Talk:Real estate agent

Merger of Estate agent
requested a thread to discuss the proposed mergers. -- Beland (talk) 17:05, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Why do you think these pages should be merged? Thryduulf (talk) 17:46, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Because they cover the same topic. -- Beland (talk) 17:51, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * If they are to be merged, the title should be "Estate agent". "Real estate broker" is a term generally only used in North America (and in Canada both are used) - in other English-speaking countries (including countries like India) they are called estate agents or real estate agents. The word "agent" is more common in non-English speaking countries as well (i.e. French agent immobilier) Black Kite (talk) 20:49, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * In the U.S. an "estate agent" sounds like someone who is disposing of a dead person's property, but "real estate agent" is common. Perhaps that's the name that would be clearest for readers worldwide? -- Beland (talk) 23:58, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes, that would be logical - not sure why I didn't suggest that in the first place! Black Kite (talk) 00:54, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Cool, I've moved the article content to Real estate agent. -- Beland (talk) 01:53, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

I see you've undone the merge with the edit summary "Inappropriate copy/paste pagemove". Both of the article have a substantial edit history; how would you prefer that the merge be accomplished? -- Beland (talk) 16:55, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
 * There seems to be a disconnect between what is being discussed and what was done. You keep saying you want to "merge" the pages but the target is currently a redirect (and there's not really anything to merge). If you want to move Real estate broker to "Real estate agent", then either a db-move or a round-robin page move are required. I'm happy to do that if this is indeed the intent of the discussion. Primefac (talk) 17:14, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, we're planning to merge in more content later, I assume without merging the page histories of all three articles, so you could see it either as the first of three merges, or a page move followed by two merges. Feel free to implement a move in whatever way you see fit. -- Beland (talk) 21:39, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅. Primefac (talk) 00:29, 5 May 2021 (UTC)

Support merging of Real estate agent into Estate agent. These cover the same topic. cagliost (talk) 13:18, 6 September 2021 (UTC)

Merger of Real estate business
Regarding article Real estate business, this is much broader than real estate broking as evidenced by its "See also" section, really it should be a category. cagliost (talk) 13:18, 6 September 2021 (UTC)

Realtor
The word 'realtor' is used as if it is pretty much a synonym for REA, yet FAR down in the article, the legal restriction of the word is indicated. This combination is unfortunate. Either postpone the introduction of the word, or move the part about the restriction up -- or even include it in some way with the first mention of the word. Separately, the article capitalizes the word. Does this mean that it should always be capitalized or that the capitalized version is what is restricted? Kdammers (talk) 03:46, 13 June 2021 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Information Literacy and Scholarly Discourse
— Assignment last updated by Mlclark1 (talk) 13:23, 10 June 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 1 January 2023
Please change "A real estate or real estate broker is a person" to "A real estate agent, referred to often as a Realtor and/or a real estate broker is a person" SavageCerebral (talk) 00:12, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
 * ✅ Lemonaka (talk) 08:16, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

