S.E.C. Real Estate Observer

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What is the object of counseling?

It should be apparent what a real estate counselor should determine in counseling with a prospective client and/or a client. However, sadly, there are too many brokers and consultants rather than counselors and by this we simply mean that too many practitioners in the real estate industry talk too much rather than listen.

The role of a real estate counselor is that of being a sounding board for all the client’s ideas. Therefore it is the necessary duty of a real estate counselor to get from the client, the one he is counseling, every factor possible from the client’s mind that would have any bearing at all on the real estate problem that the client might have. It is only by a thorough expose on the part of the client of all of the factors of personal, family, and business life being fully portrayed if the real estate counselor is to secure for his client the better benefits of moving out of the title to what he has and does not want.

The whole objective is, of course, after getting all the facts, to attempt to move the client’s portfolio in such a manner that he will really be in a much better position than he was in ownership of the property that is to be used to get him the better benefits.

Naturally, some explaining has to be done by the counselor. It might be necessary, for example to explain the advantages of making a tax-deferred exchange versus selling property.

All people don’t know that there is that advantage and not even all real estate practitioners understand the “tax free exchange”. But other than perhaps discussing some things of that type, the best real estate counselors spend most of their time listening and asking questions until they feel they have received from the client or client applicant, enough information to warrant the counselor being able to make up his mind whether there is a problem that he wishes to accept the responsibility of attempting the to solve. If insufficient information exists then, of course, the proper job cannot be done for anyone and the counselor is at a great disadvantage if he attempts to help someone solve a real estate problem without having all of the information available from the client. Counseling should continue as long as necessary until the client presents all of the unknowns as well as the known facts.