GHAR = Go Hug A Realtor® (Part I)

I’m Susy Hurlbert, Director of Executive Services here at GHAR. Cool title, huh? Now I'm sure you’re wondering what that means, right? Well, in a nutshell, it means I have my hands in a lot of different areas at the association. I’m a jack of all trades, in a way. I am the staff liaison to GHAR’s Professional Standards, Grievance, Legal Awareness and West Region committees. In fact, there is so much to tell you about all of these areas that I have to split it into two blog entries! So keep an eye out for part II next month.

All of the areas mentioned earlier give me great insight to Realtors and here is what I’ve learned…. REALTORS® are a delightful, enterprising, creative, giving, smart bunch of professionals who like to have a pulse on their community. They have great sense of style, like to dress to impress, and love a good party. I’ve noticed that what drives a REALTOR® is a genuine desire to help their clients. REALTORS® are astute linguists, contracticians, mathematicians, and they expect and receive the very best from each other when it comes to professionalism.

Of course most of you reading this already know all that so here’s something you might not – let’s talk about me because I have the coolest job at GHAR! One of my favorite things to do is take Professional Standards phone calls. I get to hear a laundry list of all the unfortunate things that REALTORS® get accused of doing, such as:

• Leaving a door open for the sellers cat to escape
• Giving a key without permission so a buyer can start moving in before the closing date
• Not presenting an offer that is too ridiculous to waste time on
• Buyers who are mad that their deposits aren’t being returned right away
• Clients who want to switch Realtors but don’t realize their contract is legal and binding or switched Realtor’s and now want to vilify them to justify ignoring their contractual obligations

Recently I’ve had a couple instances this year where the “letter” of the law has met the “spirit” of the law when grammatical mistakes in the MLS have given rise to ethics and/or arbitration complaints. In these lean times, be careful what you write especially when it comes to offers of compensation! If you have a question or aren’t sure if you are following the Code of Ethics, give me a call (860.561.1800). If you need the forms to file a complaint, click here. Want to brush up on the Code of Ethics, click here!
BTW, my Grievance Committee is just as enthusiastic as I am about this work, and I am always impressed by the professionalism of those who serve on Professional Standards, especially the Hearing Chairs who lead the process with fairness and skill as though they were born for the bench.

Stay tuned for part II to find out the rest of the fun I get to have everyday! Please let me know if you have questions or concerns – I’d love to hear from you! Until next time… Happy home sales!