Sometimes I hear REALTORS saying they feel like a complaint has been filed just to waste the time of the Respondent. Maybe the Complaintant knows they didn’t violate the Code but is angry and wants to cause them trouble. That’s probably happened before but I believe it’s pretty rare. It would be a violation of Article 15. Article 15 basically says that we shouldn’t go around bad-mouthing others in the real estate industry. Do we really need to ‘bad-mouth’ anyone? It goes back to that old saying, “When you point a finger at someone else, three fingers are pointed back at you.”
Often people remind me in class that the rule says not to make ‘false’ statements. Again, when is saying something negative about someone else going to make you look good? Never.
One of my property owners who has his home on the market called to tell me that a local REALTOR had knocked on his door and asked him where he was moving. She didn’t say anything about the sale of his home. She just wanted to help him on the buying side. He thought this was a little strange and asked if it didn’t break some kind of rule. I asked who it was because we may want to hire that agent. That was brilliant! She did not violate Article 16. If she had said anything negative about me or tried to get the listing, we would have had an issue. Instead, she asked if I was helping him on his purchase. When she was told that I was she simply wished him luck and left. But, what if he had said that we had not discussed him buying another home? She would have had him! Don’t forget to discuss where they’re moving on the listing appointment.
A rather aggressive broker in our local market was mailing a bonus check to our agents after they closed transactions with her company. It was a recruiting tactic for her…until we showed her Standards of Practice 16-15 and reminded her that in our state ALL monies must go to the broker.
In my market there’s always a big deal about who gets the listings when an agent leaves a brokerage. Most state laws says that the listings belong to the broker. The Code also says it in Article 16. SOP 16-20 says that it’s a violation of the Code to attempt to induce sellers to move their listings with the agent. How often does that one get violated in your market?
If you are asked to mediate or arbitrate through the Association, in almost all cases, you must. Not all money issues are arbitrable in our system. So, if it’s not arbitrable you wouldn’t have to participate. An example of a non-arbitrable issue would be if a tenant and landlord were arguing over monies and neither of them were REALTORS. They couldn’t force you to arbitrate with them because the agreement is between them.
I hope that you have enjoyed the Crack the Code Series thus far. Let me know if there are specific issues or situations you would like to see addressed in the blog.
leighyork 