Maine REALTOR, if you are listing your home for sale should the real estate agent or broker handling the sale be wearing a blue and gold “R” lapel pin?
You bet they should. What is the difference between a real estate agent / broker or a REALTOR? The copyrighted trademark “R” designation is more than just ripping off, sending in a couple cereal box tops to get your nifty decoder ring.
Like most things, it starts with a trip to the dictionary.
Here’s the definition of REALTOR, a real estate association started back on May 13, 1908.
Like Rotary International that was started to add some ethic training and accountability for early business folks in Chicago, lots of trade organizations started up about the same time to tame the lawlessness and wide open shoot from the hip approach to many business dealings.
Rules to go by prior to licensing agencies in the various states is a big reason the REALTOR group was needed to protect the public from shading real estate dealings.
I have been a member of the Maine REALTOR group since back in the early 1980’s. That membership makes me a card caring 
member of the National Association of REALTORS real estate trade association. The terms as President of the Aroostook Council of the Maine REALTORS group showed me the value of membership.
Every fall I attend the statewide Maine REALTOR trade association annual meeting held at various venues. Most of the time for a central location because Maine is a big 8 hour tall and wide land mass, the state REALTOR convention is often held at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine.
Here is one past blog post on the Maine state REALTOR convention happenings. Here is another blurb on a past MAR statewide convention. The three day meetings on the state level are super for education, for trade association networking with other Maine REALTORS in other real estate markets.
Every yearly session there is review of the REALTOR Code of Ethics and professional standards training.
There are continuing education classes to select from to renew my designated brokers license for practicing real estate in Maine. Plus discussion on new legislation and how it affects the real estate industry in Maine is so worthwhile to attend and to sit in on the questions and answer session. They say “R” is the hardest working letter in the entire alphabet. I believe them.
The Maine Association of REALTORS Linda Gifford, a real estate broker turned attorney is so so good at keeping us on our toes.
Out of the hot water in sticky legal situations. Core courses for the head of an office, for the individual agents are license renewal requirements to be able to list and sell properties.
I find it very worthwhile to be part of the Maine REALTOR organization.
Affordable housing and legislative committee are just two avenues of service. Contract review is a critical part of the REALTOR organization to make sure all the forms we use in listing and selling Maine real estate are top notch and legal.
There are many more reasons to become involved in on the county and state or national level of your state or county REALTOR association. Because not many local trades are so heavily entrenched in the community as a Maine real estate professional in our small town settings. Mane is a rural state with the majority of the population centers small scattered towns, plantations and over half of Vacationland is unorganized territories.
The Maine REALTOR Association also manages the MLS real estate listings.
Maine Listings, the multiple listing service of MAR streamlines and standardizes the information marketing process of what’s for sale. Keeps track of the pending, sold sales and tallys the market results. MAR’s Maine Listings breaks down the numbers to show the various market segments in Maine. Every market within the state is so so different. Average price, days on market, the trends vary in surprising ways.
Is the real estate market up or down?
How’s the market is asked all day long on the phone, in emails, out in public shopping for groceries, on soccer field or ice hockey bleachers, etc. How’s the state doing, what the sixteen counties are having for real estate activity is tracked and reported so the public and the REALTOR knows the current market conditions.You have to be a REALTOR member to be part of Maine Listings.
To understand when listing to sell or buying a property how’s the current Maine real estate market that affects the sale.
Education is the big take away for me from the REALTOR group. The statistics and market trends and new technology to make my job more professional. That’s another big part of what being a REALTOR provides to my profession. Real estate is reinvented every day when I show up to work and new ways to do what we do for buyers and sellers mean keep popping up to help us adapt to the changes in the market place.
At the REALTOR trade show and statewide convention in Maine, the vendors are displaying their services and products.
It is good to have discussions on what other market members of the REALTOR group are doing and using and why. Every listing requires different approaches to the marketing. And the buyers, sellers we work with all need various methods to handling their specific needs best. 
From experience I’ve learned the differences of each real estate transaction along with the folks attached to them.
Service, helping them is a challenge and not always appreciated but that is not the point. It is what we do daily and can get like the emergency room when tempers and emotions flare. Estate sales, divorce settlement splits of property, new born babies about to be delivered, financial contraints and appraisers coming in too low. They all affect the real estate sale. Especially when the one you want is a home that another got the highest bid offer accepted and not you. 
See the problem by listening and then working with the buyer and seller to come up with the best real estate solution to the problem at hand.
Past listing sales help so so much in what is the best route to take that saves money, time and avoids frustration.
The industry has come a long ways since the days of black and white peel off Polaroid photos and walking purchase and sale agreements into the attorneys and financial institutions to prepare for a real estate closing.
The Internet has made our small unique local markets showcased on the World wide level and I love my ever changing job.
Lots of special REALTOR designations for the many special areas of real estate niche audiences are available if an agent or broker wants to apply the time and effort into collecting them. Investing or commercial real estate is different than helping seniors buy and sell or the first time home buyer to get their own set of house keys.
Farm land, development acreage to subdivide, apartment rentals are all different types of property to market. It is more complicated than just peddling houses up here in Maine too! The day is kept interesting and always varied because of the many category groups of buyers and sellers we are asked to serve using different skill sets. They all require and deserve various treatments because what they need is not the same application.
I am proud to be a member of the Maine REALTOR’s Association and have listed and sold thousands of real estate properties through many kinds of markets over the last thirty eight years.
If you are thinking of buying a home, selling property in Maine, I would be honored to help you in the real estate sale!
207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA
