House to House: Specialized Realtors strive to make buying, selling easier
March 7th, 2010 by Ethan Nobles
A string of letters behind a Realtor’s name might resemble alphabet soup, but it actually shows that agent has decided to specialize.
Let’s say, for example, a Realtor hands you a business card identifying him as “Skipper Benton, ABR, CRS, GRI.” What Skipper is trying to tell you is that he has earned the Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) designation, is a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) and holds the Graduate Realtor Institute (GRI) designation.
Anyone holding a real estate license in Arkansas is required to take six hours of continuing education a year. The National Association of Realtors, however, offers its members the option of taking courses to specialize in various aspects of real estate transactions. This training is above and beyond what the state requires of licensees and what the Arkansas Realtors Association requires of members.
Not all real estate agents licensed in Arkansas choose to become Realtors, but the ones making that choice are encouraged to learn a specialization to better serve clients. Among the most common designations are the ABR, CRS and GRI.
The GRI program, simply put, is a good place to start for Realtors wanting to expand their knowledge and better serve clients. Some Realtors wanting more specialization might look into the training necessary to earn the ABR designation.
An ABR designation is evidence of a Realtor trained to “look at transactions from the buyer’s point of view.” In other words, Realtors with the ABR designation have had training on how to find a good selection of homes for buyers, gauge the fair market of houses, help position offers so they are attractive to sellers and generally take care of all aspects buyers face in transactions.
Sellers might concentrate on finding Realtors with the CRS designation. Realtors wanting to earn the CRS designation must be trained in listing and selling strategies. Those include effective ways to market properties so potential buyers are reached effectively — very important for sellers.
The CRS designation is built on the notion that simply putting a house on the market isn’t enough. A seller must know how to price the home effectively, spruce it up so it’s attractive and market it so buyers are impressed with it. A Realtor with the CRS designation strives to help sellers find that fair price and make sure potential buyers take a look at the home.
Realtors spend a lot of time and money earning designations for one simple reason — to provide the best possible service to clients. In all, there are 23 designations recognized by the NAR. You can have a look at all of them by visiting realtor.org/education/realtor_university/designation.
House to House is distributed by the Arkansas Realtors Association.
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