After the past two grueling days of continuing education classes, I discovered yet again how the world around us is changing. I found the presenting instructor very knowledgeable and filled with many true stories of unfortunate happenings in the field of real estate.
One of the classes was on Ethics and how it is should be put to use in our industry. Since it is one of our mandatory education requirements, I was not surprised to find the room nearly completely full of agents from all over the North Iowa area. Ethics is derived from the Greek word Ethos which means character. With that said, ethics for us as Realtors is to adhere to the standards or beliefs in the way in which we conduct our business on a daily basis with clients and customers. I’ve never had much of a problem understanding the spirit of ethics. If we all would only step back and soulfully consider how we would prefer to be treated in a given business transaction, we would all be working in a near perfect world. It’s sort of the do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Situational ethics seems a bit more in vogue sometimes and I find it sort of a bit on the side of childishness as it is like the old saying goes, “Tit for tat, butter for fat, you killed my dog so now I’ll kill your cat.” It’s the base form of justifying actions that you normally wouldn’t have considered had there not been something in the past that created this idea of it being one’s opportunity to turn the tables on someone else.
It may sound corny on my part, but I’ve always worked at brushing transgressions aside and moving on with business and just leaving Karma to deal with those who’ve been very naughty monkeys.
An agent once told a customer of mine that I was grinding an axe for this particular person. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth, but with it having been brought up years later by that person, it was a confirmation that it must have still been creating a continued pang of guilt.
I was delighted to find that the instructor agreed with my philosophy regarding ethics in practice. Sometimes agents don’t share their vast knowledge about real estate and sincerely want the best for them. I am a firm believer in disclosure; if you know it then you tell it. It all goes back to the idea where if we care, then we must share even if it is not always in the best interest of gaining the most financially from a given transaction.
