One of the most important qualities that can help REALTORS® stand out from the competition is their training and their adherence to the REALTORS® Code of Ethics.

In today’s Illinois REALTORS® podcast, Springfield REALTOR® and NAR 2021 Region 7 Vice President Michael D. Oldenettel explains how the Code of Ethics shapes behavior with colleagues and consumers. The Code of Ethics training that’s required every three years provides REALTORS® a way to stand above the competition in today’s hot real estate market. As a former president of the state association and current president of his local association, Capital Area REALTORS®, and a longtime industry trainer, Oldenettel offers his perspective in plain English.

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Full Transcript:

Jeremy Goeckner: Hello, and welcome to IR weekly podcast, keeping you up to date with all the latest news in the REALTOR® world. I’m Jeremy and on today’s episode, I’m talking with Mike Oldenettel. Mike is the 2021 Region 7 Vice President and serves with The Real Estate Group in Springfield. He is the president of Capital Area REALTORS® now serving his third term as local board president and was the Illinois REALTORS® President in 2013 and Illinois REALTOR® of the Year in 2018. He has served on the Board of Directors for both NAR and the Board of Directors for the Illinois REALTORS® and has chaired several Illinois REALTORS® committees. He also previously served as a Dean of the REALTOR® Institute and as president of the Illinois Real Estate Educational Foundation or REEF.

He is a member of the Illinois Real Estate Administration and Disciplinary Board, a Golden R President’s Circle and an RPAC Hall of Fame member. My God, man, what haven’t you done? And at the Illinois REALTORS® Fall Business Meetings, Mike was awarded the Presidential Medallion for his significant contributions to the association and the real estate industry. Mike is also an instructor and is licensed to teach pre-licensed continuing education courses and has taught code of ethics courses, which is what we want to learn more about today, since of course, NARs code of ethics training deadline is coming up next month. My goodness, Mike, welcome to IR Weekly.

Mike Oldenettel: Jeremy, thank you.

Jeremy Goeckner: I think you might be the most accomplished person we’ve put on this thing.

Mike Oldenettel: Oh, I doubt that.

Jeremy Goeckner: Oh man. Well, I mean, and since we are going to be talking about NARs code of ethics, there’s of course no one better to do that. Why don’t we start here actually, though, but how did you get into that? How did you get into the education side of this and specifically the code of ethics training?

Mike Oldenettel: It all started for me with the REALTOR® Institute way back when, when I decided then I felt this passion for education. I felt this passion for training and for professional development. And the code of ethics, I don’t want to call myself an expert, subject matter expert. That’s a title. Am I an expert in the code? I’m not going to; I know the code. I live the code and I teach the code. I also do the same thing with the license law. I’ve been blessed in my career. All the things that you’ve mentioned, it’s not because of something I did. It’s because of the people that were around me to do things together. I do things by consensus and I’ve appreciated all opportunities I’ve had. And I’ve been blessed. Blessed to have great people and blessed for the opportunities. In my trainings and in my teachings with the code of ethics, I mean, it is what we live. And it’s always been important to me that everybody understand that how it sets you apart, how it sets you above others in the industry, but it also, it’s got a set of criteria on how we need to act as REALTORS®, not just to public, not just to our clients, but to each other. And it’s so important for a transaction, that REALTORS® get along. It’s easy to get along with your clients and sometimes for whatever reason, because we feel that we’re taking sides and negotiating, that we can’t still be professional. I’ve never understood that. So it’s important that everybody understand what the code’s for and even more important that they follow the code.

Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, and you answered a little bit, the first big question there, but you hear the word code of ethics and it automatically makes you, oh, this stuffy book of things of rules that I have to follow or something, but it really is. It’s a credo that, I love that you said that, that sets you apart, that shows that you’re at a higher standard. Is that really what you’re thinking with that?

Mike Oldenettel: Yes. I mean, the code is really a criteria of excellence. A criteria that set a realistic performance of professionalism.

Jeremy Goeckner: Right.

