Category Archives: learning

Maximum Possible Outcome

Regulating an industry is done to police licensed professionals. Regulations set the boundaries for legal practice. To obtain a license applicants take a mandated course and then a test. The course is intended to present (not necessarily teach) the minimal legal requirements. The test shows how well the applicant remembers. There is nothing to measure whether or not the applicant has learned to the level necessary to practice with competence. To qualify for the license, the minimum score required to pass is slightly above average. Exceptionalism is not required.

If the initial license was only qualified the person for additional learning and competence building the public would be served by fewer Real Estate agents who have a higher level of knowledge. But it doesn’t work that way. The person who made only the effort to learn the minimum legal requirement to pass the test holds the same license as the committed learner who knows what to do (the minimum) and aspires to learn to ask Why to learn more so she can effectively and legally change outcomes for the public. Why is what differentiates the learner from the test passer.

Licensees have the opportunity every morning to decide to be learners. Those who recognize the maximum possible action will deliver an outcome beyond expectations pay the price, make the effort to attend to the learning how much higher they can practice within the law to deliver the maximum possible results.

When it’s easiest to settle for the minimum legal requirements and still present yourself as competent, more people will choose to end their learning and get on with practicing on the public. Blind confidence (fake it till you make it, or break it) lets you walk to the edge. When consequences arise, the first thing to go is the confidence. He runs for cover to find blame and seek protection.

Skillshare is a learning opportunity for those who want to know the law, what we are permitted to do within the law, and WHY the law is at it is or WHY the contracts are what they are. Once you know the WHY, the magic happens when you learn to produce the maximum possible outcomes for your clients. Vaulting above average puts you in a place where few of your peers will venture.

Settling for the minimum legal expectations is something anyone can do and many do. You may not like what you’re learning and you may not agree with what you’re learning or think it’s relevant to you. Keep showing up and when that thing you didn’t like to learn, or think is relevant, stands in front of you, you’ll not flinch. You’ll guide your client through, around, or away from trouble and discover how valuable it is to have questioned something and worked to apply your new knowledge. Average is OK to be licensed. If that’s your maximum intent.

Learning is free. Owning a misconception; that’s expensive.

Everything we believe we learned. Unfortunately everything we learn is not correct, accurate, or up to date. Misconception is not exclusive to the inexperienced. Even seasoned real estate professionals wade into peril relying on what they once heard, or once did, or thought they heard. Laws change, expectations change, the business changes and if we remain content to go with what we think we know we are sure to fall behind.  A lot of experience and little continued learning are a dangerous mix with the consequences compounded when relatively inexperienced agents watch and learn from experienced mentors. 


Learning resources are at your finger tips 24/7 through your membership in the WRA. All you need to learn something new or change a misconception is activate your account at WRA.ORG, or open the emails with the Weekly WRA Legal News.  The 7/29/19 Legal News Weekly addresses a half dozen misconceptions:  agents walking blindly into mortgage fraud, exposing themselves to the opportunity to defend their belief they can’t be held accountable, ending up on the wrong side of license law by telling an agent to revise and resubmit an offer, inadvertently mishandling trust funds, and the consequences of expectations in rental property transactions. 


Learning is not training. Learning requires your mental participation in analyzing and contemplating logical, rational, historical information. Deep learning is fueled by your desire. People seek learning opportunities for the value of what learning will mean to the service they deliver. Best of all, you do not have to attend a seminar to learn what you need to know to practice at the highest level of competency. There is no fee to pay.  Your only investment is your time and attention and desire to be the agent who is independent of flawed ideas and misconceptions.  WRA.Org is your ticket to freedom from fear and dependency on people who only appear to know something.

Olive Branch Inspection Contingency

Given a choice, without being told of potential consequences, a Buyer Client is 99% likely to include a Buyer Favorable leverage an inspection contingency, over the one on page 9 of the Offer to Purchase.  The people who created the Inspection Contingency in the Offer intentionally tilted the advantage to the Seller. Obviously the Seller has more to risk in negotiations after acceptance. The party with the most on the line should have a reasonable opportunity to cure defects, and  keep a transaction together when unexpected conditions are identified. During the Buyer Market run we had in and after the recession, more Firms began using a Buyer Favorable Inspection Contingency as standard practice. Sellers had no choice but to allow the Buyer to have the leverage which was intended for them.  That happens when the market changes.

Well, the market changed again. Licensees stuck in the new habit of using a company crafted Buyer Leverage Inspection contingency gave no thought to the consequences to their clients and went right on checking the box without discussing the difference between that contingency and the one on page 9 of the Offer.  Sellers and listing agents  were quick to identify the high risk condition of the Buyer Favorable contingency. For no reason other than risk, Sellers will reject Offers which give the inspection advantage to the Buyer.  It’s a shame when  a person loses a house because they weren’t given a chance to make their offer more attractive to the Seller by simply being kinder, gentler, and safe.

Knowing the difference between a Heavy Hand and an Oliver Branch allows the licensee  to  give the client a real opportunity. It’s a magical thing  watching a licensee earn the confidence of clients when they explain choices and think through a choice with clients.

Become a part of the conversation, a part of the thinking process by learning to find the trips  and traps of contingencies.  Some people will always do as they always have because that’s the way they learned it. But those people will never have the results they could have by learning why  something is as it is, and learning how to make the contingencies work for their client.  And by working for their client I don’t mean wrapping them in unnecessary protections.

Are you in the home business or contract business?

Some Realtors are in the home business. All Wisconsin Real Estate Licensees are in the contract business.  Maybe for most people the home business is more appealing than the contract business, but you may not do the home business long without learning and continuing to learn the contract aspects of the business.

Study Contracts at Harvard From Your Home  Online learning from the finest institutions in the world is an opportunity previous generations could not even imagine. Several years ago universities began experimenting with online learning by offering free courses to the world. They learned how to make on-line learning efficient and appealing.

Lawyers and will be law students are registered for the Contract Law Course at taught by a Harvard professor. I started the course on Friday. It’s a learning experience for me and I love the contract part of the business. I won’t finish with a degree, but I am learning, and that’s what I am after.

Would you rather learn or be trained?

Learning is what we do for ourselves. Training is done to us. Maybe that’s why learning opportunities promoted as training sessions are unfilled with experienced employees or professionals.  Continuing education isn’t a big draw either. Education is learning, but it’s not something people who have arrived agree they need. That’s why CE is mandatory and not voluntary.

A company with a culture that places high value on learning will attract learners. People who learn develop insights, skills, and wisdom they won’t get in training or Continuing Education.  Learners stay ahead of change. They embrace new technology if for no other reason than it’s something new to learn.

Would you prefer to be represented by a person who is continually learning, or one who just got  out of training, or attended mandatory continuing ed?