Second home specialist and other niches in real estate
My signature looks like this: Joanne Hanson, ABR, CRS, e-Pro, GRI and it could continue on with other designations I have earned. But why should you care? You may not, but I do, as it shows that I have continued my real estate education. It means that I have advanced training that will benefit my clients with my areas of specialization. Below is what the alphabet soup of letters mean:
ABR Accredited Buyer Representative. The training concentrates on how to represent a Buyer in the transaction, putting the Buyer’s best interests ahead of everything else, including my own interests.
ASR Accredited Seller’s Representative. The same as above, but with emphasis on the Seller’s needs.
CRS Certified Residential Specialist. The people who go through this program specialize in working with people who are buying and selling residential properties….homes. Less than 5% of all Realtors have this designation.
RSPS Resort and Second home Property Specialist. Realtors in vacation home markets should have this advanced training as it means they have completed courses that help the second home investment buyer. Courses in Tax Deferred exchanges and marketing resort properties are in the curriculum.
GRI Graduate, Realtor Institute. This series of classes takes almost a year to complete and offers a good basic education above and beyond the three to six weeks that we are provided with in real estate school. GRI is a requirement of some of the other designations. I earned it within my first year of being licensed, about 14 years ago.
e-Pro E-pro certification for Realtors only and is earned after taking an online course covering the uses of technology in a real estate practice.
Some other designations that I do not have yet:
Ecobroker The emphasis is on being green; from encouraging people to use ecologically friendly materials and practices as they build or remodel, to knowing the importance of different methods of heating homes and conserving energy and water. I have just signed up for this program and will be taking a series of three classes to earn the designation.
CCIM This is a commercial designation that many people who work exclusively in commercial markets earn. Summit County is primarily a residential market and it is not a specialty that I do very much business in.
CIPS stands for Certified International Property Specialist. Some of the RSPS courses cross over with this designation and people who deal with a lot of foreign clients or who sell in other countries benefit from this training.
CRB is the similar to the CRS designation, but is for Broker/Owners of real estate offices.
SRES Those with this designation specialize in helping seniors buy and sell property. This will probably be my next focus once I finish the Eco Broker course work.
RLI stands for Realtors, Land Institute and it is held primarily by those who work in the ranch and land market.
Next time you wonder why we bother putting all the designations behind our names, remember that it is because of time and effort we put into improving our skills and preparing ourselves to work effectively with our clients within our areas of specialization.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:32 am
Great info Joanne.
I have been thinking about getting my CNS (Certified Neighborhood Specialist) designation. Do you have any insight into the quality of that training?
February 21st, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Chris, that one is new to me. I have not heard of it before! Let me know what you find out as I will be interested to hear myself. Thanks for visiting!