Hi, everybody, Cheryl Knowlton coming at you today with the Realtor Code of Ethics Preamble. I am so proud to be a real estate professional and hope that you are too, especially when we realize what it is we’re actually doing.
Preamble
Under all is the land. Upon its wise utilization and widely allocated ownership depend the survival and growth of free institutions and of our civilization. REALTORS ® should recognize that the interests of the nation and its citizens require the highest and best use of the land and the widest distribution of land ownership. They require the creation of adequate housing, the building of functioning cities, the development of productive industries and farms, and the preservation of a healthful environment.
Social responsibilities and patriotic duties
Such interests impose obligations beyond those of ordinary commerce. They impose grave social responsibility and a patriotic duty to which REALTORS ® should dedicate themselves, and for which they should be diligent in preparing themselves. REALTORS ®, therefore, are zealous to maintain and improve the standards of their calling and share with their fellow REALTORS ® a common responsibility for its integrity and honor.
In recognition and appreciation of their obligations to clients, customers, the public, and each other, REALTORS ® continuously strive to become and remain informed on issues affecting real estate and, as knowledgeable professionals, they willingly share the fruit of their experience and study with others. They identify and take steps, through enforcement of this Code of Ethics and by assisting appropriate regulatory bodies, to eliminate practices which may damage the public or which might discredit or bring dishonor to the real estate profession. REALTORS ® having direct personal knowledge of conduct that may violate the Code of Ethics involving misappropriation of client or customer funds or property, willful discrimination, or fraud resulting in substantial economic harm, bring such matters to the attention of the appropriate Board or Association of REALTORS ®.
Cooperation with other real estate professionals
Realizing that cooperation with other real estate professionals promotes the best interests of those who utilize their services, REALTORS ® urge exclusive representation of clients; do not attempt to gain any unfair advantage over their competitors; and they refrain from making unsolicited comments about other practitioners. In instances where their opinion is sought, or where REALTORS ® believe that comment is necessary, their opinion is offered in an objective, professional manner, uninfluenced by any personal motivation or potential advantage or gain.
The term REALTOR® has come to connote competency, fairness, and high integrity resulting from adherence to a lofty ideal of moral conduct in business relations. No inducement of profit and no instruction from clients ever can justify departure from this ideal.
In the interpretation of this obligation, REALTORS® can take no safer guide than that which has been handed down through the centuries, embodied in the Golden Rule, “Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them.”
Realtors pledge to observe
Accepting this standard as their own, REALTORS ® pledge to observe its spirit in all of their activities whether conducted personally, through associates or others, or via technological means, and to conduct their business in accordance with the tenets set forth below.
And then what appears is the actual body of the Code of Ethics. I am hopeful that by doing through the Preamble you fell the power behind it—that you feel proud to be, not only a real estate professional, but a Realtor. Hopefully, you will underline the words that stand out to you, like zealous, like committed and feel patriotic and down-right awesome about what it is that we get to do every day for a living. I hope that you take this pledge to hear and live it and abide by it. I know and promise you, you will be a better and far more powerful real estate professional if you will adhere and abide by the principles found in the Code of Ethics.