.

In this instance, it's not permanently hiding information from anyone. It's just a couple of days delay in relaying the information. We're not talking about someone doing something immoral or unethical.

Still, it's the kind of thing I struggle with.

So, what do you think? If you're a consumer, do you want to know everything I know as soon as I know it? Would you rather I only told you things when I think you must be informed and that I spare you some of the scary details? If you're an agent or broker,  how do you deal with this question?

Another friend is leaving the lending industry. With the market in the condition it's in and the serious over-population of lenders and real estate agents this is happening more and more often. It's a sad fact of life and one more isn't, in the larger sense, a surprise at all.

But this guy was tremendously good at what he did in terms of servicing his clients. He went out of his way to make sure a buyer understood what they were signing up for and that they were comfortable with that. He's as honest as the day is long and I never hesitated to refer clients to him.

But being good at what you do, whether in lending or in real estate is not nearly enough to guarantee you'll prosper. And, you have to be able to make a living and put food on the table. That's tough right now.

The thing is, as I watch lenders and agents leave the business, I'm not at all sure we're losing the people we should be! Heaven knows there are plenty of lenders out there who will push consumers into loans they barely qualify for and will surely regret later. There are plenty of agents who are really bad at what they do, don't keep up with what's new in the profession and give all of us a bad name when they compromise on ethics.

But most of the people I know leaving are good people. And I'll miss them! And I'm sure the consumers who have dealt with them will miss them as well. I suspect the commission system that this industry is based on makes this inevitable. I'm less and less sure that our current structure is good for either the professionals or the consumers!

But that's a topic for another day! So, best of luck to all of you who are moving on! Keep in touch from the other side!