Lets Talk Ombudsman w/ Ben Ward

In this episode, we sit down with Ben Ward to talk about the role of an Ombudsman and how this important resource supports professionalism, communication, and conflict resolution within the real estate industry. Ben helps unpack what an Ombudsman does, when members should consider using the service, and how it can help resolve concerns before they become formal complaints.

Whether you are a new REALTOR® or a seasoned professional, this conversation offers practical insight into how the Ombudsman program can protect relationships, encourage productive conversations, and strengthen trust across the industry.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Keys to the Emerald Coast, the official podcast of the Emerald Coast Association of World Tours. Each episode we unlock market insights, advocacy updates, and member stories to help you thrive one key at a time.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Welcome back, Ecar. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Keys to the Emerald Coast. I am Chad Nelson, Marketing and Communications Director with ECAR, joined by my ever-amazing co-host, Maria Howell.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Hello. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 0:26

I'm doing well. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Doing good.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Good. Good. We are uh joined in studio by I guess with Ben Ward. Um is it is it oh I guess I want to make for sure I'm even saying it right. Is it the Ombudsman chair? Is it just ombudsman? Is it how chair? Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

He's got his name tag on it. He's got name tags and everything.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

I keep it in my car so that can't go too far, lose it anyway. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Well well, Ben, we wanted to to give you kind of an opportunity to to talk about this program um and really kind of let our uh listeners know it's obvious to me for somebody that may not know anything about Umbudsman, um, kind of give a chance to talk about what it is, how how can our members use it, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, um, I guess before we dive into that, really give give our listeners and our members just a little bit of history of you, personal, professional, how'd you get into the the the industry, all the all the fun stuff?

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Well, that's a good question. I've been uh I've been a broker for 34 years, so I've been a minute. Yeah. Um I got into it at flip houses, got my license, you know, to sell them to and uh kept doing that way. I was in commercial for a while. Okay. Then I got back to residential.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

So was it here in Florida?

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Yeah, I've done residents.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

All in Florida?

SPEAKER_01 1:52

I've done residential down here in Florida only.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

So originally from here or I'm from Memphis, Tennessee.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Had a house down here, and then eventually moved here about 10 years ago. So I've loved it. It's been a fantastic move. Uh my whole family loves it, so it's been a great time for us.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Yeah, that's awesome. Are you in Destin or where do you live in Niceville? Oh, Niceville, that's right. Okay, Niceville. Awesome. That's where I am. Hey.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Lovely Niceville.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

The ville.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

The ville. I think it is it any is it anybody that has a ville in their name that is that.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

I guess is the ville. No, if yeah, if you're ever anywhere where Debbie Lewis is, she's always go Niceville.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yeah. She is a big Niceville.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

She is huge. Niceville's like, go Niceville, yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Well, I I guess for realtors who may not be familiar with it, uh, just what is the Ombudsman program?

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Okay, well, ombudsman is the first step when things come up to uh e-car. Somebody has an issue, and they'll appoint it to our director there. Um and the director will take that issue and then reach out to the ombudsman and say, Who do you have an issue with either of these parties, first of all, some kind of relationship or something? Okay. And if not, then they send it out to you. Um when they send it to you, you've got you contact there's you talk to all parties and try and get you know some kind of resolution out of it. So we want to listen to everybody's complaints, issues, and then kind of give them direction or guidance. And so this is the the first step when you go through any kind of complaint with the association and a member. Okay. That's the starting point.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Okay. So really kind of any any grievance, any issues that may pop up, is it between member to member, member to association?

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Yeah, it can be either. It can be member to member or it could be an outside party.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Public. Public. That's a problem with the member. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

So we get all kinds through there. Um, so it's generally about 50-50.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

Okay. So yeah. Okay. And then how how I guess how um trying to think of how to put that into words. Well, is it a a fairly informal process?

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Yes. Okay. Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

Really just kind of conversational.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah, this is definitely conversational. It's the first step in it. So we don't this is I do have a log that I keep up with and all the conversation issues and everything. But this is more just the go-between between two parties. Because, you know, real estate is hard, it's complicated, things happen with it. Uh, you know, it it gets intense out there sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

So people get upset. Yes. Yeah, they they do have a template. Okay. So yeah, so I know, yeah, our Ombudsman committee, we have a template that we went by and yeah, to kind of give you a little script of how to start the conversation with the parties. And and yes, it is uh good listening skills, right, Ben?

