The Daily Feather — Curbstoners May Make a Housing Market Comeback

Skipping past “the world’s oldest profession,” brokering real estate transactions also goes back centuries. In early 20^th century America, agents were known as “curbstoners. These entrepreneurs would pack brokerage signs in front of homes, sans the owner’s permission, making it a free-for-all for any interested party. To combat the anarchy, organizations began to form, most notably the largest lobby in the United States today. In 1908, the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges was founded to bring agents and brokers together to exert influence upon matters affecting real estate interests. Five years later, the real estate industry adopted its first draft of the Code of Ethics. And in 1916, the association became the National Association of Real Estate Boards (NAREB). The term “realtor” was adopted to distinguish members of the national association, who lived by the Code of Ethics, from dishonest curbstoners. By 1919, strictures were established to dictate who could operate as a licensed real estate broker.

Modern-day realtors have enjoyed an unparalleled run of rising prices care of what history will judge as the most reckless Federal Reserve policy in the institution’s history. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the producer price index (PPI) for residential real estate agents has recorded year-over-year (YoY) gains in an unbroken 147-month stretch from July 2012 to September 2024.