By Jack Wilkinson
2002 President of the Marin Association of REALTORS®
Jack Wilkinson, GRI, is a 29-year member of the Marin Association of REALTORS®. He is a certified instructor of all phases of real estate education, a trainer of the required ethics introduction for MAR and contributing editor of the newly required real estate course, “Blueprint for Success” published by Kaplan Professional Schools.
“Character is not made in crisis-it is only exhibited.” Robert Freeman
The rapid change in the real estate market, at least according to the general media, could and I‘m sure is, cause for some degree of alarm. (Understatement) While the media portray a downward slope of the economy many people become desperate to do deals. And that is the crisis that is faced and tests the mettle of our character.
Since 1913 REALTORS® have used the REALTOR® Code of Ethics to rise above the minimum standards of mere law.
However, sometimes the line can be a bit blurry, especially in times such as these. With the ubiquitous internet that allows us, as real estate practitioners, so many different ways to promote our services and ourselves we may be tempted to “hitch a ride” on someone else’s “wagon” of promotion. Maybe we allow the line between what is “right” and what is possible to become a bit blurry and use it as an excuse to “stretch” that which we think is “allowable.”
We have been hearing a few words about plagiarism lately, the stealing of another’s words or ideas. And that is what the internet and its universal access may tempt us to do.
Article 12 REALTORS® Standard of Practice 12-5:
REALTORS® shall not advertise nor permit any person employed by or affiliated with them to advertise listed property in any medium (e.g. electronically, print, radio, television, etc) without disclosing the name of that REALTORS® firm in a reasonable and readily apparent manner (Adopted 11/86, Amended 1/07)
STEALTH sites, you know, the one where there is no real ID of who or what the site represents, but the key to getting the information is leaving your particulars. It is misleading enough to entice the consumer to leave their information in the belief/hope that they won’t be bothered by a pesky real estate agent. I have seen them and have left information, including my identification as a broker. A couple of times I have received auto-generated replies with property information. Because I have access to the MLS information I have found a couple of times (not too often) listings from brokers other than the one answering the e-mail. I have also gotten “up to date” information of properties that have sold months ago with the enticing “we can help you buy this home today (O.K. it only happened once, but still).
The following is from an article on Article 12 by Mariana Wagner, Keller Williams, Colorado Springs:
• When creating or driving traffic to their Web site, a REALTOR® must not misrepresent who they are and what they offer in any way.
• They cannot use or manipulate another real estate Web sites to make the public think it is their own.
• They cannot use “content developed by others” without express permission of the creator.
• And if a REALTOR® hires a company/person to build and maintain a site, then that hired person must also adhere to these rules as well.
She has stated this well.
My purpose was not to police anybody or anything but simply to find out if this kind of thing happened. It did and does. And it was a REALTOR® that was guilty. I wrote them a letter asking them to stop. They claimed it was an innocent error. I accepted that.
The important thing for us as REALTORS® is to avoid being guilty in the first place. After all, if the consumer is to have any faith in our REALTOR® brand, we must be diligent in adhering to our code of ethics. And we must be diligent in urging our fellow REALTORS® to do the same.
Remember, the Code is not law. I leave you with this: As Douglas William Jerrold said “The character that needs law to mend it is hardly worth the tinkering.”