Mike Oldenettel: That’s why it’s important that everybody embrace the code. Not just because you need to, because of the NAR requirement of two and a half hours every three years and we’ve put that into our CE, which is great. We’ve got CE that we teach the code and that’s a great opportunity to get CE credit, but also get the NAR requirement out of the way. But it’s evolving. It was a gift of vision. I mean, it’s a living document. It’s like our industry, it evolves. It goes through changes each and every year through the professional standards committee, through interpret committee of NAR and it gets tweaked. And there are very few years that something of the code of standard of practice, that something doesn’t get adjusted a little bit, because it is a living document.

Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, just think about how real estate has changed in the past year or two with COVID and with everything, but it sounds like the code is getting up to standards with that, right?

Mike Oldenettel: Oh, it is. It absolutely is. And the significance isn’t only for the members, but it’s also for the associations. I mean, the code has helped with the development and growth of the NAR, of associations, and again, it’s not just for how we treat clients, but also how we treat each other. But yes, this has been, by anybody’s description, a weird last year and a half, two years. I mean, the pandemic has really forced us to look at our processes procedures. It’s also given us the opportunity to engage in different forms of communication, to engage more often in communication. And the thing is, the code in and of itself, it doesn’t have to change for what we’re going through now. It’s still there, but we just have a different way of applying it.

Jeremy Goeckner: Oh yeah. Well, absolutely. And I mean, you just think about how everything has had to adapt to the time of COVID and that is just ripe, fertile ground for many kinds of instances where you might be doing something that you don’t think is unethical, but might actually in itself be that. It is vastly, vastly important. And you’re right though, I mean, I appreciate how you’re speaking about it because yeah, I mean, again, you think, oh, it’s a requirement. Oh, it’s something I got to do. Oh, it’s something I got to consult and everything. But yes, if you live it and breathe it, it really does make you a step above and a cut above everything else.

Mike Oldenettel: And there’s a portion of the code, it’s called pathways to professionalism, and it’s quite frankly, do unto others as you’d like them to do to you.

Jeremy Goeckner: Well, what is that?

Mike Oldenettel: Yeah, it’s the golden rule.

Jeremy Goeckner: What could that be?

Mike Oldenettel: And it’s nice that it just says that in so many words. I mean, and in pathways to professionalism, I mean, it’s just an easy thing to think about. OK, if somebody calls me, I call them back. If somebody sends me a text, I text them back. If somebody’s inquiring about whatever, it shouldn’t be crickets. There should be a constant engagement. There should be a constant communication, not just for our client’s sake.

Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah.

Mike Oldenettel: For our sake. And it’s, do the right thing.

Jeremy Goeckner: Yes.

Mike Oldenettel: You schedule an appointment, and you need to cancel it, you cancel it. You don’t let the sellers think that you showed up when you didn’t. I mean, it’s just those type of things. It’s just a reminder.

Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah.

Mike Oldenettel: OK, we know everybody gets busy, but what’s common sense? What’s the right thing to do?

Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah. Well, you called out one of my Achilles heels, which is responding promptly to people. Which you’re right though, there really isn’t an excuse for it. You all have a very fast communications device right there at your hands.

Mike Oldenettel: And I’m not suggesting that you stop what you’re doing.

Jeremy Goeckner: Oh, sure.

Mike Oldenettel: When I’m with clients and I’m showing properties, it’s their time, and if somebody’s blowing up my phone, I’m sorry, but the time right now is for them and they get my attention 100 percent, because they’re my clients.

Jeremy Goeckner: Yes.

Mike Oldenettel: That’s how I look at things. But when I’m done, I need to respond. I mean, you’re going to respond to your children, to your spouse, significant other, you’re going to respond to your parents. Okay, you should do the same thing as a professional courtesy to anybody.

Jeremy Goeckner: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, so you said though that there is a deadline coming up. So what is the deadline for the code of ethics and the training requirements that are needed there?

Mike Oldenettel: So, the requirements for NAR is two and a half hours of code of ethics training. And we took, we meaning the Illinois REALTORS®, took the code of ethics training requirement and molded it into a three-hour CE course that IDFPR has approved for three hours of continuing education credit. So, it is a REALTOR® and it’s not re-la-tor, it’s a REALTOR® requirement, as REALTORS®, we have to have code of ethics. If you’re just a licensee and not a REALTOR® member, then you don’t have the code of ethics requirement. So the code of ethics requirement has to be completed every three years. It used to be every two years and they moved it to every three years. And the cycle was January 1 of 2019 until December 31 of 2021. So everybody has to the end of next month to get their code of ethics training completed.