SPEAKER_02 5:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Good listening skills, yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Well what what I guess what kind of situations, what's the typical concern? Um, what are some things that might be appropriate for members to then bring it to this kind of first step?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Usually it's some kind of issue with either representation or how a contract's going, and things aren't going the way they thought. So they have their their small issues get bigger in real estate, and so then things aren't solved and it you know gets bigger and bigger for them. So they reach out to us then because of some, you know, how they're aggrieved in some way.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

So that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Yeah, I think it is. A lot of it is communication. You know, I can't get a hold of this person, right? Or this person isn't responding to me, or I haven't heard from them in, you know, seven days or whatever it is. I I think that's a lot of it tends to, you know be communication. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

No, that's helpful. Uh uh I guess how is how's the ombudsman process different from filing like a formal complaint or taking that next step? I I got I know I guess we've talked about a little bit, but um it's really that first step before we ever even think about it.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

You start there and you you try and hash that issue out between the parties and try and get a resolution. Um because it it goes further than like you're saying, then it's a formal complaint or uh then it goes to ethics. Yeah. Or it can be arbitrated too. Okay. So this is the one we try and solve issues and keep the parties out of it, talk to both of them, and then get a cool-headed solution to it, is what you're trying to do. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Yeah. And if you can't resolve the issue, then you have to, yeah, um, kind of inform them that yes, they will need to get with e-car, have eCar send them the grievance package to then file a formal complaint, which goes in front of the grievance committee. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Give it to our man Brandon, who's been able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Brandon is uh, yes, busy. So, but yeah, I think, you know, I know when I was president last year, and I think even the year before, we we started seeing a lot more grievances come through, you know, and so um, as our members may know, may um know or not know, is we have an association attorney who is involved in our, you know, um grievances and proceedings um that we have with our pro standards. And so her fees were going up. So so it's like, oh, what's going on? Like, how many cases are we seeing? So that was part of you know having the Ombudsman uh committee involved is like how can we get a lot of these issues resolved through Ombudsman before they file the complaint? Because that that is an option that's out there for our members, you know, if if they find that they can't get something resolved to please reach out and Ben and his team can uh help try to resolve it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

I'm sure just like in I mean any relationship, any conver I mean, yeah, I think you know, there can be disagreements, but having maybe a third party that steps in and can hear things from you know, uh they don't they're not picking sides, but they're able to understand the issue and usually a lot of times it is just a conversation that needs to be had to to fix an issue.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Exactly. You've got to s separate them because they're not getting along anymore, and then hear both sides and then try and find somewhere to meet, you know, so can can this appease both of you and you know move on with the deal or whatever the problem is, of course. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

What what what what type of training does an ombudsman or the the committee or you as as the chair, what type of um training do you have to go through in order to be do we do a training every two years uh for the ombudsman and the committee.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

It lasts a couple hours, it's real good. And Florida Realtors has uh training too down there. I've been to Orlando to do that training with them. Yeah. They everybody comes from across the state for that one. Um and that's real informative. It gives you a bunch of different ways to approach uh problems. Okay. You know, and a lot of it's just working on your listening skills and you don't want to you don't want to ramp it up any more than already you do. Yeah it's already at a high level, so let's you know, ask questions, but to get the answers or get them to the point where they can both see this is this is salvageable. Let's you know, calm down and go this way.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

More de-escalation type skills.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Yeah. And so, but you've got to do a lot of a lot of listening, like Marie was saying, there's a lot of listening in it. You've got to be patient and just discovery. Let people vent, you know. They're if they've reached this far, they've got a problem. And you know, they want to talk about it. So um that's 90% of them.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Yeah, I think you're right. 90% is people just want to be heard. You know, yeah, they want to feel heard, no one's responding to them, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah. Because it gets so contentious most of the time, and then they're just like, I'm not answering that call from them. Yeah, I'm not talking to you either. And so it's a problem. You know, then you're all, you know, mad at each other, nobody's talking, yeah. And you know, deals keep moving.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

And you still have a transaction that you gotta get to closing.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

So when deals keep moving like that, you gotta you know, find a happy medium somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

What what are what are some maybe misunderstandings that that people have about the ombudsman program? You know, whether they think their problem is too small or it's too large.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Is that part of I mean, you know, we we could do more. We could do more there. Um because if you're having an issue like that and it's affecting your contract, and I mean, send it to us. Yeah so uh we'd love to address them that way, save deals, you know, and help e-cars, you know, our reputation, you know, it helps, uh especially if it's an outside party, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Yeah, like a member from the public or something.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah, a lot of times they just need a little more education on our job and what we do. And that, you know, that works for them once you walk through everything that you know, transaction broker or however you're representing yourself out there, it once you walk through their real you know, what what I do, it helps them. It's like, oh okay, you know, so because there's so many different parties in a transaction, you know, there's inspector, attorneys, you know, appraisers, yeah, lending. You know, some anybody could mess it up somehow.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

