REALTOR® News

MLSNI Fees
Please note that starting April 1, 2006, the MLSNI fees will be reduced by $13.00.

Showing property
EACH time you go through someone's listing you must FIRST make an appointment with the listing office. We are getting a lot of complaints about agents viewing property and even taking prospective buyers through property without permission. Quite frankly, that is the advantage to the Supra lock box -- at least you can find out who went through the property and can then file an article 16 Ethics charge the agent.

Emailing listings
ConnectMLS gives you the opportunity to email listings to prospective purchasers, however, you might want to consider first establishing a solid relationship with the buyer or even better, sign the buyer to an agreement prior to sending emails. Every day buyers are being told in articles and internet to go to the listing agent to buy property. Are you sure you want to do work and not get paid? Also, remember, the first time you talk with a prospective purchaser you are to ask if they are a party to an exclusive agreement and if they are you are to send them on their way back to their agent. If they are not then you must give them notice on if you are representing them or not and then your office policy of cooperating with other companies. This is covered in both the license law as well as the Code of Ethics.

IDFPR Interpretation of the Use of "Team Names" in Advertising
According to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, some brokerage companies have groups of one or more licensees and/or unlicensed persons that act as functional units, informally referred to as “teams.” NOTE: There is no definition for team under the Illinois Real Estate License Act of 2000 (the Act). If a team has a “team name,” it would be up to the sponsoring broker to register that name as an assumed name with the appropriate governmental authority and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR). Neither the team as a unit nor any of the team members would have authority to register a “team name” that is different than the sponsoring broker’s business name. It is commonly known that the Act requires that the brokerage company name must appear in all ads. This is true in team advertising, except in the situations indicated below.
- If the brokerage company is a franchise, then the company name and the franchise affiliation must appear in all ads. So, if a team name were included in the ad along with the company name and the franchise affiliation, no special registration of the team name would be necessary.
- If there is no franchise affiliation and the team name appears in an ad and the company name is also included, no additional registration of the team name would be needed.
- The team name can be used in lieu of the brokerage company name but only when the team name has been registered as an assumed name by the sponsoring broker. Even if the team name is used in lieu of the name of the brokerage company name the franchise affiliation must be included in the ad if the brokerage company has such an affiliation.
- If the brokerage is a sole proprietorship, the assumed business name would be registered in the counties in which the company does business.
- If the brokerage is a corporation, the assumed name would be registered with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.
- Once the assumed name is properly registered, it must also be placed on file with IDFPR.

Selling outside your territory
If you are going to sell outside your known area AND outside your MLS area remember to ask before you show a property what compensation they are offering to you. Since you are NOT a member of that MLS an offer of compensation has NOT been offered to you. Use the sales contract from their area - Quinlan Tyson lawsuit states a real estate agent can only fill in the blanks of the contract commonly used in the area. Lastly, you should determine if you can truly represent your client in an area you are unfamiliar - do you know the zoning laws in the area, etc.

MLS and the remarks section
Apparently, some of the associations in the Chicago area have allowed assessors access to MLS. The assessors then read the remarks section and if there is mention of remodeling or redecorating that assessor calls to tell them they are raising their taxes!!! Always remember, don't put anything in the remarks you don't want to see on the front page of the Tribune or some other newspaper.

Designation confusion
There are more and more companies selling designations to real estate professionals. Don't get suckered into paying large dollars and expending time to fly be night promises. Put your money to good use by supporting those designations approved by the National Association of REALTORS - the largest trade association. Click here for a list of approved designations: http://www.realtor.org/runivers.nsf/pages/designation?OpenDocument

Areas removed from MLSNI
Area 26, Glenview Naval Air Station and area 37, Ft. Sheridan have been removed from MLSNI. The territory that used to be Glenview Naval Air Station has been incorporated into Glenview, area 25. Land that Ft Sheridan sold has been given to either Highwood or Highland Park. This move will take away any confusion of where the property is properly input.

It is a violation!
As soon as you input a listing into MLS it MUST be available to show. If a property is not available to show then it can NOT be placed in MLSNI as active -- it must flagged as TEMP.