Best Practices
By Jim Palmer Jr.

For over 100 years Realtors® have diligently worked to conform to the best business practices of the times. Even the term, Best Practices suggests that such methods are continually evolving and improving.  Those business practices include many aspects of real estate marketing and transaction management practices but more importantly include the development and use of Purchase Agreement forms and addenda (the legal mumbo jumbo) that help clarify purchase contracts in order to reduce litigation and avoid conflicts. One example is that the practice of contractually specifying the remedy for damages (in the case of a default by one party or the other) has virtually eliminated or severely limited the conflicts concerning Earnest Money that  give managing brokers gray hair.

According to Wikipedia, “a best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to any alternatives because it produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means.”  The use and evolution of our state-of-art forms and the practices they specify fit this definition to the T!

Having served on the Forms Committee of the regional Spokane Association of Realtors® for many years, I have witnessed firsthand the tedious committee work and the grueling process of creating new forms to suit a certain purpose, or the revision of already-tried-and-tested forms that just needed adjustments.  All of those revisions come from experience in the trenches of the real estate business and because of some conflict or litigation that caused brokers to rethink the status quo.

When you use a Realtor you have the ability to take advantage of the best practices available in the real estate industry.  Such practices are the sum total of the wisdom garnered in over 100 years time with  thousands of Realtors® doing tens-of-thousands of transactions.  That wisdom may be taken for granted by many consumers who just don’t think about that aspect of real estate very much. That sort of attitude may be forgivable to the naïve consumer, but it is a real shame when Realtors themselves don’t fully appreciate or use the best practices available, whether from laziness or ignorance.  

When you are assured that your Realtor® has the expertise to always use techniques that produce superior results, your confidence can wax strong even when a tough transaction tries your patience and wearies your soul.  That caliber of Realtor® has what we call “The Trust Edge.”