That's Unethical........

I speak to people almost daily who have had their homes listed with other companies and the listing contract has expired. One of our specialties at LRES is helping these people who have had a home on the market for a while and haven't sold. Besides hearing "that other company didn't do anything for us and never told us what was going on" over and over, I hear horror stories about the things those realtors DID do.

For instance, the realtor who told an elderly lady that if she didn't sign a contract he presented to her, he would take her to court. The realtor who would show up at the client's home in the middle of the night drunk. The realtor who used a vacant home as a party house on weekends. I could go on and on. And many people wonder what they can do about these agents.

Most of the general public is unaware that all local realtor boards have ethics panels and professional standards committees that handle just these types of issues. As realtors, it is mainly up to us to police ourselves and report violations to these panels, but it is most certainly the right of every member of the public to report these issues as well.

As a member of the ethics panel for our local realtor organization, I can tell you that we look at these complaints carefully and seriously. It is important to maintain our reputation as professionals and so cracking down on ethics violators is paramount to achieving this goal.

As a consumer, you should make yourself aware of the National Association of Realtors' Code of Ethics (visit www.nar.com and search for "Code of Ethics"). If you feel your realtor has violated any portion of the code, or you feel the behavior of your realtor is unethical in any way, you should contact your local realtor organization and ask for a grievance package. The grievance committee liaison will be able to give you instructions for filing a grievance and keep you updated as to the status of your complaint.

I strongly urge that this should be your FIRST step in reporting an agent, rather than reporting to the state. The state is only concerned with violations of licensing law and the BEHAVIOR of your agent may not necessarily violate these statutes. Many times once the complaint is passed to the professional standards committee, the realtor is asked to appear before the committee and answer to the charges. The person making the complaint has the right to attend these hearings and present his/her case to the committee as well.

If you have a question as to whom you should contact in your local area, I would be happy to provide that information to you - just send me an email.

I feel strongly about ensuring that all realtors maintain public trust and professionalism. We should all have a sense of duty and responsibility to those clients who have placed their trust and confidence in us.