People often refer to me, generically speaking, as a “realtor” because I am in the business of representing home buyers in Colorado (and particularly in the Denver-Boulder area)…but that would be incorrect. What most don’t know is that a licensed real estate professional, like myself, can only use the REALTOR® designation if they are a member of the National Association of Realtors (or “N.A.R.”).
If you have used the word REALTOR® wrongly in the past, you are forgiven…by me, anyway. After all, you have probably asked for a “coke” in the restaurant, not thinking if it was a capital or small ‘c’. Some lucky organizations and brands have just become so well known that they are commonly used in a generic sense.
But how come I am not a REALTOR®? One, my model is predicated upon keeping costs low…so I am not looking to pay any additional membership dues. Two, in my opinion, N.A.R. has not sufficiently promoted certain changes, changes that might be more supportive of alternative compensation systems like the one I use with commission rebates, sometimes called buyer rebates. (And yes, I am trying to put that as politely as possible.)
So, after a real estate agent or broker gets licensed by the State of Colorado, they decide whether to become a REALTOR® …or not.