Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 9, 2009
ABR, e-Buyer courses to be taught at CAR October 21-23
Samara Litvack
The Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council, a division of the National Association of Realtors, defines a buyer’s representative as “an advocate for the buyer – not the seller – in a real estate transaction.” It goes on to specify that a buyer’s rep is legally responsible to his or her buyer clients, and works in the best interest of those clients through the duration of each transaction.
A designation that continues to become more popular among buyer’s agents is the Accredited Buyer’s Representative, or the ABR. This designation signifies an agent who has completed specific training and, according to the REBAC Web site, “has proven experience in serving the special needs of buyer clients.”
The ABR’s popularity continues to increase because buyers are learning that Realtors who hold the designation are trained to keep their best interests in mind and to be mindful of their legal responsibilities when doing so.
To receive the ABR, agents must attend a two-day course that aims to prepare Realtors to represent buyer clients, attend a one-day elective course and complete a set number of buyer transactions, applying what they’ve learned.
Through course material, attendees learn how to complete real estate transactions with the buyer in mind, looking out for that client’s best interest and providing him or her with a quality of service tailored specifically to each buyer. The course offers ideas and methods for building buyer representation business and developing a customized tool for conducting buyer counseling sessions.
“The basic core of the course is based on the premise that buyers went to the Supreme Court and sued for representation,” says Robert Morris, a Realtor from Murfreesboro who teaches the ABR course. “The ‘caveat emptor’ was ‘let the buyer beware’ … There was not any representation for buyers.
“So this is direct and true buyer representation. That’s what this course is designed to do.”
Morris will be teaching the lecture-style course at the Chattanooga Association of Realtors office on October 21 and 22. He will instruct from PowerPoint and use videos to illustrate his lessons. Morris will also conduct group workshops as well as individual workshops to explain in detail what his students need to know legally and professionally to best represent their buyer clients.
“The agents that take this course are looking to hone their skills in how to give good, quality, high level buyer representation,” he says. “Every agent out there can work with buyers and sellers, but usually the agent that’s coming to do this designation is wanting to learn specific things … setting themselves apart from just a regular real estate agent who hasn’t had this level of training.”
Morris says that while new things are always emerging as far as technology and the market itself, not much changes as far as how the ABR course is taught. When new things surface or new laws are approved, they are incorporated into course material. Otherwise, he says, the course stays generally the same from year to year.
After the two-day standard course, Morris will be teaching an e-Buyer course on Friday, October 23 at the association office. He says this particular elective course answers many questions agents have about buyers who search the Internet.
“What is a buyer looking for?” he asks. “What is the average time they start looking? What are the things that they’re looking for on a Web site? How do you interact with them? How do you get back with them?”
Agents interested in attaining their ABR designations should contact CAR at 423-698-8001.
“It’s just a super fantastic course,” he says. “Right now, it doesn’t hurt to have some more specializations behind your name. And then, particularly being in a buyer’s market, to crack that market or to get into that market and to have more credibility, then this is a course that you really need to have.
“You’re only talking about three days of course work and then your six buyer’s side transactions and then you have your designation.”
Morris says the ABR is one of the more sought after designations, and many agents in the area agree. Local agent Kathy Bell, of Keller Williams in East Brainerd, for example, has held her ABR designation for nine years.
“When you get that, then you’re able to actually advocate for the buyer and that’s wonderful,” she says.
“If you don’t have this course, you don’t know who you’re really representing… This course points that out to you and it kind of shows you the responsibility that you have.”
Bell says the ABR course maps out the entire transaction from the buyer’s perspective and educates agents about how to represent their clients every step of the way.
“We help them through the process,” she says. “We take them to the financing company. We show them a good company to work with. We help them with inspectors. A lot of buyers don’t know what we have that’s available to them and the ABR just gives that special designation to show that they are capable and have the experience to help buyers. I think it’s a great designation to have.”
Instructor Morris has been in the real estate industry for nearly 25 years. A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he earned his bachelor’s in biology, as well as an associate degree in mid-management technology from State Technical Institute of Memphis.
He became a real estate agent in 1985, and got his broker’s license and began teaching Realtor courses in 1987. He is currently broker and member of the board of directors with Prudential Rowland Real Estate, Inc., in Murfreesboro, where he actively lists and sells real estate with team partner Brandi Miles.
Morris is an international speaker, trainer and consultant who holds the ABR, e-PRO 500, ABRM, CRD, GRI and PMN designations. He is also certified by the Instructor’s Training Institute and has conducted seminars, training workshops and leadership conferences for Realtors, boards, conventions and associations throughout the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Puerto Rice and the British West Indies.
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