Welcome To CCIA!

WHEREAS we, the members of the Chicago  Creative Investors Association (CCIA), recognizing we have a duty to the  public and to our fellow members to provide products and services of  the highest standards of honesty and integrity, ACKNOWLEDGE that:

• The acquisition, ownership, management, and disposition of real estate or its contracts (hereinafter the RE Business or RE Industry) is a highly regulated segment of our free enterprise system that entails substantial risks, and we who freely assume those risks are entitled to a suitable profit;
  
• An RE Business, when conducted properly, helps to return real property to its highest and best use, which ultimately leads to higher property values for our community;
  
• Since the owners/buyers/sellers/tenants we deal with are our customers, weare in a service industry and thus are actually in the “people business”;
  
• Plenty of “good deals” exist for everyone in the RE Business, and we believe we can enjoy greater success through the benefits of our relationships than without those relationships; and
  
• We will treat our membership in CCIA with the upmost professionalism so the name CCIA will remain synonymous with integrity, competency, fairness, and honor.
  

 WHEREAS we also share a common DESIRE to:

• Provide our customers with the best possible value while simultaneously maximizing our own profits in ways that are equitable, legal, and ethical;
  
• Promote the positive contributions of the RE Industry through free enterprise, thereby creating a better image of our industry and demonstrating how the public is served;
  
• Expand our knowledge of the RE Business;
  
• Promote the educational value and fraternity of the membership; and
  
• Act as positive role models for the RE Industry when dealing with tenants, the public, the media, government officials, and all others.
  

THEREFORE, WE AGREE to:

• Comply  with both the spirit and the letter of all relevant public policies  governing the health, safety, and welfare of consumers including Fair  Housing laws and regulations, and protect them by using quality  materials, workmanship, and construction practices;
  
• Ensure,  whenever practical, all agreements use easy-to-understand language that  clearly expresses the specific terms, conditions, obligations, and  commitments of all parties;
  
• Honor all commitments to homeowners, including supplying copies of all agreements to each signer within a reasonable period;
  
• Treat buyers, sellers, tenants, renters or lessees, employees and peers with the respect and fairness to which they are entitled and which we would expect in their place;
  
• Always keep confidential any personal information made known to us;
  
• Treat our customers’ homes and belongings with the utmost care at all times;
  
• Never intentionally exaggerate, minimize, conceal, or otherwise misrepresent any relevant fact relating to a property or transaction, or obtain business by means as may be deceptive, misleading, or unwarranted by fact or reasonable probability;
  
• Expose all schemes that may be fraudulent or misrepresentative, and to aid in the exposure of such schemes;
  
• Not perform, or cause to be performed, any act which either does or tends to reflect poorly on or bring into disrepute any member, their RE Business, CCIA or any part of the RE Industry in general, and to operate our RE Business in accordance with fair and honorable standards of competition, ever mindful of the purposes and objectives of CCIA;
  
• Seek to resolve all controversies through a non-litigation dispute resolution mechanism;
  
• Assist fellow CCIA members whenever prudent and appropriate;
  
• Remain informed of: 

1. a) matters affecting housing in our community, including relevant public policies, which affect our REI Business, and  
2. b) new business methods within the RE Industry
    

• Support  and abide by CCIA’s decisions in promoting and enforcing this Code of  Ethics including, but not limited to, a lifetime ban from CCIA.
  

The  powers to interpret, administer and enforce the provisions hereof shall  be vested in the Board of Directors of CCIA with the power of  suspension or expulsion, after a recommendation by a committee called by  the president in accordance with CCIA By-laws for the purpose of  holding a hearing investigating any member violating the same, or the spirit thereof.