Legal Issues in Real Estate Brokerage

ICIWorld Feedback From the Manager

Gary Nusca, CCIM, CIPS, REALTOR, Broker (50 Years)

I appreciate any professional feedback.

One way to provide feedback is
here.

MLS Seller Lawsuit and Price Fixing

The MLS Seller Lawsuit pertains to allegations of price fixing.
Since 1994, ICIWorld has always stated: “Each participant
makes their own compensation arrangements.” Therefore, this does not affect
ICIWorld, only those who use MLS.

The Clear Cooperation Policy

The Clear Cooperation Policy applies exclusively to members of
NAR and
CREA only pertains to publicly advertising a signed residential real estate listing.
There are some exemptions.

ICIWorld follows these rules and also abides by
RECO requirements, which state
that before you disclose the address of a property for sale, you must have the consent
of the owner in writing.

Confidential Networking on ICIWorld

Most opportunities on ICIWorld—what we call networking—do
not display the address or identify the property. Before addresses are revealed or
showings are arranged, brokers and salespeople get a signed listing agreement from the
owners, then show the property and conduct a potential sale.

We network opportunities confidentially by not providing addresses.
However, since we operate in some ways like classified ads in a newspaper, brokers also
advertise their real estate board MLS listings on our platform.

Expanding Opportunities Through Networking

Networking services like ICIWorld introduce a new way to conduct, nurture, and network opportunities that lead to establishing agreements to show property and conduct sales and leases.

See over $1 Billion in sales from a small critical mass. Now, imagine you join and network in your area. With all the brokers and salespeople in the world, someday, within three seconds, you can make connections to do business.

Many have made tens of thousands of dollars within 90 days of joining
by making connections. The service shows you how to ask owners in your area the right questions to network information that triggers business.

Lady,Justice,And,American,Flag,In,The,Background.

MLS Real Estate Seller Lawsuit: Commission Lawsuit Details Read more about how MLS in the USA had to pay $418M settlement.

Real estate lawsuit settlement upends decades long policies that helped set agent commissions

You will find that every opportunity on ICIWorld, all 40,000, you make your own arrangements for compensation if any. So as an association we are not potentially liable as they might be for MLS is in the USA or Canada.

REALTOR Cooperation Policy Does Ban Exclusive Residential Listings

We want MLS services to work as well as information listing services as provided by our association.
We want MLS services to work as well as the networking of information conducted in a proper manner and in compliance with RECO The Real Estate Counsel of Ontario, NAR and CREA.
You have to have a signed listing to put it on MLS.
ICIWorld is a networking information listing service before a signed listing. We highlight the opportunity without addresses or identifying the property.
This triggers interest. Then before showing a property or business then we recommend getting a signed listing, show the property and conduct a possible sale.
In residential real estate we recommend following the guildelines from CREA and NAR that you must put it on MLS once a listing is signed. Although we disagree with the rule, and the fact they never even considered that we share exclusive type information on ICIWorld as a solution, we will recommend to all members of CREA and NAR to follow the guildelines.
This rule DOES NOT APPLY TO COMMERCIAL. This has never been pointed out to the rank and file. And in fact the rank and file a good percentage of thousands of REALTORS still do not know about the rule and that it does not apply to commercial.
This is unfair to an association like ours who have been networking exclusive type information to generate business. Yet many real estate salespeople do not know this and it does not seem to be corrected by the powers that started the exclusive residential MLS compliance rule.
ICIWorld has 40,000 commercial real estate and business opportunities and only about 150 residential. At the moment only about 20 residential messages without addresses or a signed listing are being networked.
Once interest is demonstrated, and when the broker or salesperson gets the listing signed, that is when it must go on MLS. REPEAT THIS IS ONLY FOR RESIDENTIAL.
Exemptions include rentail property, builders new homes, assignment sales, farmland, etc. Check with your local real estate baord. Please keep us informed as well. Appreciate it. We want to make information services work for the industry just as we support MLS since 1974.
To discuss this please do make an appointment with us. We need you to help keep us informed so we can follow the rules.
Thankyou.
The Association of Real Estate Brokers and Salepeople
Manager and Founder
Gary Nusca, CCIM, CIPS, REALTOR, Broker 50 Years.
Make an appointment to discuss this or any issue.
We designed ICIWorld to be cost effective with the lowest overhead possible. Place an add on a computer. Someone in the world reads it, calls you, you show it and make money and help the public achieve their goals.
You have also performed another great service in protecting the public. There is so much fraud and money lost by people using social media to connect and do transactions and fraud is being committed daily.
Real Estate Brokers and Salespeople are trained in consumer protection.
Rather than forcing people to put properties for sale on social media and the like where they are vulnerable to security issues, why not allow real estate brokers and salespeople to network that exclusive residential information on a service that helps brokers share that information. There was not a service like this considered or even imagined when NAR passed the MLS compliance rule in 2020 in Washington DC. I was there in the meeting.
Subsequently they got CREA to adopt it. Keep in mind the term REALTOR comes from NAR. We like all the great services of CREA and NAR but our poll shows a majority of REALTORS oppose the exclusve rule when they know what it is all about.

