Getting the job done: New Smyrna Beach Realtors board chief Ellen Darden - Daytona Beach News-Journal

Much has changed in that time, but something that hasn't is the profession's attention to ethics. Realtors Florida law and then some other things that are specific, like land measurements and what closing statements are. It's their job to make sure that people who get their license are duly fit to be licensed, that they're not criminals and that they maintain proper behavior and renew when they're supposed to. But the code of ethics (which is handed down by the National Association of Realtors, which is optional to join) is not about criminal law, it's about business ethics. I've not been to a FREC hearing but I hear it can be quite fiery and exciting. It's kind of like one of those "Scared Straight" shows in prison -- it really will put the fear of God in you. And if anybody was thinking of doing anything on the dark side, they would not want to go through that. They can fine you, they can revoke your license completely -- they have a lot of power. We (the New Smyrna Beach Board of Realtors) can't do anything with the code of ethics, which really is an internal, self-policing very confidential thing. We can make people take courses, we are able to levy fines if they commit multiple infractions, we can alleviate the privilege of being a member of our board and Florida Realtors and national members. This year so far we've had one ethics complaint and it was dispatched for being not relative to the code of ethics. You're not required to say there was a murder in this house or a prior owner died of a terrible contagious disease. That's not considrered material to the needs of a subsequent buyer, or that a seller should be penalized should something like that happen. It actually is something that you'll usually see touched upon in an ethics refresher course or in an orientation to ethics, beause people find it hard to drive the line between what is material, like 'I know that the house has flooded or has a new roof because the old one blew off in a hurricane. I guess there would be people who think it'd be really cool to own a house with a ghost in it. No, the Real Estate schools to get your Florida license are focused on Florida law, because you can't force anybody to become a member of the National Association of Realtors. When you do want to join our board, then we take you through all-day orienation that includes 2 1/2 hours of the code of ethics, then every four years you must take at least a three-hour course in the NAR code of ethics to remind you of all those things and also let you know if anything's changed. The most recent change I recall that we adopted last year was to expand non-discriminatory classes to include sexual orientation.