Shouting REALTORS

We want to explain a little story to you about how it happened that Realtors appear to be a group of people who “shout” online occasionally.  Really we aren’t shouting.

It has everything to do with those grand old Olden Days.  In case your age allows you to regard the Olden Days as anything prior to 1995, let’s put this in perspective.   Brokers, agents and transaction coordinators have been in the middle of Buyers and Sellers for centuries, even though they may not have been called that.  Think of it as a middleman… a neutral person who can facilitate an agreement to sell.

Well, some individuals looked around and decided that they wanted to have an organization of people who could assure the public that their ethics and standards were pledged to be a notch higher than the usual middleman…. and thus the National Association of Realtors (NAR) was born.  And in the Olden Days of 1950, Realtors won the right to use a trademark version of their name…. in all capital letters with a circle/R afterwards to indicate that only members of NAR in good standing with their brokerage would have the right to use the term. 

Thus, a realtor.. became a Realtor.. and then became a REALTOR®. 

The term REALTOR® is a federally registered collective membership mark owned exclusively by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR).    A trademark, if you will.   REALTOR® is the correct and required version that a member of NAR will use to refer to him/her self.    REALTORS® use the term proudly and are always happy to tell you about their Code Of Ethics that sets them apart from wheeler-dealers.  

But…. online, the use of all caps is considered ‘shouting’… and is also considered bad manners.  Additionally, editors and publishers have resisted the requirement to add the caps and the registered R trademark in print.  The use of a trademark word became one idea to members of NAR and  another to the journalists who write about them.

So though the REALTOR® trademark is still the current and required use of the term,  the age of the internet and email has required a slight rule change.  As all things eventually pass into the Olden Days, so too did the requirement to use all caps and the registered R trademark in all cases.   Now there are revisions allowed for domain names, internet addresses, and some other online usage. 

Proper use of the term REALTOR® on the Internet

 REALTORS® often want to use the REALTOR® marks as part of their domain name or address to distinguish themselves, but there are rules governing proper use of the REALTOR® marks that must be adhered to at all times regardless of the media used.  These rules are found in the National Association’s Membership Marks Manual. Here is a brief summary of the principal rules affecting use of the REALTOR® marks in domain names:

1. The term REALTOR® , whether used as part of a domain name or in some other fashion, must refer to a member or a member’s firm.
2. The term REALTOR® may not be used with descriptive words or phrases. For example, Number1realtor.com, numberone-realtor.com, chicagorealtors.org or realtorproperties.com are all incorrect.
3. For use as a domain name or email address on the Internet, the term REALTOR® does not need to be separated from the member’s name or firm name with punctuation. For example, both johndoe-realtor.com and johndoerealtor.com would be correct uses of the term as a part of domain names and jdoe*realtors@webnetservices and jdoerealtors@webnetservices.com are both correct uses of the term as part of an email address.
4. The REALTOR® block R logo should not be used as hypertext links at a website, as such uses can suggest an endorsement or recommendation of the linked sited by your association. The only exception would be to establish a link to the National Association’s website, Realtor.com.

So the next time you’re puzzled about why your REALTOR® uses the capitalized type and the funny R, you can refer to the history of the Olden Days of 1950 and how it all came about.   And for reference, all REALTOR® ads will include the REALTOR® logo…. an R in a block… to let you know of their affiliation with the Code of Ethics of NAR. 

Tagged as: Buyer Information, Charlottesville Real Estate