Last week I mentioned that the National Association of Realtors has a Code of Ethics that
turns 100 this year. I wanted to talk a little more about the Code's history.
The NAR's Code of Ethics was written at the NAR's annual convention, held in July of 1913, five years after the NAR was founded in 1908. It took five years to write the Code because NAR members spent that time in conversation with each other, deciding what a code of ethics for realtors ought to look like. This was before license laws and most other regulations governing real estate existed, and the Code was seen as a declaration of the real estate industry’s principles and beliefs. The Code of Ethics continues to be a living document that undergoes annual revision.
One change to the Code was the Preamble, added in 1924 and written by A. H. Barnhisel of Tacoma, Washington. The Preamble is a statement of values that begins:
Under all is the land. Upon its wise utilization and widely allocated ownership depend the survival and growth of free institutions and of our civilization. REALTORS should recognize that the interests of the nation and its citizens require the highest and best use of the land and the widest distribution of land ownership. They require the creation of adequate housing, the building of functioning cities, the development of productive industries and farms, and the preservation of a healthful environment.
The language is so important and inspiring that it is displayed in etched glass at the NAR building in Washington, D.C.
