Last week we brought up the topic of requiring Realtors to hold a college degree as a means of minimum standards for licensing. Any time we discuss with agents what the best thing to do for improving the industry and the image of the industry is to raise minimum standards with most people agreeing that a monkey wearing an eye patch can get a license.
I shared with you what I learned and didn’t learn in college and reasoned that requiring a degree wouldn’t likely improve the industry as many basic business skills are not taught in universities today, barring the business schools.
I got a touching email of a reader that agreed with me. Sig Buster started his career in 1972, before I was even born. According to Sig, he was “broke, busted and disgusted but this [real estate] business gave me something the college didn’t give me. Hope and a chance and that’s all I wanted. I’ve seen many recessions come and go and many college boys and girls bust out of the business, but I am still here.”
Sig’s story is one of a successful agent who does not have a college degree, he is a well respected leader. I would defy anyone to argue that he is not qualified to practice because he does not have an $80k piece of paper like some of you (and I) do.
Sig’s story in his own words:
Try to read this tale and make the argument that degrees should be required. Bachelor’s degrees are nice, they’re fancy, and requiring them is a great default argument but one that I think is lazy.
“I didn’t graduate from HS anywhere near the top 10% of my class. We didn’t have a speech class, thus I was very shy and couldn’t think very quickly on my feet. The Viet Nam War was ramping up in 1965 and no one wanted to gamble any money on a college loan with a young man like me who was 1A for the draft. I did get some college, mostly English and history by working and paying my way to night classes while I worked as a draftsman with the highway department. As a draftsman, I learned how to read maps and survey plats which helped me later with selling land.
When the money ran out, I was talked into trying real estate. I knew this was the only way I would ever have a fighting “chance” to “make good” as they say. We didn’t have any real estate classes or schools, so I studied for the test on my own while working on a framing crew building houses. This taught me how to read house plans and a lot about construction which later helped me spot trouble in houses I listed or sold.
I firmly believe this hard earned knowledge has helped me better serve my clients and kept me from being sued. You know the catch all phrase lawyers like to use. “He/She knew or should have known”. Well, my experience in the field helped me to “know.”
Eventually, I took and passed the real estate exam and received my first year salesman license. The Monday morning I began work as a salesman, I knew for a fact that no one should depend on me to buy a house. I was too poorly trained to sell houses. Fortunately, I had a good sales manager who helped me, and I sold and closed my first VA loan home in 30 days- just in time to pay my rent and buy me another 30 days in the business.
I received a flyer advertising the Realtors GRI classes and I took the first class. This opened my eyes to the education provided by the Realtor association. I took advantage of every class and seminar I could find. Gaining knowledge in my chosen field every day. This specialized knowledge provided by other real estate professionals who knew the business, gave me the knowledge to better serve my clients and the money followed. I learned a very valuable lesson that is hard to teach young realtors. Provide the service and the money will follow. In other words, don’t chase the money.
To make a long, long story short, I eventually received my GRI, and my CCIM designation. I have been chairman of a planning commission and chairman of a zoning board of adjusters. Thus, I have a working knowledge of the government side of development- something they do not teach in college. I will be a guest speaker at a college in April of this year. I will be speaking to a college real estate class of fresh young faces who will graduate thinking they know it all.
As I said in the beginning, our high school didn’t have a speech class so I took two Dale Carnegie courses as well as Toastmasters and now I have the knowledge to speak in public and think on my feet.
I still don’t have a college degree so in this society, I couldn’t be hired to be a dog catcher’s helper, but I do consider myself educated. I’ve read and studied more books than all of my college educated children put together.
I have a degree from the school of hard knocks. I don’t recommend getting this type of education because it takes so long and it is a very hard road. But, this is what I would recommend if we demanded a college education for a real estate career.
1. Continue to develop the Realtor University that is provided by NAR. If possible, get Realtor University accredited as a University. Instead of building buildings and concentrating on research, continue to teach people to function in their chosen field.
2. Have a specialized tract, residential, land, or commercial. Don’t try to do it all, but know a little about all of it.
3. Know how to read plans, plats and have a knowledge of how to read a compass, GPS.
4. Learn something about the governmental side of real estate and how it works.
5. Continue using Webinars and Archived Webinars provided by NAR and CCIM.
6. Encourage Dale Carnage and Toastmasters and courses like that to develop the social skills that are necessary for this business.
