Advertising a Sold Property As Available on MLS

This really ticks me off.

I just got done going around about this with a clueless Realtor. According to them, it's not available. It's simply pending contract signatures. But it's showing as "Active" in MLS.

This is not a minor issue. Let me illustrate why. After I was told it was sold, I had a friend call and inquire about the property. He was told it was "available." The agent wanted to set up a time to get together and show it to him, and were there any other properties he wanted to see?

Now I'm fully aware that this may be an instance where that agent wants both halves of the commission, in which case they are violating their fiduciary duty to their listing client by telling me "We accepted another offer." But I'm going to presume that everything is exactly as they told me, in which case they are still violating both MLS and ethics rules, as well as trade law.

If everything they told me is absolutely true, they are still using the property as bait for a "bait and switch" game. If what they told me was true, they do not in fact have the property available for sale. My client and I did come in and make an offer, but they're telling me that the property is not available. But for those people without an agent who call, they're using it - dishonestly - as a means of gaining buyer clients. People should never call the listing agent, but more people do than don't. This is not a small ethics or practices issue. I understand that the hardest issue in obtaining clients is getting that first initial face to face meeting - I face that very same obstacle. But if someone gets a first meeting with you because they claim to be listing a property that is not, in fact, available, exactly how is that morally different from just making it up out of thin air (an activity that is also quite common)?

In fact, they claimed that their listing client didn't want it marked as pending yet. I understand the position they're in, but what the client wants is not on the list of available options. If the property is not available, it cannot be in the Active register. That's what we all have to agree to in order to get access to MLS. That's what the ethics we agree to as Realtors says. If you're not going to play by the rules, you shouldn't have access to MLS, and you shouldn't be able to call yourself a Realtor. There's also a section of commercial law that deals with false advertising. Somebody advertises something people want, the FTC and various state regulatory agencies have grounds to get very interested if you do not in fact have it. You might ask Big Bear supermarkets about that. Such an action is what put them out of business around here. I guarantee that six figure real estate is lot more important than 5 cans of peas for $1 in the estimation of the regulators.

The upshot? I told them to get it off the active list by 9:00 the next morning, or face a formal complaint to MLS and the Association of Realtors. I have a client that wants that property. If it's in MLS, they understandably want to know why their offer is not being considered. If I don't take action, my client will be justifiably curious as to whether I am somehow complicit in whatever is going on. This problem could be more severe than the listing agent is representing it. It could be a fiduciary and agency failure on their part, trying to get both halves of that commission, requiring a client to employ Dual Agency in order to get the property, in violation of fiduciary duty, agency law, and RESPA. It could even be an Equal Housing Opportunity issue. But one thing is for certain: as long as it stays active on MLS, there is something major significantly wrong. This isn't a minor bookkeeping issue. This is the bedrock of what we agree to in order to participate in the system, and someone who cannot adhere to this should not be in the business at all.

Caveat Emptor

Original article here