The gist of it is that Realtor is a registered trademark of the National Association of Realtors. They provide some training and such, but there's not necessarily a separate test Agents have to take in order to become Realtors. The trick is that the Association (there are local chapters, state chapters and the national association) also serves as an Arbitration body. If someone has an issue with a Realtor, they can take the complaint to the association who will review the facts recommend a settlement. The way he explained it, the Realtor is bound by their agreement with the association to accept what the association says in these arbitration actions. The client of course isn't. They can still reject the arbitration and sue in court.
As an added bonus this Arbitration function of the association allows them to weed out the bad apples. If they see the same person/people coming through because they've not treated someone right they have not only the right, but duty to pull their membership from the association. Those folks can still be Real Estate Agents, however they cannot bill themselves as Realtors if they don't have an active membership.
The other sort of neat thing that fits with the SEO model is that the association does not in any way certify Agencies. Only individual Agents. An agency can have a bunch of Realtors, but the agency itself cannot hold any such certification. Only individual agents can receive such certification.
And the assocition is apparently very proactive in protecting their Registered Trademark. If they find an Agent billing themselves as a Realtor and they're not, they take 'em to court. Period, end of story.
Therefore, if you're a home buyer or seller you can sort of rely on your agent having a certain degree of professionalism based upon whether they're part of the association or not. And because the Association controls their own guidelines, they can put stuff in there like morality clauses, fairness clauses, etc.
It struck me as I'm listening to this show that this is probably the type of Professional Organization that the SEO industry needs and will eventually support. Not necessarily a training organization, and not really a certification organization. But one that provides an easy, consistent way for SEO consumers and other fine upstanding SEO use in addressing the bad apples. And a way for the association to weed out these same bad apples so that eventually whatever trademarked moniker ends up being used can be relied upon as a indicator of Quality.
Just a thought.
