Real Estate Agent or Realtor- What's the Difference?

Hi there. Welcome back. And I'm Kumar Jaramdas, your licensed real estate instructor. And today we're going to talk about the difference between a realtor and a real estate agent. This is a question we get all the time and it's a cause for confusion in the general public and it doesn't help that real estate agents frequently misconstrued the word. But today we're going to talk in great detail about what these two words mean and what they are. And for those of you that are just joining for the first time, this is the Lutz School of Real Estate and I'm Kumar Jaramdas, one of the instructors at the Lutz School of Real Estate in Tampa, Florida. And we're going to begin our presentation. All right. So what's the difference between a real estate agent and a realtor? It's a good question. So a real estate agent is another term for a licensed real estate sales associate in the state of Florida. A real estate agent, otherwise known as a licensed real estate sales associate, or sales associate for short, is licensed by the Florida DBPR, the Florida Department for Business and Professional Regulation. And a subsidiary of the DBPR is the FREC, the Florida Real Estate Commission. And the FREC utilizes the DBPR to license real estate sales associates, otherwise known as real estate agents. A realtor is a member of the National Association of Realtors. A licensed real estate agent in any state can join the National Association of Realtors and only members can call themselves realtors. So again, a realtor is a member of the National Association of Realtors. So when you see and hear the word realtor, then you should think that term is synonymous with member of an organization. And the term realtor is a registered trademark of the National Association of Realtors and may not be used by anyone except a member of the association. All realtors are licensed real estate agents, but not every licensed real estate agent is a realtor. A Florida licensed real estate sales associate is licensed by the Florida Real Estate Commission through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. And again, just because someone is a licensed real estate sales associate doesn't mean that they're a realtor. And someone can be a licensed real estate sales associate without being a realtor. So now we need to discuss what happens if you call yourself a realtor when you're not actually a realtor. So in Florida, it's actually illegal to call yourself a realtor if you are not a member of the National Association of Realtors. A lot of people are very shocked and surprised to hear this, especially in the real estate community. But according to the Florida Administrative Code Rule 61J2-10.07 subsection X states is that if a sales associate used the name or identification of an association or organization when the licensee and licensee is another name or another term for a sales associate when the licensee was not in good standing or otherwise not entitled to use the name. So the Florida Administrative Code specifically states that a licensee may not use the name or identification of an association when that licensee is not in good standing or not able to use that name. So a real estate licensee, a Florida licensed real estate agent, may not say that they're a member of the National Association of Realtors, may not call themselves a realtor, or use any of the National Association of Realtors terms or registrations or certifications or accreditations if they're not a member in good standing. So if you're a member of the National Association of Realtors, if you're a realtor and your membership lapses, then this Florida Administrative Code will most likely apply to you. If you resign from, let's say you're a member of the Institute for Real Estate Management, IRM, and you're a certified property manager, but let's say you did not pay your dues to IRM and you're no longer an active member, so you're not a member in good standing, then you're not entitled to say that you're a member of that organization. And not taking that off of your resume, if you use the credentials or abbreviations of that organization when you're not a member in good standing at the time that you were using it, so even if you have the initials after your name on an email or a flyer and you're not a member in good standing and you use that, you could be in trouble with the Florida Administrative Code with this rule here. So what happens if you violate that rule, there is a $600 fine and a citation that goes on to your license record that may stay there for several years. And so today we talked briefly about the difference between a licensed real estate agent and a realtor. There are a lot of benefits to being a realtor. It is not necessary to be a realtor in Florida. In order to be a licensed real estate agent, you can completely practice real estate in Florida without being a member of the National Association of Realtors, without being a realtor. Personally, I think there's a lot of benefit to being a member of the National Association of Realtors. I myself am a realtor, but that's going to be another another YouTube video. But if you like today's information, please like and subscribe to our channel. And if you're interested in learning more about real estate, if you want to become a real estate agent, if you're from another state, you'd like to move to Florida, just curious about real estate, want to learn more, go to the Loot School of Real Estate, www.lootschool.realestate. And at that website, you'll learn a lot about our school. You'll learn about how to become a licensed real estate agent in Florida. You'll also learn a lot about real estate in general. Our YouTube channel provides education for real estate students, real estate agents in Florida, investors, homebuyers, home sellers. We're really excited to be providing this educational information for members of our profession and for other people in the profession, for members of the public and for real estate investors. Thank you so much for joining us today and see you in the next video.