Shortly after launching our Really Rotten Realty website last month, we were reminded of the difference between Realtors and real estate agents.  That reminder came in the form of a friendly request from the National Association of Realtors’ legal department about the correct use of their trademark.  Without thinking, we interchanged the word Realtor for real estate agent in a couple of sentences scattered throughout our site that described AgentHarvest’s real estate agent finder services.  Even though the term Realtor was used positively to describe quality agents, it’s still a trademark violation nonetheless.  It was an oversight on my part that was promptly corrected and I want to thank The National Association of Realtors for bringing that oversight to my attention in the kind manner in which it was relayed.  The Trademark Administrator for NAR, Mary Newill also provided me with lots of information regarding the correct usage of the word Realtor.  Apparently she said that this misuse is quite common, even for Realtors.  Case in point since I misused the term and I’m also a Realtor.  Seeing as this is such a common problem, I decided to share the information she relayed to me.

My conversation with Mary Newill of The National Association of Realtors started in May, when we launched the Really Rotten Realty website.  The site quickly reached popularity thanks largely to a featured article in The Future of Real Estate Marketing from Katie Lance of Inman News.  I would like to personally thank Katie for the great article.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you take a look.  Really Rotten Realty is a parody site that takes everything everyone hates about bad real estate agents and groups it into one lousy real estate agency that prides itself on the horrible job it does in fleecing their clients.  The site was done to show, through humor, the types of agents AgentHarvest helps you avoid when you use our free real estate agent finder services.

Self-promotion aside (sorry won’t do it again), all the publicity this site received also attracted the attention of The National Association of Realtors, especially their Trademark Administration department.  Ouch!  Just kidding.  They were very helpful and informative.  As a matter of fact they were so informative that I decided to create a post from the information I received.

Realtor, Real Estate Agent… What’s the Difference?

Realtor is a trademarked brand name that is short for The National Association of Realtors, like UPS is short for United Parcel Service.  While the term real estate agent describes anyone who is licensed by their state to work in the real estate industry, Realtors are members of a national association.

So Why Do They Adamantly Defend it?

There have been cases where trademarks have become more closely associated with the class of product or action instead of the actual product itself.  In other words, they’ve become “generic.”  This creates a problem when a company holding the trademark has to go to court to defend their rights to govern that trademark’s use.  If it becomes generic then it becomes harder to enforce it’s use, especially if the defendant can prove that the company didn’t defend their trademark and allowed it to become generic before the defendant used it.  A few examples of lost trademarks are Thermos, Escalator, and Aspirin.  Like The National Association of Realtors, other companies that actively protect their trademarks are Xerox, Kleenex and FedEx.  More people say Xerox and Kleenex than they say make a copy machine or facial tissue.  So many people used the term FedEx to describe sending a document overnight, that Federal Express officially changed their name to FedEx to avoid losing it.  The National Association of Realtors must defend its trademark to protect the term Realtor.  Imagine how much trouble they’d have distinguishing their brand if they were called “National Association of Real Estate Agents.”  Think how many similar sounding company or organization names you could come up with that could closely match that name without breaking the law to make your company sound confusingly close to their association.  This would become a big mess.  Let’s use AgentHarvest for example.  AgentHarvest is a free real estate agent finding service.  Finding an agent through AgentHarvest’s services is called “AgentHarvesting.”  Sounds catchy.  I hope it catches on.  But think of the nightmare I’d have if the term AgentHarvesting became the generic term used to describe finding a real estate agent.  If thousands of real estate agents started promoting their “AgentHarvesting” abilities think of the damage that could do to my brand.  Imagine searching for “AgentHarvest” on the web and getting thousands of hits, none of which have a thing to do with me.  But fear not, AgentHarvesting is also a trademarked term, like Realtor and anyone caught using it would be asked to immediately stop.  Mary Newill summed it up this way; “We have to consider how the public is going to see the use of the Marks.  Is it identifying someone as a Member of the REALTOR organization or will they believe by the way it is being used that it is a generic word for an occupation?”

The National Association of Realtor’s Position on the use of Realtor

According to The Association of Realtors, “the terms REALTOR, REALTORS, REALTOR ASSOCIATE, as well as the REALTOR with Block “R” logo, are all federally registered collective membership marks owned exclusively by the National Association.  Collective membership marks are a type of trademark which, rather than indicating the source of a product or service, identify the user of the membership mark as a member of a particular group, in this case the National Association.”

“The National Association has approximately 1,000,000 plus members, each of whom is licensed to use one or more of the membership marks to identify themselves and as Members individually and through their real estate businesses.  Each member of the National Association agrees, as a part of their local Association’s Bylaws, to abide by the rules governing the use of the REALTOR marks.  These rules were created to help us retain the federal trademark registration of the membership marks.”

