Welcome!
I sell homes near downtown Dallas, Texas. Most of the homes in my market area range from 50 to 90 years in age. They have more flaws than the typical ten-year-old suburban home. I take issue with the comment that "Neither real estate agents nor the home inspectors give advice to the homebuyer about why they shouldn't buy the house." When I see something bad about a house, and my buyers don't see the problem for themselves, I am quick to explain what is bothering me. To do otherwise would be to cheat my buyer. This is not something that happens once a month, it is something that happens almost every time I take a buyer out to look at several houses. It's a tricky situation, of course, because I am not licensed to act as a home inspector. I have a good layman's knowledge of how these old homes are put together, both as a result of my own renovation projects and as a result of listening to reports from licensed home inspectors for the last 23 years. I take pride in sharing this knowledge with my buyers and sellers, but I have to be sure I don't get myself into a situation where I could be sued for failing to note all the flaws in every single property we visit. But I would never knowingly cover up a defect in a property because I wanted to make some money on a sale. Such behavior is not only morally culpable, it is one of the surest ways I know to put myself out of business.
A practical question: Who will lobby the state legislatures to toughen up the requirements for getting a license? And who will convince the legislatures that the coursework must be radically changed? We all know today's coursework is carefully crafted to bestow licenses on anyone who can demonstrate that 1) he has a pulse and 2) he is not a convicted felon.
You say I should be obligated "to never write contracts that can harm a person or family when there is a mortgage interest-rate adjustment." I beg your pardon, but I think that's going a bit over the top. I don't know what kind of abuses were going on in California and Florida during the price bubble. I do know too many new agents came into the industry. Perhaps their lack of experience made them act as cheerleaders for all the bad lending practices that were going on. But I can guarantee you that my license here in Texas does not qualify me to act as a priest, a psychological therapist, or an economic soothsayer. Nor should it. But it is definitely too easy to get a real estate license. It seems clear the industry is going to support fewer agents in the future. I would like to see the individual states tighten up their licensing requirements and improve their training classes. I would like to see them issue about half as many licenses as they do now, and I would like to see them really teach people how to be real estate agents. This would solve many of the problems that you lay at the door of the brokers.