Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 24th, 2014

I am always impressed by the public emphasis real estate leaders place on honesty and strong ethics in the real estate industry: I am nevertheless ceaselessly disappointed in how poorly these ethics are policed. The silence is deafening. And silence is the equivalent of an endorsement of bad behavior in my books.

Yes, it is true, some brokers will always succumb to bad behavior, some more so than others. While The Department of State focuses on political correctness in advertising, they have no effective mechanism in place to address bad broker lying. For some, lying and distorting is their only way to get ahead, and in a world where lying often enough can make untruths fact, the temptation for some seems to be growing. That’s human nature. I am ok with brokers being weak: no-one is without sin.  I am saddened though by the inability of most to stand up to this bad behavior, to call it out. It makes us all look bad. In fact, it makes real estate brokers look awful. Which other industry allows this rampant dishonesty?

For real estate brokers to gain the respect they want, we should all be encouraged to participate in identifying the perpetrators of lies and poor ethics. Respect has to be earned and peer pressure may be the only solution as leadership has chosen too often to turn a blind eye to the peril of all.

The future of real estate brokerage deserves better.