So if you’re getting CE, great. If you’re doing it through a REALTOR® association, they track that. If you’re getting code of ethics training through somebody that’s approved to teach the code of ethics through IDFPR but they’re not a REALTOR® member, you need to check with that education provider to make sure that you get the credit you deserve and have that communicated to the REALTOR® association. So just want to throw that out there, because some people do that without making sure that the credit that they have earned is actually properly being processed.

Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah. Well, and so in that vein there though, what does happen if a member doesn’t meet that training deadline and is not in compliance? What can happen there?

Mike Oldenettel: Well, that’s the key word, not in compliance.

Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah.

Mike Oldenettel: So as a requirement of membership, all of us of REALTORS®, we agreed when we became REALTORS®, that we would adhere to the code of ethics and that we would complete this training. So if somebody decides or forgets not to complete the code of ethics training, their membership could be suspended. And if your membership is suspended, that means that all benefits of membership. And if you, in Illinois, if you happen to be a REALTOR® and your membership is suspended, quite frankly, you won’t have access to the association or potentially the MLS. So it could put a halt to your business until you get completed. And not that, that sounds like it’s a real bad thing, but this is what you agreed to. So just get the training done. It’s what’s best for you, for your office and most certainly, what’s best for your clients.

Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah. And you’re right, it’s not just some test you got to check a box to. This teaches you. This teaches you how to be better at what you do. And again, you said how to separate yourselves there. So where can members take the courses and how can they see and check, and as you said, verify that they are in compliance?

Mike Oldenettel: The local association is the point of entry, if you will, of this type of data. So check with your local association, if they’re hosting or having or holding CE classes, either virtually or live. Most certainly, check with Illinoisrealtors.org. Go to the Illinois REALTORS® website to see what offerings are being done for continuing, or for code of ethics training and hopefully, to get the continued education. And the CE itself is tracked by IDFPR, but the code of ethics, check with your local association to see if you have completed that. And it would not surprise me, because it’s a three-year cycle and our license is on a two-year cycle, you may have completed it when you renewed your license last April. So, you’d look through all the education that you’ve done, hopefully, you’ve kept track of either through your email or through any printed certificates, check and make sure any CE that you’ve done, that you did maybe, already complete the code of ethics requirement. So if you did just renew your license, check and see if in 2019 or 2020, if you did CE. But the place to check is through your local association and even check with the Illinois REALTORS®.

Jeremy Goeckner: Yeah, absolutely. And that’s a good point that you made there, because since this is a three year cycle, it’s not like if you did it last year, that means in the next three years. It’s another three year cycle starting on January 1st, right? So yeah, by all means, please just at least go make sure that you did this because you might think you did, or maybe it was a long time ago and you thought you were in that cycle, but so definitely make sure that you do that. So, Michael, this was fantastic. This was a really great conversation. Again, I just love how you talk about this. I love that it’s a standard that is something that we hold ourselves to that’s higher. That it’s not just a requirement, it’s something that you learn from.

Mike Oldenettel: It is. And it’s been, it was instilled in me years ago and it just grew. And no, I live and breathe the code. Yeah, I guess I am an expert on the code.

Jeremy Goeckner: There you go.

Mike Oldenettel: This is what I do.

Jeremy Goeckner: See if nothing else, we got you around to saying it.

Mike Oldenettel: Yeah.

Jeremy Goeckner: Because it’s true.

Mike Oldenettel: Fair enough.

Jeremy Goeckner: All right. Well, Michael, thank you very, very much for sharing that important information with us today.

Mike Oldenettel: Well, Jeremy, thank you for having me.

Jeremy Goeckner: So, if you would like to learn more about the code of ethics training or any of the education courses, you can always go to Illinoisrealtors.org/education. That’s it for this week’s IR weekly podcast. Thank you all for listening. As always, give us a rating and a review on your podcast app of choice. And if you want to know any more content, simply search for Illinois REALTORS® on your favorite social media app. We will see you next week.