Able Seaman

I am a big fan of Patrick O’Brian’s series of books about the British Navy set in the Napoleonic era. I read every single book of the 19 in the series and was delighted when the deservedly popular movie Master and Commander, based upon episodes from these books, was released last year. I saw it on the first day!

It took hundreds of men to run a ship in those days. Adding to the complexity was the fact that a large percentage of the crew was likely to have been “pressed,” that is kidnapped by press gangs and hauled aboard against their will. This was actually legal at that time, sort of the 19 th Century equivalent of the draft. Maintaining superiority on the sea was an essential element in Britain ’s defense against having to learn French all over again.

With a crew of such diverse talents, it was critical to know which men could be relied upon, because competence is a life and death issue in wartime. So a rating system was developed. The lowest man on the rung was the Landsman, the man with no knowledge of the sea or how to participate in the running of the ship. With enough experience, a man would be rated Ordinary Seamen, and when you became really skilled, you earned Able Seaman rating. Terminology similar to this still applies today in the Merchant Marine.

Ah, wouldn’t it be nice if the business world worked like that. When you are dealing with someone you’ve never met before you really have no idea about their competence. You can pick up hints but it isn’t like they have a badge on that says “Able Real Estate Agent” or “Able Loan Officer.” You can’t tell whether you’re dealing with a genius or a doofus just be talking with them on the phone.

The real estate industry – and I include the mortgage industry - is characterized as one with a high “ease of entry.” That means that the barriers to entry are low. It is also a high turnover business because most of the people who get into the business don’t become competent enough to make a living leave within a year. Who did they deal with and how much damage did they do while they were in the industry?

All states have licensing requirements for real estate agents, but the tests are so simple that one decent weekend of study will prepare you well enough to pass the test. In most states, mortgage brokers are required to be licensed as well. In California , the mortgage banking companies – those that lender their own money and sell the loans - used to be regulated by the same Department that regulated the mortgage brokers, but their employees are no longer required to be licensed. The day that law went into effect, they fired many of their higher priced licensed people and replaced them with people who knew nothing about the business. Of course, they were able to hire these folks for half what the old ones were earning. I pity this company’s clientele as they made this transition.

My belief is that due to lack of experience, half of the people in the real estate and mortgage businesses are not really able to provide the help their clients need. Worse yet, there are others who, either by lack of ethics or gross incompetence, are actually dangerous to their clients.

The processes of buying a home and getting proper financing for it are complex, far more complex than many people realize. Complexity means that there will be decisions to be made on issues you may not even be aware of now. If you are going to make good decisions, you need to have a good advisor. Such advisors are out there, but they are surrounded by doufusses who look good and sound good because they have been trained to look good and sound good. But they have not developed the skills required for them to be really helpful to you.

Competence does not depend on what company the people work for. Company names mean nothing in my opinion. You are hiring a person, not the company, and you need to verify the performance of your person. Get references and check them out. It will be well worth the effort.