I don’t have a problem with people getting a college degree but I don’t think a college degree is the end all of education. It can be a deterrent because of the cost and it will shut out people who can’t afford to pay the price. Real estate has been good to me and I have given back by serving my association as President and in many other ways. This has all been a learning experience and always will be. If we must have a degree, let it be in Real Estate.”
Sig’s accomplishments:
These aren’t your standard Realtors’ back patting, these are some serious accomplishments:
- Licensed in South Carolina and North Carolina
- 1972 Entered The Real Estate Business with Associated Realty, Inc in Columbia, SC.
- 1973 Earned the GRI Designation
- 1989 Earned the CCIM Designation
- 1998 Co-Chair CCAR Legislative Committee
- 1999 President SC CCIM Chapter
- 2000 CCAR Leadership Program
- 2000 CCAR-Certified Professional Standards Mediation
- 2001 Co-Chair CCAR Legislative Committee
- 2001 CCAR REALTORS Image Award-April
- 2002 Chairman CCAR Legislative Committee
- 2002 National Chairman of the CCIM Legislative Committee
- 2002 Member CCAR Grievance Committee
- 2004 Leadership SCAR
- 2004 Chairman CCAR Legislative Committee
- 2004 CCAR Board of Directors
- 2004 Realtor of the Year-CCAR
- 2005 Vice Chair SCAR State and Local Issues Working Group
- 2005 CCAR MLS Committee-Member
- 2005 SC CCIM Chapter-Member Board of Directors
- 2005 CCAR Legislative Committee-Member
- 2005 CCAR Leadership Program-Dean
- 2005 CCAR Board of Directors-Member
- 2006 CCAR MLS Committee-Member
- 2006 CCAR-Secretary-Officer
- 2006 CCAR MLS Sub Committee- Commercial
- 2006 CCAR MLS Sub Committee-Grievance
- 2006 CCAR Legislative Committee-Member
- 2006 NAR- Land Use and Environmental Committee
- 2006 SCAR Director
- 2006 Chairman SCAR State and Local Issues Working Group
- 2007 Vice Chairman of SCR Legislative Group
- 2007 President Elect Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors
- 2008 President Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors
- 2008 Chairman of SCR Legislative Group2008 South Carolina REALTOR Advocate
- Award (used to be the Grass Roots REALTOR of the year award.
- 2009 Treasure SCR/member Legislative Group SCR/Legislative Committee, CCAR
- 2011 Legislative Group Chair SC CCIM Chapter
- 2011 SC CCIM chapter Board of Directors
Can anyone really look to Sig Buster and say that he is not doing good things for our industry simply because he doesn’t have a college degree? No. The argument is lazy and the real requirements should be (as Sig indicated) education that is focused on real estate and encouraging active leadership involvement. What say you?
Ines
June 11, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Welcome aboard Paula!! I have to agree with you that those grumblers are the same ones that could actually benefit from actually learning something! Here in Miami we have to refresh our COE every so often and of course the grumblers again are the ones that have the most issues sticking to the ETHICS part of the business.
(then there are the ones that take every class just for the designation….that’s another post ). CRS, CSI, OMG, LOL…… 😉
Kelley Koehler
June 11, 2008 at 11:29 pm
*gulp*
(quickly deletes bitchy comments re broker school from twitter stream)
….
Hi Paula! Welcome to AG!
Cyndee Haydon
June 12, 2008 at 12:31 am
Congrats on joining the AG team Paula – looking forward to reading more from you here!!
Bill Lublin
June 12, 2008 at 3:44 am
Paula; You’re so right about the challenges created by a bad attitudes in the classroom. When I teach Ethics or the Code, I have a secret sauce to get people started. All I have to do is mention “procuring cause” and the room looks like a bee hive stirred up by a kid with a stick (guess who the kid is?) because everyone has a story they want to tell.
First Rule in classes I teach ,i>”I can’t sleep while we’re in class, therefore no one else is allowed to!”
Jennifer in Louisville
June 12, 2008 at 4:47 am
Every day is another opportunity to learn something new. Theres ALWAYS room for improvement. Anyone that thinks that everything is perfect & they know everything – is setting themselves up to become complacent. The decline of their business has started, despite what their actual sales volume may actually be.
Eric Blackwell
June 12, 2008 at 6:44 am
@Kelly–(smile)
@ Paula- Just printed a copy of this off and will post it on my wall…so that I can see it when needed (probably later today-grin). I do not think it is just limited to CE, but that is a GREAT example.
Thanks
Eric Blackwell
June 12, 2008 at 6:46 am
@Ines– Thanks for returning the favor and making ME laugh this time!!
