REALTOR®

Wednesday Word of the Week

Before I ventured into real estate over a decade ago, I would often hear people refer to their "realtor" or their "real estate agent" interchangeably.  It wasn't until I became a member of the National Association of REALTORS® that I discovered my faux pas.  I also realized quickly that the the registered symbol nearly always follows the word in advertising material, and it is almost always capitalized.

^{If you've never noticed that before, you will now!  That's how it works.}

I suppose it's best to begin like this - REALTOR® is not actually a word.  Go ahead and type "realtor" into your favorite word processor.  It will underline it in red and tell you it's spelled wrong.  If you're like me, you'll yell at your computer and tell it how you're right, and it's wrong, and won't it just listen to you!  But, alas, this point goes to the computer.  REALTOR (either appearing with or without the registered symbol) is a trademark of the National Association of REALTORS®.

Although conversationally people may exchange REALTOR® for real estate agent, they are not the same thing.  Like a square is a rectangle but a rectangle isn't necessarily a square, a REALTOR® is probably a real estate agent, but a real estate agent is not necessarily a REALTOR®.  I became licensed as a real estate agent in the state of Virginia and afterwards I joined the National Association of REALTORS®.  That means that as a real estate agent in Chesterfield VA, I voluntarily choose to associate myself with a distinction that upholds a strict code of ethics.

Bill Petrey of AgentHarvest provides further clarification of the distinction of the trademark in his blog.

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."

The fact of the matter is that most active real estate agents do maintain membership with the National Association of REALTORS®, which I'm sure is why there may be some confusion about the distinction.  But now that I understand the difference I am very careful to use the terms properly, especially in print.

For any other real estate agents out there that may be a little confused as to when and how to use the trademark, this is a great resource.

I am Lynda Heithaus.  I am a real estate agent in Chesterfield VA.  And I am a REALTOR®.