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REAL ETHICS by Steve Stazel | March 2008 | Index of all Real Ethics columns
New from NAR, a case interpretation based on internet use
As we use the internet more and more, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Code of Ethics attempts to remain current on its use by members.
You might want to re-read Article 12 and the last six Standards of Practice in Article 12, which all relate to internet advertising. What follows is the newest case interpretation published by NAR.
REALTOR® A, a residential broker in a major metropolitan city, spent several weeks each year in his cabin in the north woods where he planned to retire one day. Even while in the city, REALTOR® A stayed abreast of local news, events, and especially the local real estate market by subscribing to the print and online editions of the local paper. He also bookmarked a number of north woods brokers’ websites to stay current with the market and to watch for potential investment opportunities.
One evening while surfing the internet, REALTOR® A came across a URL he was not familiar with – www.northwoodsandlakesmls.com. REALTOR® A was pleased to see that the MLS serving the area where he vacationed for so many years had created a publicly-accessible website.
But when he clicked on the link, he was surprised to find that the website he was connected with was not an MLS’s website but instead was REALTOR® Z’s company website. Having had prior dealings with REALTOR® Z, REALTOR® A spent some time carefully scrutinizing the website. He noted, among other things, that the name of REALTOR® Z’s firm did not include the letters MLS.
REALTOR® A sent an e-mail to the association’s executive officer asking whether REALTOR® Z had been authorized by the association to use www.northwoodsandlakesmls.com and whether the association felt it presented a true picture as required by Article 12 of the Code of Ethics. The association executive responded that their association did not assign, review, or approve URLs used by their members, but added that if REALTOR® A felt a possible violation of the Code of Ethics had occurred, the appropriate step was to file an ethics complaint. REALTOR® A did just that, alleging in his complaint that when he clicked on what appeared to be a real estate-related URL that included the letters “MLS,” he expected to be connected with a website operated by a multiple listing service. He stated that he felt REALTOR® Z’s URL was deceptive and did not meet Article 12’s true picture test.
At the hearing, REALTOR® Z defended his URL on a number of grounds, including the fact that he was a participant in good standing in the MLS and that he was authorized under the MLS’s rules to display other participants’ listings on this website.
“If I used MLS in the name of my firm, I could see how that might be perceived as something less than a true picture,” he argued, “but by simply using MLS in my URL, I am telling consumers that they can get MLS-provided information about properties in the north woods from me. What could be truer than that?”
The hearing panel disagreed with REALTOR® Z’s reasoning.
While REALTOR® Z‘s website included information about other participants’ listings that the MLS had provided – and that REALTOR® Z was authorized to display – the fact remained that a real estate-related URL that included the letters MLS would lead reasonable consumers to conclude that the website would be an MLS’s and not a broker’s website.
REALTOR® Z was found in violation of Article 12 as interpreted by Standard of Practice 12-10.
Each month, the Aurora Association of REALTORSŪ Web site features Real Ethics,
a column by Steve Stazel devoted to explaining Code of
Ethics issues for members. A REALTORŪ since 1974, Stazel is a Professional Standards
instructor and senior Ethics
instructor for the Colorado Association of REALTORSŪ.
If you have an ethical concern or an issue you would like
to see addressed, please call Stazel at (303) 773-3333 or e-mail him at
stazels@msn.com. The comments of this article reflect the understanding and
opinions of the author and do not represent an official expression of policy by the National Association
of REALTORSŪ.
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