Not All Real Estate Agents are REALTORS®
A real estate agent should not be referred to as a REALTOR®. REALTOR® is not a generic term for real estate agents, brokers, licensees or sales people. A REALTOR® is someone who belongs to a local REALTOR® association, a state association and the National Association of REALTORS®. This term was trademarked in 1949. REALTORS® subsribe to and practice a Code of Ethics and are held to a higher standard than what just a typical agent, sales person, broker or licenesee are held. Use the correct language and terms. 2601:5CC:8201:1DB7:89F5:9A8C:7609:BB80 (talk) 19:08, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I believe I have addressed this with the addition of the section The term Realtor. Toddst1 (talk) 17:44, 17 June 2023 (UTC)
 * This section still seems wrong, making "realtor" sound ike some exotc title from outside the world of real estate. Isn't the truth more of a square v rectangle sort of thing? A realtor is a real estate agent, but not all real estate agents are realtors, correct? And there is no chance of Wikipedia using the all caps with registered trademark symbol version of the word.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 19:30, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * It is purely a marketing / trademark enforcement thing, yes. It's like the difference between a 'Kleenex' and a disposable tissue. MrOllie (talk) 19:34, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I tried to clarify a bit. Better? MrOllie (talk) 19:39, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I believe the well-sourced statement that they are not synonyms should not have been removed. It's not just a marketing thing, it's a legal thing. I'm good with the rest of your edits. Toddst1 (talk) 21:30, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * where some discussion happened also.
 * It's a trademark yes, but they do not own or control non-commercial use of the term. And "realtor", in the US, is commonly used as synonym for "real estate agent" even if NAR doesn't like it. And I'm not saying we shouldn't make clear that the term realtor is a trademarked term but i think the style of language in Facial tissue: Facial tissues are often referred to simply as "tissues", or (in Canada and the United States) by the generic trademark "Kleenex" is more accurate and encyclopedic (leaving out the "generic" part if there isn't sourcing that realtor has been turned into a generic trademark yet). Skynxnex (talk) 21:55, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree. Without indicating that the terms are often used interchangeably, there is no context for the current statement that they aren't synonyms. We should not be making prescriptivist statements about language usage being incorrect in wikivoice, just neutrally describing usage. The section could provide more context by briefly describing the origin of the term realtor and the successful defence of it as a trademark.--Trystan (talk) 22:55, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * The meaning of "relator" differs by nationality. British-English speakers, for example, more commonly call realtors real estate agents, whereas it means the same thing in America. Do you call velcro "velcro" or do you call it "hook and loop"? Let's look at Wiktionary:
 * https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/realtor
 * (Canada, US) A person or business that sells or leases out real estate, acting as an agent for the property owner.
 *  Chamaemelum  (  talk  ) 06:08, 9 July 2023 (UTC)

History section recommended for this article
As the heading above say, I recommend that a section be added to this article on the history of the real estate profession. As a matter of fact, I just came to this article looking for the historical background on the concept of real estate agent, but I was surprised to see the absence of such information in this article.

There are different things that the history section could discuss. For example, on a quick Google search ("history of real estate agents"), it appears that the idea of staging an open house as a way to market a house originated in the 1930s and 1940s, but this is just that, a quick web search, and may not be a reliable source. Nevertheless, this is just an example to illustrate what the section could talk about. Legion (talk) 04:10, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

Realtor section is incorrect with respect to Canada
In Canada, the realtor trademark is controlled by the Canadian Real Estate Association, and used to identify its active members. It is owned by Realtor Canada Inc., a corporation jointly owned by NAR and CREA. The Realtor section currently states that realtor is trademarked by NAR in Canada and used to identify its members, which is incorrect. My edit to correct this was reverted.--Trystan (talk) 00:11, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Hey, You removed the text that said which doesn't seem like it was your intent, and why I reverted.  I think we're heading the same direction. Maybe we can finesse it?  Toddst1 (talk) 00:20, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
 * That’s part of the wording I added, which you reverted.--Trystan (talk) 00:37, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Facepalm fixed. Toddst1 (talk) 16:23, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 8 March 2024
This needs to be changed; "A real estate agent, referred to often as a real estate broker" A real estate agent should NEVER be referred to as a real estate broker. They are two different licenses and a broker's license requires much more than an agent's license. Now, the reverse might be true (like you can't say that a rectangle is often referred to as a square but you can say that a square could be called a rectangle) but to refer to a broker as an agent is disrespectful of what it takes to be a broker. There's plenty of sources where you can site references. Here is one that explains it pretty well; https://www.jovio.com/blog/difference-between-agent-broker-realtor. Saying that an agent could be called a broker is untrue and that sentence needs to be removed. 2600:1700:1E0:9940:10DF:7C09:9ABB:2ABF (talk) 16:28, 8 March 2024 (UTC)
 * ✅ The article actually describes both agents and brokers, and the rest of the lead also makes it clear that these are different professions, so it's just the first sentence that needed to be reworked. We should probably restructure the article and maybe move it to better signify these differences, but that's for another day. Liu1126 (talk) 16:43, 8 March 2024 (UTC)