Article V, Section 7 of the Bylaws
This provision in the Bylaws expressly prohibits the use of any descriptive words or phrases from being used with the membership marks.  This is because when you use descriptive words or phrases with the marks you are inadvertently presenting the membership mark in a generic way as a synonym for a real estate agent/broker/salesperson rather than correctly using this term to identify yourself as a member of the REALTOR organization.”

“There is a test in the Trademark Manual to help members understand correct contextual use of the Marks.  They suggest that you substitute the word “member” for the membership mark “Realtor” in the sentence or phrase you are using it in, and it retains your intended meaning, it would most likely be a correct use.”  Try that test using your company’s name and you start to get the picture of why they must defend their trademark.

Realtor Trademark Usage in an Ideal World

Mary Newill, Trademark Administrator for NAR explained it this way. “While we hope to one day have everyone understand that when someone is identified as a REALTOR they are a member of the REALTOR Association, a real estate professional who is the most educated, honest and ethical real estate salesperson or broker around.  Someone who voluntarily has agreed to abide by a strict code of Ethics that protects the public, REALTORS and other real estate licensees and has agreed to arbitrate any complaints made by any of these groups, but unfortunately, we know that this has not happened yet.  If you think about it licensed is actually a descriptive word, I usually tell members there is no such thing as a REALTOR license, you either are a licensed real estate sales person or licensed real estate broker, but you join the Association and agree to abide by the rules and the Code of Ethics to become a REALTOR.  Since the term REALTOR is registered as a type of trademark called a membership mark when used correctly it should always be identifying someone as a Member of the Association e.g. Realtor Bill Petrey, Realtor Bill or Bill Petrey, Realtor.  If someone uses REALTOR to identify themselves as members this is fine.  It can always be used with a firm’s name to indicate that this firm’s members are REALTORS, e.g. ACME Real Estate, REALTORS.  Contextual misuse is common even for our Members but as the Trademark Manual indicates we do have to think of how members of the public will view the use of this term if we want to retain the value in this Mark.

I would like to personally thank Mary Newill for her help with this article.  Her contribution was immeasurable and greatly appreciated.

Bill Petrey
AgentHarvest

Expect calls from lying real estate agents trying to weasel their way into your home to steal away your listing. Failure to see through their lies may result in hiring a real estate agent that you will not be happy with. Here are a few of the most common lies you’ll hear from real estate agents when your listing expires.

Lies Real Estate Agents Tell

• “I have a client that I think would be interested in buying your house. May I come and preview it to see if it’s something my buyer would like?”
  Never trust anyone that tells you they have a buyer if they sey they want to see your home before bringing the buyer. There is no buyer, there never was, and if you hire this real estate agent, there never will be. If the agent had an interested buyer either he would have shown the buyer your house when it was on the market or he would be bringing the buyer with him. This real estate agent’s only goal is to get into your front door under false pretenses and to shove a listing presentation down your unsuspecting throat.

• “I specialize in your neighborhood.”
  If an agent claims to know your neighborhood make her prove it. Make them show you sales data of houses in your neighborhood that they sold. If she can’t then she’s just lying to you.

• “I can sell your home for $XXX,XXX.00, which is much more than any other agent suggested, if you list with me.”
  This commonly used tactic is referred to as inflating the listing price.
  When they name the price, its usually way beyond what they think the house can bring but they’ll say anything to get the listing.

• “Here are all the houses my agency sold in this neighborhood.”
  Whoopee! Who cares! Either show me the houses you or your team sold in this neighborhood or show me the agent from your agency that actually did sell them. But don’t try to take credit for something you didn’t do. Sometimes agents who can’t sell their own listings like to imply that they had something to do with the listings other agents sold.

• “I’m easily reachable 24/7/365.”
  Unless they furnish you with several methods of direct communication, once the for sale sign is planted you’ll never hear from them again. I doubt they’d answer your calls at 3:00 am. However it would be fun to try.

How do you avoid being taken advantage of by agents trolling expired listings? Easy. Focus your efforts on agents that recently sold houses in your neighborhood. A good agent can usually overcome enough of the issues that originally kept your house from selling to get your house sold if you are willing to follow their advice. Agents who can’t impress clients with the truth have to lie to get a listing. If you can’t tell the difference your house may sit unsold on the market for another three months.

If you use AgentHarvest’s free agent finder services, we can connect you with three top producing agents in your area based on their performance in your neighborhood during the past six months.

By
Bill Petrey
AgentHarvest

Is this your agent?

According to the “2009 Profile of Texas Homebuyers and Sellers” study conducted by the Texas Association of Realtors, 8 out of 10 sellers said that they would not use the same agent again to sell their house.  The survey doesn’t mention why sellers wouldn’t use the same agent again, but the Texas Association of Realtors speculates that it could be attributed to sellers no longer living in that agent’s area or that agents do not spend enough effort staying in contact with past clients.  I think there are other reasons the article doesn’t want to admit.

