Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 5, 1990 TAG: 9005080167
SECTION: AMERICAN HOME WEEK PAGE: AH3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But REALTORS are serious about their designation and dedicated to what it means.
"Anyone can get a license and sell real estate" but REALTORS have an extra edge, Elaine Ernest, executive officer of the Roanoke Valley Association of REALTORS, said.
A large percentage of all real estate agents become REALTORS.
"It's like being a doctor and joining the American Medical Association," said Bob Mosely, owner of the Mosley-Flint School of Real Estate.
The first step toward becoming a REALTOR, is earning the license. All applicants must be 18 years old, and must pass a 45-hour Principles of Real Estate course with a C average or better before they can qualify to take the state examination. But even after they pass the exam, they must become affiliated with a real estate broker before a license can be granted.
Several public school adult-education programs offer the real estate class, as do the valley's two real-estate schools.
The Academy of Real Estate also offers an intensive preparation course for the exam. The course costs $275 and includes textbooks, video tapes of the classes for review and career counseling. The school also teaches students how to invest in real estate, for themselves, or for their customers or clients.
"We do everything," said the Academy's Dayna Patrick. They also offer a money-back guarantee, she said. Students who don't pass the test on the first try are refunded half the tuition costs.
But the school has a good record of success, Patrick said. In January, 100 percent of the school's students passed the test. In February, 97 percent passed.
Classes are offered both day and night. It takes two weeks to complete the five-day-a-week course, Patrick said, and seven weeks for the two-night-a-week course.
The instructors, Tom Haynie and Vic Layman, teach full time. Both have worked as REALTORS for many years.
The Mosley-Flint School of Real Estate has been in the Roanoke Valley for 15 or 16 years, and has branches in several other locations across the state, said Mosely. In addition to the mandatory principles course and a test preparation course, the school offers state-mandated update classes and courses in brokerage, financial mangement and appraisal.
The cost for the basic class is $225 to $285, Mosely said, "depending on where, when, and how" the class is held. The brokerage class costs $150.
After three years of selling for someone else, a REALTOR can apply for a brokers license, after the proper training.
Real estate licenses are good for two years, after which REATORS must take a continuing education course before re-applying. These courses cover subjects such as Environmental Protection Agency regulations, information about radon in homes and other federal and state regulations.
A REALTOR, Ernest said, is a licensed agent who has joined a local REALTORS association, thereby automatically becoming a member of the state and national organizations. Those who want to join the Roanoke Valley Association must pay yearly dues of $244 and participate in an orientation session and a course in fair housing laws. They must be familiar with the bylaws of the organization, and they are taught the rules of the Multiple Listing Service. It is illegal for anyone else to use the REALTOR designation.
All REALTORS must also subscribe to a Code of Ethics and take the following pledge:
"I pledge myself to protect the individual right of real estate ownership and to widen the opportunity to enjoy it; to be honorable and honest in all dealings; to seek better to represent my clients by building my knowledge and competence; to act fairly towards all in the spirit of the Golden Rule; to serve well my community, and through it my country; [and] to observe the REALTORS Code of Ethics and conform my conduct to its lofty ideals."
The REALTORS Association provides continuing education to ensure that their members provide professional service to both buyers and sellers of real estate. They know about financing methods and new regulations, are familiar with the current housing market and can help the seller set a fair market price.
While it is possible for homeowners to sell for themselves, REALTORS have access to the Multiple Listing Service, which offers sellers a wider range of buyers.
For buyers, a REALTOR can suggest ways of meeting down payments and mortgage payments, and can help them through the complicated process of applying for a loan. They are also there right through the closing on the property.
The REALTOR designation is important to consumers for other reasons, Ernest said. "I think that if [the agent] is a REALTOR, it's a positive image. It shows you've gone the extra mile." Having the REALTOR designation, she said, is "a definite advantage."
The Association, she said, is "self-policing," and even has its own grievance board.
Opportunities to make a living in real estate are many. "Every firm out there wants REALTORS. There is a place for anyone that wants to sell," Mosley said.
But earning the REALTOR designation is no guarantee of success. Virtually all REALTORS in the Roanoke Valley are independent contractors, Ernest said. They pay a portion of their profits to the firm they belong to, to cover the cost of office space, secretarial services and for the use of the company's name. Otherwise, they must succeed or fail on their own merits.
"The only ones who make money at it are the ones who work hard at it," Patrick said. "We're unique in the manner in which we do business," said REALTOR Dennis Cronk, of the firm of Waldvogel, Poe and Cronk. "We prefer to work closely together. We're competitive, yet we work together. We need each other."
by CNB