Ethics and fair housing: Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

I'm in the process of renewing my real estate license again. It's a "chore" that I tend to put off until the waning weeks approaching the deadline but once I get into the coursework, I enjoy the intellectual challenge. Admittedly, sometimes the true challenge is staying away through the online courses, requiring me to re-read the course information more than once and take notes, all of which stretches out the 22.5 required continuing education hours into much more than that. Earlier this year, NYS issued a requirement that all licensees renewing need to take a three-hour Fair Housing course. Being the knee-jerk liberal that I am, I figured that this course would be a piece of cake and not teach me anything that I already didn't know or was morally committed to. My firm also specializes exclusively in commercial property, so issues about fair housing wouldn't normally be an issue in our transactions. After taking the course, however; I have to admit that I felt that I had to re-double my efforts on behalf of a current client who could drive me to tear out my hair! (That would pretty much limit my mentionable folic supply to my eyebrows and graying goatee!) There are some things about the Fair Housing Act, as they apply to the Americans With Disability Act, that drive me nuts. For example, last year I leased a small space (under 700 s/f) to a dry cleaner. An ADA-standards bathroom was required in the build-out, even though it would be used by employees only, none of whom had any handicap issues. But as I got deeper into this Fair Housing course, I realized that I was being pretty narrow-minded about unanticipated or future and different applications for the space. I also can remember on more than one occasion that I needed a bathroom for myself or one of my kids and would sometimes be refused usage by a merchant. So pity the person who needs a specially-equipped facility and hope that you will never need a similar set-up for yourself or a loved-one. Back to my hair-raising client: She's the kind of person who's easy to stereotype. She has what I call a "mañana mentality" because she can't make a snap decision about anything. She also sweats the small stuff, like where the existing electrical outlets are currently located on space that will be built to suit! All of these quirks contribute to the image that was mounting in my head about this person. The reality is that she is very nice, not at all abusive and seemingly very appreciative of my efforts to keep the hunt for the right space going. These are all qualities and traits that we should learn in kindergarten and hopefully master by the fifth grade! But how many of us do? Members of the National Board of Realtors also must take an approved ethics course by the end of 2008. So I added this to my coursework too, even though much of the material applies primarily to residential agents. Once again - same client - I found myself cutting corners a bit by giving another listing agent a verbal offer on a space, primarily because I knew that we had the longest of long shots at getting it since his client's offer was already in the second generation of lease negotiations and close to the asking price. So over the weekend, in the course of the course, I made it a point to reach out to the other agent to let him know that a written offer was forthcoming via e-mail. We're all human and so if we feel wronged by another agent or if we have been told something negative about another agent, we can't help but have our previous unbiased opinion influenced. And then if we feel we were wronged by him or her, then we may find ourselves being caught up in the grist of the rumor mill. This ethics course is a good refresher for anyone in business. Its foundation is the Golden Rule. According to the Book of Matthew in the New Testament, that is: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you." On a lighter note, George Bernard Shaw had a sarcastic interpretation of the Golden Rule which I rather like: "Do not do unto others as you would expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same." Keep that in mind the next time you show a space covered in metallic and black flock wallpaper and let your client pass judgment, not you! Rob Seitz is a commercial real estate agent at Goldschmidt & Associates, Scarsdale, N.Y.