Although I am a Fort Lauderdale real estate agent, real estate law, or maybe perhaps real estate folklore, says that agents can not give legal advice as this may be seen as being guilty of practicing law without a license. If that’s the case if someone asks me about their cough and I tell them that my opinion is that they need to take some Robitussin have I just practiced medicine without a license?

I recently had a client walk away from a deal because of issues he had with a contract. We submitted an offer, it was supposedly accepted and then there was an Addendum / Counter-Offer returned to us indicating that the deal was not really accepted.

So we reviewed the document and fortunately my client is very well versed in real estate contracts and legalese. He reviewed every clause, every paragraph and circled the many issues he had with the document. One of the clauses even called for there to be a background check on the buyer to make sure he wasn’t a terrorist!

We began wondering if this bank really wanted to sell this property or not. We addressed all of the concerns with the listing agent. Much to my surprise the listing agent simply said, “don’t worry about it, just sign it…nothing will happen, it’s just a formality, it doesn’t matter“.

These were the words of a real estate professional here in Fort Lauderdale telling me and my client that the words on a contract were irrelevant. When pressed he said it did not matter because he wasn’t about to be seen as practicing law without a license. How utterly convenient.

We withdrew our offer and could not believe that an agent was telling us to just sign it. It made me wonder how many times that phrase was uttered over the last couple of years to unsuspecting consumers. Have we come to a point where the lure of the commission has caused such impropriety?

This malaise goes even further. We as real estate agents are seeing the credibility and integrity of our profession downgraded daily. We are constantly embarrassed by the head honchos at the National Association of Realtors who make idiotic self-serving statements that the media and consumer ridicule.

Now I find we have to contend with agents not even understanding the documents that they put in front of clients and worse yet, absolving themselves of all liability by saying “you should have asked your own attorney”. Is that the image you want in a increasingly transparent real estate business environment?

If the commission that is supposedly “earned” on a transaction is to be representative of our skills, shouldn’t we actually have some and be prepared to perform for our money?

Here’s the rub. Consumers are doing a lot of the leg work that agents used to be responsible for. They are searching for their own properties. They are doing the due diligence on the neighborhood and the local job market and school systems. They are reading our blogs for local information. The “need” for a real estate agent has been greatly reduced.

Many, if not most, who desire to use the services of a real estate agent are now doing so as a matter of convenience, not need. Knowing this, is it not vital to the survival of the real estate business model to adapt and respond to what the consumer wants?

Here in the Fort Lauderdale real estate market we have developed the team approach. To combat the perception of inadequacy of real estate agents, we have created a “360 Degree Immersion” approach to serving the consumer. We know that the consumer wants to see effort, information, prowess and competence throughout the real estate transaction, not just someone who can fill in the blanks on a boilerplate form to collect 6%.

We utilize a very comprehensive team approach for servicing our clients. Our tours are always a two-person job as much as for safety reasons as well as to serve the client should there inevitably be any questions about the property. Don’t you hate it as a consumer when you ask simple questions like “when’s the last time the roof was updated “and the agent says..”I don’t know”?

I am not a contractor so I bring along one of the members of my team who has building experience to answer questions regarding the structure and any improvements that exist or that the buyer may want to make.

Recently I had a client that needed information on a specific type of roof. If he was not there, I may have lost the deal.

It the agent’s job to know the answers to these types of questions or at a minimum be able to find out very quickly! It’s absurd for real estate agents to expect to be paid tens of thousands of dollars and to not have any direct knowledge of the market, the home and yes, the legal ramifications of the document you are asking the client to sign.

Next, we afford all of our clients with legal consultation by an attorney we have been partnering with. He will review the contract, address any issues they may have, and oversee the closing once it gets to that point. We also have a virtual assistant assigned to every deal who facilitates the closing and handles all matters associated with any title issues. She also manages all deadlines.

If the client is in foreclosure or in need of a short sale, we have a loss mitigation specialist standing by to handle those matters as well. This expansion of duties and services that we perform is mandated by the consumer’s increasing awareness of the real estate transaction.

No longer are real estate agents the keepers of the vault of information. If you want a commission, you have to actually get out and “earn” a commission. I am not sure why so many real estate agents are afraid to negotiate down what they feel is a sacrosanct real estate commission when dealing with buyers and sellers. It’s not.

In our business we choose to work with sellers and buyers that desire our assistance. We make sure that we have a team of professionals available to handle those matters that may arise and in doing so, we believe we instill value…and if there is still some doubt we are willing to go the extra mile and allow sellers to terminate our listings at their discretion and we afford buyers a rebate on all commissions.

And never, will we tell a client in regards to any question about any contract or document “don’t worry about it, just sign it…nothing will happen, it’s just a formality, it doesn’t matter”.Our clients deserve better and they expect us to protect them, not hide behind some curtain of ineptitude.

I and the rest of my Fort Lauderdale Real Estate team never have to worry about practicing law without a license. It’s our job to know the answers to the consumer’s questions about the documents that we present and if there is something beyond the scope of what we feel comfortable advising, we have an attorney available to provide the relevant answers to our clients regarding any specific legal ramifications that may arise from the execution of said documents. We encourage such due diligence from our clients and it is abhorrent that too many real estate agents seemingly put their commission BEFORE the interests of the client.

No wonder the image of a real estate agent is so low!

Author Note: Robin Sing-Cunningham is a Realtor in the South Florida marketplace and is a valued contributor to Real Estate Radio USA.