By Tino Diaz, NAHREP Chair
New regulations alone won’t heal what broke our real estate market. Lawmakers can’t legislate character and integrity. The only real cure that will make a difference now in the housing recovery is our own deeds and a renewed commitment to ethics and good business practices. The buck stops with us, NAHREP practitioners.

Let’s be honest: We are in this economic mess because too many people lost their moral rudder. When the common good takes a back seat to self-interest, the equilibrium of our free market system gets thrown off and the market crashes.  This is exactly what happened in the foreclosure crisis. Too many people were eager to make a profit at the expense of others without regard for the consequence of their actions. Now we’re all paying the price.

As real estate professionals, we lost sight of our moral and ethical duty to our customers. Our job is to help people find homes they want to buy; locate affordable financing for their home purchases and ensure that people can keep their homes. In the boom era, we did a great job of helping people buy homes, but we failed miserably at helping them keep their homes. In the Latino community, the financial setback has been devastating.  Not only have we squandered their trust, we have led them to question the value of homeownership. What a shame.

Now as our community struggles to recover, we have our own work to do to make amends. No matter how much regulation comes out of this era, what this boils down to is that it’s still up to us to regulate ourselves. Legislation doesn’t sit at the table with you; your conscience does. When you choose to do the right thing for your customers; when you elect to run your business ethically, when you choose to use your talents and skills for their highest good, in service to your customers, your community gains.  I’m appealing not only to your conscience but also your logic, this experience has allowed your own eyes to see the results of choosing poorly. All real estate is local and, at the end of the day, it comes down to YOU and your clients. The housing recovery starts with YOU NAHREP members.

As Latinos, you have a greater responsibility to your community than other practitioners.  Our Hispanic community is still struggling to get past some of the inherent biases that prevent them from having equal access to the tools and programs that make homeownership possible. So many people in our community are immigrants and are still in the early years of adjustment to the language and culture of our nation. For these reasons alone, you have a duty to be an advocate in your role with your clients.

Why? If we NAHREP members don’t look out for our Latino homebuyers then who will? It’s up to you and I to make sure the next wave of Latino buyers learn from the mistakes and losses of others. It’s your job to watch out for unscrupulous practitioners in your area and call them out on their deeds. We can’t afford to be silent, my friends. The future rests on our shoulders. We cannot let it be business as usual in the recovery era for those people who made a living preying on our people.

The future offers us the opportunity to choose again, especially in this wonderful country we have adopted as our home. The real recovery starts with a new code of behavior, not new laws. Every day, you have the choice to empower a family and someone’s financial future. In every way, you can make a difference by caring enough about the clients you help. I’m calling on you to join me in leading the way and creating a new era of responsibility and integrity for our business. I’m calling on you to act out on what brought you or your ancestors to this wonderful nation, to BE “beacons of hope and opportunity” for those you serve through the example of your service.

Join other like-minded professionals that want to serve our community by embracing NAHREP’s Code of Trust and developing business with a superior set of standards. Be proud of your profession and your culture and care enough about your community to build a legacy that is erected on ethical values and DEEDS that empower others to achieve their dreams. Sustainable homeownership begins with YOU, NAHREP practitioners. Let your personal commitment to integrity and the highest professional skills be the real edict that makes a difference for our industry and the Latino community. Now that’s what builds TRUST! That’s what builds a sustainable business! Those are the pillars of a great society that cast a “beacon of hope and opportunity” for all the world to see.