So yeah, when I did it, um I had some property management issues that I helped work through. So one was a member of the public who could not get her security deposit back you know from the company. So I had to had to help with that um issue and and we got it resolved. So we um yeah it's good.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

We resolved. I would say 90% we resolved. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Yeah, I think all the ones I was involved with were resolved except maybe one that wanted to move forward, but most of them, like you said, are yeah, they get resolved.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Want to be heard, want to have that conversation. I think it's important for our members to understand that that like a program like this exists and may I need to do a better job of of putting it out there and allowing our members to know what's going on and if they do have an issue that they can they can bring it to to e car and obviously we can you know make for sure it goes where it needs to go. But uh yeah, I think for just the everyday you know, realtor and conversations, like you said, there's so many pieces that at any point there can be a breakdown. Um and if a conversation needs to happen, we need to bring in a third party, that's that's important.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

So there's friction in all those, you know, things can go wrong in every spot. So especially the consumer doesn't have our knowledge. They they haven't you know in all the classes and training we have, they don't know. So you know they can be as confused or you know they just don't understand really.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

I'm I'm reminded Joe Cappolotti always talks about that you know, we are a profession. And yes the realtors are professionals that have gone through extensive training, constant CE. But there's a reason why you hire them to make one of the most important purchases or sells of of your entire life. So um i it's important remembering that they have the knowledge and obviously even with some more training and this, uh it's just that it's that education piece. It's making for sure that not only our members know that this is available to them.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Um Yeah, this service is available and you know, like Ben and the members of his committee, they're they're being trained, you know. So they do pro-standers training. There's also m you know, mediation negotiating classes that you have to take as well, because we're you're a mediator, you know, in in a in a way with this. So um but yeah, there's it's good for our membership to know that they have this option to help resolve you know, and I know a lot of times us, you know, like, well, I'll just go to my broker, you know, my broker, and then the broker's gotta call the other broker and you know, and then how long is that gonna take where this could be resolved between let's say the two, you know, agents or the public and the agent. Um so it's yeah, it's a good service to have.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

So we know we usually it's usually public is reaching out to okay, someone from you know, ECAR, a member. So it's usually but we get member to member also. I've had several this year, but yeah. You never know. But like Maria's saying, you can get your broker to handle member to member somewhat, but you know, then sometimes that doesn't work.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

So yeah, that's when yes, then you have to get ombudsman involved.

unknown 15:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

So to have to, you know, try to work that out.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

So it's great to great to know that we've got this again, a another way to help our members do their job more successfully and and be successful in what they're doing. So I yeah, I love it. Well what else? Is there anything that we're missing? Anything that we need to talk about about the program, um, highs, lows, anything that we we're missing?

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Well, I mean, it's just important because it's part of the process that goes further down the line to, you know, an actual, you know, someone puts in a formal complaint and then you know that could be arbitrated or but then you know, then it gets, you know, is there an ethics violation? What do we do with it from here?

SPEAKER_02 16:02

So sometimes, you know, starting here and using this and cutting it off, talking through it, it'll it'll resolve it there and not escalate and save both the the client or members a ton of time, energy, how that's gonna be, you know, out there forever.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

So just let you know, like we said, a lot of times they want to talk so much about the deal or what what was agreed. And so give them that opportunity to speak about it and then there you go. They've said their peace, they're relieved, you know, and generally then they're we move on from that. I said I explained to them some stuff, and then they move on from there. So that's good.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Awesome. Well, good. Well, well, I appreciate you taking some time out and getting a chance to to talk to our members and for me really to learn a little bit more about, you know, other another sector of our association that I'm not completely aware of. So I I appreciate you taking some time out.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yeah, it's not as well known. So that's I'm glad you'll have me here. Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, we're gonna definitely get more education out there about it. And then also if any members are interested in being an ombudsman, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:14

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Uh let us, you know, let us know, let Ben know because you can go through the training and be on the committee and help. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Yeah. I think we've got some fantastic members who are already. I mean, you're a realtor, you're you're already a great listener. You kind of know some of that stuff. So yeah, it's another opportunity to get connected and be a part of finding solutions for other members and helping out the association. Well, thanks again. We appreciate it. You're welcome. Well, uh, as always, thanks so much for joining us, everybody. Um this podcast is for you. You can find us uh wherever you listen to podcasts, especially Spotify, Apple Music, all the above. Um, but thanks so much for joining us, and until next time, we'll talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

Goodbye.