What is a "Professional"?

What exactly is a “professional”? I guess we could define it simply as someone who gets paid for what they are doing. But clearly, if I want to hire a professional for something, it had better be somebody who ACTS professionally if they want to earn my business. Some professions do require more stringent standards for their “members” (official or otherwise). Some would equate ethics with professional standards. But I think ethics is a different category altogether. To me, ethics are principles which guide how we behave and (should) treat each other as human beings (see the REALTOR Code of Ethics, for example), while “professional standards” are what set people in business a cut above the average.

The real estate business is relatively easy to get into – no degrees required, etc., though in most states licensing has become more stringent in recent years. But having a license to practice your business, once again, means nothing in terms of one’s professionalism. It gives you the legal right to practice certain things in certain states, but that’s it – not one iota farther.

For example, I recently came across a mortgage broker who was licensed and called himself a professional, but apparently had no idea how to behave professionally towards his clients. His lack of professionalism almost cost the clients (clients whom he and I shared) thousands of dollars, simply due to the fact that he gave inaccurate (if not dishonest) answers, said he did things that had not actually gotten done, and so on. I was furious that he could treat his (our) clients that way. Was he ethical? Well, I suppose one could argue that he might not have breached any ethics, that his intent was positive. But there is no valid argument that he was a professional. And it deeply disturbs me that other clients of his continue to put their trust in him.

I would suggest that a real estate professional should start with a professional designation (e.g. “REALTOR®”). But once again it should go much farther than that in terms of how well he or she communicates, negotiates, dedicates his/her time to their clients, etc. It might not be the easiest thing to define, but you sure know it when you see it, and you sure are aware of it when it’s missing.

Do yourself a favor: don’t affiliate yourself with a “professional” without asking for references or other recommendations. There’s no guarantee that you will have a similar experience as another client, but it could save you many headaches, and many more dollars.

Next week: Realistic Expectations