The Top Three Characteristics Your REALTOR® Should Exhibit

There are polls that have been published about the most trusted professions. I checked out two of them and found my chosen fields to be among the lowest. In fact on the Ipsos Reid survey my role as a realtor wasn’t even listed. On the other, Bloggers came in tied with politicians and incrementally higher than car salesman. What do you say to that?

I am determined to do my part in changing that perspective. One at a time.

First – Your REALTOR®

My career in Real Estate has spanned 30 years and I have had the very good fortune of working with some fine people. Notwithstanding, (I always liked that legal word. Just means in spite of. I looked it up) the polls, there have been more than a few of them. The screening, legal ramifications and training required to sell Real Estate in BC are quite rigorous so it is usually the good ones that last. Unfortunately, I have also met the few who have given us a bad rap. But they are definitely in the minority. Based on this experience, if you were to ask me what to look for in a REALTOR®, I would list 3 Characteristics.

1. Trustworthiness
2. Competence
3. Confidentiality

So let’s take a quick look at what these might mean since it is important for you to know who you are trusting with a significant part of your life.

1. Trustworthiness

A lot has been written about trust. Steven Covey wrote a book called ‘The Speed of Trust’. An excellent book that tells you what happens when you have trust. Patrick Lencioni wrote 5 Dysfunctions of a Team where he says the basis for any team to perform must be trust.

I was listening to someone speak a while ago, sorry don’t remember who, and they had an interesting take on trust. The books mentioned above tell you what you can do when you have trust. But how do you describe what it really is. This speaker basically said trust was something you could feel. You instinctively knew whether or not you couild trust the individual or not.

A persons record and reputation will give you a good indication of this but you should also feel comfortable with the person you are going to deal with in matters of great importance. Real Estate is one of those times. The person you are going to work with must be turstworthy and make sure they are someone you will enjoy working with. Most of the time, it is going to be a relationship that could last for quite a while.

2. Competence

There are different levels of competence. And different areas requiring different types of competence. A good realtor will be competent in:

1. Product Knowledge
2. Market Knowledge
3. People Skills
4. Social Skills
5. Negotiating
6. Follow through

A solid combination of these characteristics will enable your move to proceed much more smoothly than one where any are lacking in a significant way.

3. Confidentiality

Some one once asked John Maxwell to teach a course on business ethics. He said he couldn’t do it. His reason was that you either are an ethical person or you are not. An ethical person will understand what needs to be held confidential. They will be aware of the need to disclose what needs to be disclosed and what should not be disclosed. A REALTOR® is guided by a code of Ethics and a good one doesn’t have to refer to the printed version to know what is right and what is wrong. They just know.

If you are looking to enter into a contractual relationship with someone to represent you with perhaps your most significant investment, you owe it to yourself to establish a criteria from which to make such a decision.

My experience as an agent, manager and an owner has given me some pretty interesting stories. And I am proud to say most of them are very good stories. I would like to keep it that way so I hope this helps you in deciding who you should be contacting as your representative.

If you have had a good experience with your REALTOR® why not comment or post on Facebook or twitter what made that experience work well.