Now, if we don’t care about another Realtor using our listings indiscriminately to advertise them, we are accused of  “restricting marketing opportunities.” What incredible nonsense. What next? Carry advertising bill‑boards on our backs everywhere we go, even to church on Sunday? Or be accused of negligence in our duties to our sellers if we don’t?

Why does another Realtor (if they are any kind of Realtor) need to meddle in my listings?  If they cannot generate enough of their own, or be given some from within their own office, then I suggest they look for another job ‑‑ perhaps with a city’s sewer department!  Have we absolutely no self‑respect or pride left in us?

     

Metro Kozma

Network Realty Inc.

Prince George, B.C.

 

 

We invented the “limited dual agency”, which I see as circumventing the single agency concept, and I don’t understand how any Realtor can give full fiduciary duty to two clients in the same transaction. I believe we need to change the listing contract, and follow your Realtor’s lead of advertising with the other Realtor’s information included.

Ah, yes,  the “good old days” -‑ but, Marty, that wasn’t very long ago.

 

R Harvey Drdul CCIM FRI CRES

Re/Max of Nanaimo

Nanaimo,  B.C.

 

I read the article in which Marty Douglas proposed a licensee is doing no wrong by advertising a property that is another brokerage’s listing. He may well be right, but beware of the regulators.

In a case where my office reproduced the exact copy of another company’s information (a show sheet) and because the reproduced information sheet had my company logo, it was deemed that we were responsible for that information, even though we had all the right disclaimers included by the listing office and our own. We had to pay 50 per cent of the cost of an air conditioner.

So it is wonderful that the seller and the listing office get all this free advertising, but does your brokerage want to accept the responsibility of verifying all the information, or accept 50 per cent of the responsibility because you made this ad your own by advertising it on your website or your agent’s site with your brokerage name on it ?

Let’s talk about the agent who may never take a listing and live off the work of others. That agent may advertise to the public how many properties he has to show you — remember, the savvy consumer always wants to deal with No. 1. Are these false and misleading representations?

This isn’t a slippery slope — it is a Mount Everest land slide that will make the legal profession very happy to prosecute our sorry and less-than-professional butts into oblivion!

Our real estate profession is at risk every time someone tries to take a shortcut. A consumer may think it is a great idea until they get a bill in the mail from a unscrupulous advertiser or that less- than-straightforward ethical agent.

Evolution will undoubtedly press our profession into a new and wonderful era. I can only hope that we keep the consumer’s rights and property protected.

 

Ron Skinner

Broker /Owner

Royal LePage Premier Realty

Yorkton, Sask.

       

In reply to Frank Binder’s Letter to the Editor (May) in connection with his fear of another agent exposing his listings to the market via various ways or advertising: I find Mr. Binder’s comments a thin veil to hold his listings to himself and not share them with others. Mr. Binder says only he has the knowledge of the property and another salesperson really does not have the ability to advertise or show it, for that matter.

I always thought a professional salesperson’s position was to avoid describing every detail of a property to a prospective client before showing it. The main objective was to get an appointment to show the property.

Mr. Binder is getting too bogged down in legal details. As a certified real estate appraiser, I do not remember one instance where I required the listing agent’s superior knowledge to complete a comprehensive report on a listed property. If I did, I would have a problem with all the private sales.

 

B.J. Bosveld, FRI CRA MVA DAR

Nu Vista Progressive Realty

London, Ont.

 

Marty’s article was timely in that he describes a situation that I personally had to deal with in the last few days, not to mention that we as leaders are also struggling with the same “framing” issue in regards to broker reciprocity, or as some boards are calling it, member reciprocity.

A new Realtor from a competitor approached me, saying he was going to run an ad in a high‑end magazine promoting himself, and would I allow him to use one of my expensive listings in his ad. Of course, my initial reaction was no. He is a competitor and I wasn’t going to allow him to represent my listing as his to the buying public, even if he was a good friend of my seller.  As a Realtor in my business area, I am known by the type of listings that I have. I have worked hard over the years to establish a name for myself that attract listings in my selected “niche” market, and to allow a competitor to use my listing to help establish their career, well, it just goes against the grain.

But in the back of my mind, something kept saying, but what about your seller, isn’t it a good thing for them, especially since they agreed to it? Therein lies the dilemma, balancing our personal business interests with the greater interests of our sellers.

My waterfront listing is now going to be advertised in a high‑end magazine. Great article Marty, it is an issue that is fostering much debate.   

 

Calvin Lindberg

CREA Director

Realtor, West Vancouver