Here are some ideas why I think such a large number of homeowners would not use the same agent again.

The previous agent:

• Didn’t sell the house in the first place.
• Failed to keep the client informed during the listing process.
• Didn’t offer much value to the process.
• Did not work aggressively to sell the house in a timely manner.
• Did not prepare the house to be competitive in the market.
• Could not negotiate effectively to get a desirable contract.
• Did not meet the client’s expectations.
• Handled the closing process poorly.
• Mislead the client about price in order to get the listing, resulting in a lower sales price and longer time on market.
• Overpromised and under delivered.

The survey suggests that agents need to work harder to effectively deliver value to their seller clients.  Effective agents that work hard to serve their clients do reap the benefits of repeat business and referrals, but sadly they seem to be in the minority according to this survey.  That’s why it’s important to do your homework when selecting an agent to sell your house.  You want to find an agent that will not only sell your house but will make you want to tell everyone about the great job they did.  The 20% that clients want to use again are the agents we focus on when we select agents for our clients.  Let us find a top producing real estate agent for you.

Bill Petrey

AgentHarvest

Source:  Texas Realtor Magazine, Marty Kramer, April 2010, p. 23

The agent that sold your last house may not perform as well selling your new house due to the following reasons:

• They may not have the same resources in your current neighborhood if it’s not an area that they actively sell in.
• Another member of that team may cover that area and this agent is not as good as your old one.
• Not knowing the neighborhood as well may make your old agent over price or under price the listing.
• Because they don’t actively market to your area, they may not have any buyers interested in that your area to show your house to.
• If they don’t actively work in your area, they probably haven’t visited your competition or know how your house compares.
• They don’t know your area so they can’t effectively promote your house to people living in your area or wanting to live in your area.
• If that agent works in an office far away from your neighborhood, the other agents in their office probably do not work with buyers interested in living in your area so they will not be sending buyers to you.
• If an agent has multiple listings in an area, that agent will be aware of the changes and market fluctuations in that area faster than an area the agent doesn’t regularly cover.
• The farther you are off the agent’s beaten path, the harder it is to schedule showings or open houses.  That means less potential buyer traffic.
• They aren’t one of the top-producing Realtors in your neighborhood.  There are agents that perform better in your neighborhood than your old agent does.

If your current house is just a few blocks away from your old house, then these examples may not be applicable, but if you moved across town, or a neighboring town, like from Fort Worth or Dallas to Plano, Texas then you should consider looking for a different agent.  I’m sure the agent you used to sell your last house did a great job selling your last house, but there is a good chance that they will not do as good for you the second time around because they don’t specialize in your new neighborhood like they do for your old location.  Their knowledge of your old location may be why you liked them then, but you may not like their ability to perform in your current area.  Your safest bet is to find the top producing agents that currently sell house in your area.  Use AgentHarvest’s free services to find out which agents are the top performing agents in your area and hire one of those agents to sell your house.

Bill Petrey
AgentHarvest

While I’m not privileged enough to get my hands on the pre-released iPads that were passed out to the media yesterday, I have been told by my trusty Apple Store representative that one has been reserved in my name and will be available when they go on sale next week.  That said, I’m looking forward to the real estate research possibilities that will open up with the Apple iPad.  I have already become addicted to the real estate applications offered in Apple’s iPhone App Store.  I’m looking forward to seeing them on the new iPad’s larger screen.

Here are the top 5 must have apps for the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad.

Zillow.com, Realtor.com, Trulia.com, NearBuy Apps

I’ve lumped them together because they all do pretty much the same thing.  However they all use different data.  Realtor.com uses MLS data, NearBuy uses classified ads and Trulia and Zillow uses their own data.   They all utilize the iPhone’s GPS capabilities so you can hone in on houses nearby, some applications show you scheduled open houses and some apps look at rental properties too.  Choose your favorite or choose them all.  Since they’re all free, I recommend you get them all to take advantage of four different data sources.

Better Homes & Gardens HomeSelect

This application is a great app for people currently looking for homes.  With this application, you can lookup neighborhood statistics and create a photo album with notes about each house you see.  It’s a great idea and a unique and useful application.

Around Me

While it’s not real estate application, it’s still useful in the home shopping process.  This application shows you all the businesses nearby by type.  I use this application to see what conveniences are close to the property I’m looking at.

Google Maps

It’s already on the iPhone, but it’s still very useful in finding the house’s location and you can also look around the neighborhood using the street view mode to see if it’s next to a busy street, electrical power station or anything else that would discourage you from buying it.  Best of all, you can find this out before you drive there.

Loan Helper Loan Calculator

There are many calculators out there on the market for the iPhone however this one is simple and free.  A great combination.

These are great tools for home shoppers and very convenient since you can access all of them from your iPhone or iPad.

Bill Petrey
AgentHarvest

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