It's the Rule - November 2005

by: President & CEO Terese (Terry) Penza, CAE, RCE, e-Pro

IT’S THE RULE

New from NAR Professional Standards Committee:

1. That Standard of Practice 1-15 be amended as follows (underscoring indicates additions, strikeouts indicate deletions):

REALTORS®, in response to inquiries from buyers or cooperating brokers shall, with the sellers’ approval divulge disclose the existence of offers on the property. Where disclosure is authorized, REALTORS® shall also disclose whether offers were obtained by the listing licensee, another licensee in the listing firm or by a cooperating broker.

2. There has been rules for Mulltiple officers for several years http://www.nsbar.org/library/offers.asp now there is information written to the public to help explain multiple offers . It would be a great idea to hand this out to every clients, customer and suspect you work with -- maybe give this out the same time you give out the agency notice.

3. That Standard of Practice 1-13 be amended as follows (underscoring indicates additions, strikeouts indicate deletions):

When entering into buyer/tenant agreements, REALTORS® must advise potential clients of:

1) the REALTOR®’s company policies regarding cooperation;

2) the amount of compensation to be paid by the client;

3) the potential for additional or offsetting compensation from other brokers, from the seller or landlord, or from other parties; and

4) any potential for the buyer/tenant representative to act as a disclosed dual agent, e.g. listing broker, subagent, landlord’s agent, etc., and

5) the possibility that sellers or sellers’ representatives may not treat the existence, terms or conditions of offers as confidential unless confidentiality is required by law, regulation or by any confidentiality agreement between the parties.

4. That Standard of Practice 10-1 be amended as follows (underscoring indicates additions, strikeouts indicate deletions):

When involved in the sale or lease of a residence, Except as provided in Standard of Practice 10-3, REALTORS® shall not volunteer information regarding the racial, ethnic, or religious composition of any neighborhood nor shall they engage in any activity which may result in panic selling, however, REALTORS® may provide other demographic information.

Possible Recommendation #2:

That existing Standard of Practice 10-2 be renumbered as Standard of Practice 10-3, and that existing Standard of Practice 10-3 be renumbered as Standard of Practice 10-2.

MLS:

That Multiple Listing Policy Statement 7.31, Section 6, Lock Box Security Requirements, be amended as follows (underscoring indicates additions):

6. Lock boxes may not be placed on a property without written authority from the seller. This authority may be established in the listing contract or in a separate document created specifically for the purpose. Inclusion in MLS compilations cannot be required as a condition of placing lock boxes on listed property.

Action / Recommendation of the Committee

Possible Recommendation:

That the Statement of Multiple Listing Policy addressing ownership of listings and listing content adopted at the 2005 Midyear meeting be amended as follows:

The listing broker is the owner of the listing and its content. Use of listings and listing information by MLSs for purposes other than the defined purposes of MLS requires Participants’ consent. Such consent cannot be required as a condition of obtaining or maintaining MLS participatory rights. MLSs may presume such consent provided that listing brokers are given adequate prior notice of any intended use unrelated to the defined purpose of MLS, and given the opportunity to affirmatively withhold consent for that use. nor can Participants cannot be required to transfer any rights (including intellectual property rights) in their listings to MLS to obtain or maintain participatory rights. except that MLSs may require Participants to consent to storage, reproduction, compiling, and distribution of listings and listing information to the extent necessary to fulfill the defined purposes of MLS. MLS may also require participants to warrant that they have the rights in submitted information necessary to grant these rights to MLS.

The maximum permissible fines increased to $5,000 as from $1,000. NSBAR has adopted this new fine of $5,000

And speaking of $5,000 fines for Supra we are hearing rumors that agents are sharing their Supra keys with other agents or managers are sharing the key with agents. This is a prime example of the $5,000 fine. These keys open houses all over the Chicago area and YOUR E & O insurance carrier as well as NSBAR's EXPECTS you to guard that key with all your might and NEVER let it out of your possession. Not only will you be fined $5,000 but your insurance will most likely by terminated. Remember, you signed a contract with us stating you would protect the key.