I don&39;t know how many of you remember this little saying which was common when I was a kid.  It&39;s been a long time since I heard anyone say it so perhaps the saying is out-of-fashion.  Lying certainly isn&39;t. I was reminded of this when we were told about a particularly egregious event where a client correctly figured out he was being lied to by his agent in a transaction

My belief is that lying is widespread in the real estate and mortgage businesses. This observation is shared by every industry professional with whom I have ever discussed this topic.  Indeed, it is a feeling shared by a large percentage of the population as well. 

The folks at Harris Interactive regularly poll the public on a wide variety of topics and recently they asked about how much people trusted various professionals.  Healthcare folks like doctors and nurses came out on top, as I believe they should.

Real estate agents, however, were second from the bottom, just above stockbrokers. From what I know, homebuyers are right. In spite of the fact that the National Association of Realtors says, "Each one subscribes to a strict code of ethics," I have my doubts.  When I mention this to others in the industry, they all laugh because they can easily think of people in their offices who believe that telling the truth may be convenient sometimes, but is not always necessary.

Bottom line, you are just plain foolish of you don&39;t check out the past behavior of real estate agents and mortgage loan officers by getting references form their three most recent client and calling them to verify if they are truth-tellers.