CRS, CSI, OMG, LOL…… 😉
too funny!
Paula Henry
June 12, 2008 at 7:25 am
Ines – Haha – you are too funny – hiding my designations!
Kelly – Oooops! nothing personal~I’m betting you did learn something!
Cyndee – Thank you!
Bill – Procuring cause will awaken any Realtor 🙂
Jennifer – Exactly – I try to take something away from every day, every transaction.
Eric – You’re right, every day presnts an opportunity to learn something. You can either grumble or figure it out.
Candy Lynn
June 12, 2008 at 9:16 am
One of the saddest statements a REALTOR said to me recently
“I know enough – I don’t want to learn anything new”.
I love to learn, love to teach & learn by teaching.
Ken Smith
June 12, 2008 at 10:17 am
“To the grumblers, I say, “lighten up, enjoy the experience and challenge yourself to learn something new”! Otherwise, you won’t have to worry about CE in two years. The industry will have evolved without you.”
I love to learn and go to classes around the country to do so, but CE and COE classes are just the same material year after year. There is no evolving with the static content of these classes, they keep you legal and you need to go far beyond them to evolve with the industry.
Ken Smith
June 12, 2008 at 10:19 am
@Candy – If I ever heard an agent say “I know enough – I don’t want to learn anything new” it would be time to walk away as my instinct would be to smack upside the head.
Christopher Zabka
June 12, 2008 at 10:41 am
Thanks, Paula. Class is in session!
Candy Lynn
June 12, 2008 at 10:44 am
@Ken – good response – I think I’ll try that next time ;~)
Seriously, no wonder our profession has troubles with agents that think the minimum amount of education is too much.
Ken Smith
June 12, 2008 at 12:58 pm
@ Candy – I kind of picture the V8 commercials.
Paula Henry
June 12, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Candy – When an agent is done learning – they should just hang up their license.
Christopher – Thanks for attending 🙂
Ken – While I agree much of the CE content is static, I also believe anyone CAN learn something. I use these examples since they always cause the most grumbles, from the agents who does NOT want to learn. That is the agent who won’t have to worry about it.
In Indiana, half of our CE is the same; the rest is fairly interesting. Maybe it’s just this particular school. They use recent case law for Antitrust and the “Lawsuits” class. Since Indiana ranks second for Antitrust lawsuits, many did not pay attention, which is exactly my point.
Our additional electives include generational marketing, a technology class, and a mortgage crisis class. While they may not be long enough to really provide in-depth information about each topic – most agents can learn something. Ideally, it would pique their interest to continue to learn.
Those who are only there to remain legal will probably not learn anything.
Jay Thompson
June 12, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Nice first post (here) Paula…
Learning takes a lifetime. No one can EVER “know enough”.
I took a three hour class once. The Arizona Association of Realtors head lawyer was talking about mitigating risk. I was fresh out of 90 hours of broker’s classes (bitching is allowed on that Housechick, some of it is awful). I had absolutely zero need for “credit” or CE hours. I took the class because I wanted to.
I was in the middle of a deal that was spinning out of control. So I really needed to be able to access email during the class. I asked one of the organizers if I could sit in the back of the room and tap into the network.
They said, “Well you could, but we wouldn’t be able to give you the CE credit for the course”
I said, “That’s fine, I’m not here for the hours.”
She looked at me like I had three heads. And repeated, “But you don’t understand. You won’t get a certificate certifying your hours.”
“That’s fine. I just want to be able to listen, learn, and do a little work.”
I plugged in and about 10 minutes later, a different person came up. “Cindy said she told you that you won’t get credit for this course. We’re afraid you don’t understand, so I just want to make SURE you do…..”
I honestly think I may have been the first person they’d ever seen take a class to learn, not for the piece of paper.
Eric- New Orleans Condos and Lofts
June 12, 2008 at 7:21 pm
They are rather boring but I sit quietly in a comfortable seat. Not many people actually complain while they are at the class. The guys teaching the course try to make it appealing. Its all in a years work. Several agents love to hear themselves talk which speeds things along and away from the course material. We all have Katrina stories to tell so it speeds time along.
Every year we get to watch clips of Andy Griffin when the deputy took up real estate. Its still funny. In New Orleans we have 2 snack breaks in 4 hours. As long as the a/c is working, it ain’t that bad. I heard very few grips, maybe we all needed a rest.
Paula Henry
June 14, 2008 at 12:14 am
Jay –
Thanks! You probably were the first! I have taken many classes for no credit, because I wanted to.
Learning is a never ending process, especially in this business.