Duh, you're thinking. Even way up in Alaska, a Realtor is one of those people who helps you buy or sell a house.
Yes. And no. Technically, a Realtor is a member of the National Association of Realtors. That's not doublespeak. Realtors created the term Realtor, which is why they insist it be capitalized and accompanied by the little copyright C. (Sorry, NAR. There's probably a way to make that happen on my laptop, but I don't know it). The publishing world doesn't pay a lot of attention to those rules. Other nouns naming professions (doctor, lawyer, professor) aren't capitalized unless used as part of someone's name, so why should Realtors get special treatment?
If a real estate professional is helping you buy or sell property, odds are very, very high that he or she is a member of NAR and hence a Realtor. That's because you have be join NAR and your local association of Realtors in order to access the Multiple Listing Service, the lifeblood of the industry.
That being said, you don't have to be a Realtor to be licensed to sell real estate. At last count, Alaska has 1460 licensed real estate salespersons, 405 licensed associate brokers, and 484 licensed brokers. None of them, technically, are real estate agents. That's because Alaskan statute was rewritten several years ago in an attempt to circumvent the pitfalls of agency. So we're all called licensees.
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