By Lee Davenport Autumn is conference season! Typically, this is my favorite time of year—the leaves are turning, there’s a chill in the air, and it’s the perfect time to spend networking and learning at a conference (the REALTORS® Conference & Expo coming up this weekend in Boston, for instance). Unfortunately, there are some conference-goers… Continue Reading 4 Ways Conference-Goers Can Be as Creepy as Halloween Flicks
Only five percent of REALTORS® stated that real estate was their first career in the 2018 Member Profile. Most commonly, members held previous full-time careers in management/business/financial sector (16 percent), and sales/retail (16 percent). Respondents are able to select from a list of options that best represents their previous career. For 19 percent of REALTORS®,… Continue Reading Halloween 2018: The Uncommon Previous Careers of REALTORS®
Response to tenant or potential tenant (edit the pet policy as needed): The landlord of property ______________________________________ prohibits all pets in the property. You have requested the landlord modify or provide an exception to the pet prohibition for an assistance animal as a reasonable accommodation for your disability. Because your disability or the disability-related need… Continue Reading Tenant Requests Reasonable Accommodation for Assistance Animal
Based on REALTORS® who reported about their transactions in September 2018, home buying activity slowed compared to the level of activity one year ago on a national level, according to the September 2018 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey. The REALTORS® Buyer Traffic Index[1] slid to 51 in September 2018, ten points lower from one year ago… Continue Reading Homebuying Demand Still Strong in Job-Creating Affordable States According to NAR September 2018 Survey
Owners and licensees are not required to disclose psychologically affected issues, psychological impact, psychological stigma (e.g. the suspected presence of ghosts, murders, death) affecting real estate so long as there is no material impact on the physical condition of the property being transferred. So if there is a skeleton or blood or body on the… Continue Reading Happy Halloween!
https://www.nar.realtor/legal-case-summaries/breach-of-fiduciary-duty-claims-denied Read the full decision - Busch v. Domb(link is external) Pennsylvania federal court rules that real estate brokerage did not owe fiduciary duties to seller when acting as a dual agent and so dismissed those claims against brokerage but allowed the other claims to continue. A homeowner (“Seller”) listed her home for sale with… Continue Reading Self Dealing, Or Near Self Dealing, Good Way to Get Sued
https://www.nar.realtor/legal-case-summaries/licensee-testimony-improperly-excluded Read the full decision: N. Carolina Dep't of Transportation v. Mission Battleground Park, DST. North Carolina’s highest court rules that the lower court erroneously relied upon the state statute for appraisals when it denied the admission of testimony from a real licensee about the value of land taken by the state for a road… Continue Reading Interesting NC case on VALUE (appraiser) v. PRICE (real estate broker)
https://www.nar.realtor/legal-case-summaries/agency-structure-violates-antitrust-law The Federal Trade Commission has determined that the State of Louisiana failed to actively supervise its real estate appraisal board which contained a super-majority of market participants prior to 2017 and the state’s remedial measures taken after the FTC filed its complaint were insufficient to demonstrate that the state would actively supervise the board… Continue Reading FTC Sues Louisiana Appraisers Board for Antitrust on AMC Regulations
https://www.nar.realtor/legal-case-summaries/debtors-can-t-collect-from-team-leader Read the full decision from the United States Bankrupty Court District of Idaho. Two real estate licensees (“Debtors”) joined a real estate team (“Team”) that was headed by a single individual (“Team Leader”). The Team was part of a real estate brokerage (“Firm”) and the Firm received all of the Team’s commissions. The contract… Continue Reading Teams, Get Contracts, Money Goes to BIC, BIC Pays Team Leader, BIC Pays Team Members
https://www.nar.realtor/legal-case-summaries/challenge-to-license-law-rejected Read the full decision: Ladd v. Real Estate Comm'n of Commonwealth(link is external) Pennsylvania court rules that state’s real estate licensing scheme is constitutional and so dismisses challenge brought by part-time property manager who claimed the licensing requirements were overly burdensome. An individual (“Challenger”) began renting two vacation cottages that she owned in 2013.… Continue Reading PA Citizen Sues that the REC is Illegal