My advice is this:

Never INVENT ethics. The rules of ethics are clearly defined in the C.O.E. Ethics are NOT subjective. I hear so many complaints that have nothing to do with ethics, yet the word "unethical" is on the lips of every agent crying foul.

Take ownership of your mistakes, apologize, declare what you will do dfferent in future to avoid making same mistake. Just be honest with people.

Do the right thing when nobody is looking.

I like the Golden Rule answer.  That pretty much sums it up in one term.

Contacting clients that are not yours!  Also, the contract that is most frequently checked and also usually dated the same day a contract is written, "Agency"! 

Best of luck

If you have to stop and think if you're being ethical, you probably are not or are dangerously close to the line.

You should go by what COE says.

Respect other agents. Newer agents want everything right away and they think 'I know it all!'. Some agents close a deal and think, they learned all they need to know:)

Golden Rule:  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!

Do not disparage other agents. It is easy to get drug into conversations about how another agent is not a good agent and doesn't represent his clients well. If a seller or buyer brings it up I remain silent and they get the idea I will not agent bash.

Ethics is a wonderful word that many choose to not look at. As a new agent the one factor that I would look at is to work in an office that had a full time broker available to ask questions and help review with you. Well you say what does that have to do with ethics. HMMM let me see when you are new what you learn from the books is not at all what is the case of how it really goes. There are agents out there that are all set and ready to go to foul you up. As a broker most of the time we know them all to well. So if you have a full time broker in your office you have less of a chance to foul up. Read the Ethics document take notes read it again and know it is all in who you are that makes the difference. Been there done that dance. 

The value of disclosure, and the value of the equal housing act.

I would like ALL agents to obey the MLS rules. 

Never accept any money or checks from clients that don't come through your broker.

I think one biggy is confidentiality - when working with people, whatever they say should be held in confidence, unless it expands into the disclosure realm.  

Our Code is based on the Golden Rule principle.  That is the most important thing.  Agents giving me what I would consider confidential information about a seller or buyer is a big one.  Where is that line? Obvious answers are "this is a nasty divorce situation," but what about "my clients are getting kicked out of their apartment at the end of the month?" What is confidential and what is not confidential? 

For me I see problems with disclosure, listing agents not educating, informing or telling their sellers what they should or need to be disclosing. On the other side I have a problem on a lot of vacant homes with buyer agents either giving out the code to buyers or going back into a house without making an appointment.

Remember who your client is and avoid implied contracts.

Dipti nailed this one!

Just do everything, honestly.

Great suggestions here, Dennis.

It is easier to be honest than anything

Years ago the most senior agent in my office told another newer agent in a meeting (who was trying to figure out how to get the whole transaction to the detriment of another agent) - that you can never get the whole pie. I always remembered that - Don't be greedy. There is enough business for us all - act ethically and don't try to nail the other agent in the transaction. 

Anita and Gabe, no matter what anyone's religious leanings are, it's hard to argue with "due unto others".  If fits all topics, all the time.

Nicely put Gerhard.

I tell my agents, if you find yourself in a situation where you are waffling over what to do, fast forward to a court room and assume you are addressing the judge and explaining to him what you are about to do.  Does he say "Hmm, that sounds like the right thing to do" or "guilty!".  That might help you move to the right side of a gray ethics issue.

Listen to the voice in your head wearing the halo. You do have one of those right? Right from wrong and what would jeopardize your license should be plain as the nose on your face. Remember you work for the buyer or seller and don't own either. Be pure and not developing self serving situational ethics as CS Lewis labeled it.

I have taught ethics among other things and the biggest problem I found  is the lack of correct knowledge...Real Estate  is a sea of agent "dummies", and and their uneducated brokers.

The best thing an new agent can do for themselves is take classes.

Eve

Let me go tangential on this one: Work to get yourself in a sound financial position because the temptation to let your ethics go for just one sale will be great if it means keeping the heat on or making a car payment. I realize that ewthics should be followed regardless but being able to easily afford it is a nice position to be in.

Contacting homeowners before a listing expires and saying bad things about the previous agent when on a listing appointment is unethical. Interfering with buyer agency relations a buyer has with an agent by offering the buyer incentives to buy the house at your  open house when it is your listing is unethical.

Where do I begin???  Here are a few.  Contacting clients directly that are not your own, contacting a homeowner to try and get the listing right before it expires (when it's not your listing), knowing the difference between the customer and a client and the importance of explaining the Agency Disclosure form and how the Selling Agent will get paid.

Tell them to turn it around.  If they wouldn't want it done to them, don't do it to anyone else.  And can we really TEACH ethics? 

A deal does not have to be a zero-sum game, both the Buyer and the Seller can win!  We are all working towards the same goal of closing the sale.  Being confrontational only for the sake of "winning" hurts everyone.

"False Light" advertising.  If sending out a postcard, or posting on a blog, make sure to include the disclosure that not all listings (either active or sold) were theirs.  This one drives me nuts, as I see agent do it all the time.  They don't understand what a big deal it can become.

I agree with Dave Werth.  I have had agents that have tried to "lure" my clients to work with them.  

Brigita

New agents should beware when someone tells them that they will do an addendum to a contract that doesn't have to be sent to the lender, or two addenda, one for the lender and one between the buyer and seller.

Keep you mind focused on the service and oversight you are to provide to the client.

DO NOT ALLOW THE PREDATORY practice of your broker to encroach on the client relationship. When you are tempted to pass forward the garbage fees your broker imposes on you, understand your mind just drifted into dangerous zones.

That zone contains the words "justified" but you know it not RIGHT.

This disapline may just keep a newbie off the slippery slope of relative ethics.