Are you in a hot sellers’ market? Do your buyers often question if their offer was even presented to the seller? It’s hard for a buyer to imagine that they can offer full price or more and still not get the property. In response to those buyer’s concerns, the NAR Code of Ethics was amended in January 2019. In January 2020, you’ll see they’ve beefed it up…a little bit.
If a buyer’s broker/agent asks for written affirmation from the listing broker/agent that an offer has been presented, the listing broker/agent must provide it or be in violation of Article 1.
Some states require the owner of the property to sign a rejection document or initial something that says they’ve seen the offer. These are state rules not Association rules. As an Association we cannot require non-members to do anything.
The question has come up regarding if this standard applies to counter offers. It does. The first sentence says that.
The Code does not specifically address a situation involving seller offers. This is on the agenda for the NAR Professional Standards Interpretations and Procedures Advisory Board to address. I have no idea what they will decide but I think it’s reasonable to expect the rule should be the same for ALL offers regardless of which direction they’re going.
Have you ever seen a seller offer? It’s not common in most areas but in a buyer’s market a seller will sometimes put out an initial offer to a buyer who has previewed the property but not submitted an offer. The Code of Ethics does require that these offers be presented to the buyers.
The following is the language that NAR Board of Directors recently approved for the 2020 Code of Ethics. The words in red are the 2020 change. :
NAR Code of Ethics, SOP 1-7 “When acting as listing brokers, REALTORS® shall continue to submit to the seller/landlord all offers and counter-offers until closing or execution of a lease unless the seller/landlord has waived this obligation in writing. Upon the written request of a cooperating broker who submits an offer to the listing broker, the listing broker shall provide, as soon as practical, a written affirmation to the cooperating broker stating that the offer has been submitted to the seller/landlord, or a written notification that the seller/landlord has waived the obligation to have the offer presented. REALTORS® shall not be obligated to continue to market the property after an offer has been accepted by the seller/landlord. REALTORS® shall recommend that sellers/landlords obtain the advice of legal counsel prior to acceptance of a subsequent offer except where the acceptance is contingent on the termination of the pre-existing purchase contract or lease.”
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