“Play Like Your Mama’s Watchin’ Every Transaction”
June 1, 2012 I officially became a licensed Texas REALTOR! It felt like it took forever to get my license here but now that I’ve had it, the time has flown by! I found myself realizing that I haven’t made a single blog post since I started! Please forgive me for I have sinned in the blogosphere…
After much procrastination (and after receiving a 2nd and final notice) I attended the mandatory orientation for REALTORS today at my local Association of REALTORS. It was quite the seven hour refresher course of ethics. In Florida, I could always throw in that not all licensed sales associates were created equal because as a REALTOR we had to abide by a very specific code of conduct that set us a part morally and ethically from others but here in Texas, their state law is pretty much the REALTOR Code of Ethics so I guess I’ll have to cross that one off my marketing presentation!
None the less, I did find the presentation interesting. Interesting in that the difference of demographics here and moral aptitude that Southerners are raised with correlates so noticeably in every day life. Perhaps being away from Texas for 10 years made me forget? Perhaps being in the real estate industry in a “bubble” that will forever go down in the history books with greedy and unethical associates made me forget? I don’t know what clouded my memory exactly but I noticed today how refreshing it is.
The whole idea of the Code of Ethics always seemed second nature to me but by being in the industry with people quickly persuaded with money, it became very clear, very quickly that there was a reason for this Code. Today, the speaker didn’t stress aspects of it like I thought he would, like so many before had always done in Florida.
His words were simple: “Play like Mama’s watching every transaction”. To me, that says it all. My Mom raised me well and by well, I mean with a healthy fear of her catching me making a bad decision! I knew I would always have to answer to God and I was okay with that because I knew he would forgive me. But my Mom? That’s a different story. Forgive? Sure. Punishment? Always.
He went on to tell the class that ‘most people have integrity but beleive it or not, some do not’. How refreshing of a point of view! In a world where people are shooting up movie theatres, places of worship and elected public officials, it’s refreshing (albeit a little naive in a certain sense) to hear a public speaker have this point of view. Granted we’re talking about a professional trade organization and state licensed livlihoods here but it was really refreshing. Just another reason that I’m excited to be back in the great state of Texas!
Here’s to a refreshing Monday and a kick-start to the week!
The Hornburg Real Estate Group at KW 