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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> >James, you have made fair but disparaging remarks about the National  
> Association of Realtors. Without government testing and licensing,  
> would you put the NRA in charge?

This, I submit, Gene, is where your thinking is conditioned.  It has to be 
the government or the NRA or beyond that point there be dragons!

If I have confidence in the rigors of NRA credentials (which I obviously 
don't), then I can choose to use Realtor who is unknown to me based on those 
credentials.  But even right now I don't have to.  I can choose someone else. 
 
Dropping the government out of it altogether works much the same way.  If I 
want 
to use an agent to sell a house, I would choose someone I knew personally or 
someone who had a good reputation among people I did know and whose judgement 
I 
trusted.

For example, the children have an excellent physician.  If they need to see a 
specialist over something, I'd NEVER take them to someone unless this 
physcian recommended them.  I don't care what licenses and credentials they 
have, 
that's not good enough (as you, no doubt know all too well).

I would never put the NRA in charge of a toy boat in a bathtub, nor anything 
else, nor any such agency.  It's fine for these bodies to exist and if people 
have confidence in them, let that be their standard for choosing them.  If 
anyone is foolish enough to choose someone for an important job without 
credentials AND recommendations and testimonials, then that's their dodge.   
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