Comments from ICIWorld. Exclusive real estate opportunities since 1994.
REALTOR Cooperation Policy Does Ban Exclusive Listings

The ban is on residential, signed listings, that are to be advertised poblicly. There are some exclusions such as residential income property, assignments, new home sales by builders. Contact your local board and follow up because this new rule is causing some confusion in its implementation.
ICIWorld position. There is a misconception of the word exclusive. In our case. Our definition exclusive is anything that is not on MLS either because a REALTOR cannot get a signed listing at a certain point in time, but the owner says they want to sell. Bring me an offer, and I will pay you a commission. This is verbal. This is not a signed listing. You cannot put that on MLS.

However, you can network the “information” on ICIWorld as long as you do not advertise the address or identify the property. That is in accordance with RECO, the Real Estate Counsel of Ontario, and rightly so. We have followed this even before RECO starting in 1994 on the Internet as ICIWorld.com

Now, the new rule effective in Canada Jan. 4, 2024 by CREA. FIRST OF ALL, IT ONLY APPLIES TO RESIDENTIAL. Many think it applies to commercial, but it certainly does not, and there are certain exemptions.

We network information that is not signed on ICIWorld. That simply means when a broker networks the information on ICIWorld, they do not give out the address. (Foillowing RECO) When they receive a call, they simply say that they will put the buyer’s name on a list and when they get the listing signed, call them. The moment it is signed, it will be on MLS, and they can come to the first open house.

What everyone including NAR and CREA are totally missing is that ICIWorld is a most unique service that is sharing exclusive listings, but they do not allow that. That is why we are now telling all member brokers and salespeople they cannot put a signed listing on ICIWorld if lit is residential without it going on MLS within 3 days. But if they cannot or do not have a signed listing they can network the information without the address or identifying the property. Once they sign a listing it must go on MLS.

We understand that if you break a rule in CREA or NAR, you can lose your membership. So we aim to help REALTORS follow the rule.

It is my understanding the rule was brought in to prevent people not sharing information. They totally missed out that there is a service that promotes sharing just like MLS promotes sharing, but doing it in a confidential manner which without a signed listing or with a signed exclusive listing. The owner simply does not want it broadcast out to all the thieves, fraud artists, con artists, and others They know the price because the owner had a proper CMA done by a qualified professional. What is wrong with doing it in a confidential manner and getting them the price they wanted and everyone in the world can visit ICIWorld.com and see it and call the agent to follow up.

That feature is totally being missed by the leadership and proposers of the MLS exclusive rule for residential.

We will follow the guidelines but wish they would reconsider the motion that they passed with a proviso that if the property is networked on ICIWorld giving everyone an equal opportunity to see it, then exclusives could be a what we think is a small part of the industry but very necessary for owners and professionals to decide for themselves.

As for commercial real estate. We have had a $4M on MLS the broker says he received four calls. When he put it on ICIWorld he received 32 calls and sold it. So and global networking service like ICIWorld can help people.

And it protects the public so that people are not forced to have to put their exclusive information on social media where millions of dollars are lost by people to the unscrupulous people of the world who are on social media bigtime.

Brokers are trained in consumer protection.

If you are interested in this topic, INMAN NEWS provides the latest scoop on what it happening. But you may have to subscribe. I do because it is quite good.

Here is a link to one of the latest USA articles as of October 18, 2024

Here’s your Clear Cooperation opinion roundup: The Download

Industry heavyweights are all lining up for and against Clear Cooperation. Find out which side of the topic real estate’s biggest names are standing on

But you may have to subscribe to read it all.

Established by the National Association of Realtors in 2019, the Clear Cooperation Policy has had adherents and opponents from the very beginning. The policy requires real estate brokers to list any property they publicly market on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) within one business day,

Those on the pro side say that Clear Cooperation promotes transparency by preventing pocket listings, ensures wide distribution of listing information, promotes competition and ensures a more fair playing field for potential buyers.

Those against say that the policy undermines both seller choice and the ability of Realtors to fully fulfill their fiduciary duty to their clients. That’s because for sellers who want to sell without publicly listing on the MLS, whether for reasons of security or discretion, the ability to do so is severely limited by the policy’s requirements.

Now, with buyer’s agent compensation no longer posted on the MLS and with brokerages frantically looking for a powerful differentiator to set them apart in the consumer consciousness, Clear Cooperation is up for grabs — and this week it seemed to be all anyone was talking about.

In Canada our membership and the survey we rean is also against it approximately 75% against it. But we recommend following the rules. I have a long presentation on this. One reason they brought the rule in is because they want to prevent people from keeping a listing in their back pocket so to speak and not share it. BUT THEY TOTALLY MISSED WHAT WE DO ON ICIWORLD.. WE SHARE EXCLUSIVE TYPE INFORMATION BUT IN A CONFIDENTIAL MANNER. PUBLICLY AND THROUGOUT THE GLOBAL REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY. We tried to present this for their consideration but have been ignored by NAR and CREA. Nevertheless the difference is that if a broker or salesperson on ICIWorld has a signed exclusive listing, and wants to advertise it publicly, it must go on MLS within three days in Canada and one day in the USA.

Which leads to the following:

If an opportunity for sale is not signed you cannot put that on MLS.

How do we handle this? By following the rule by RECO, the licensing body for REALTORS in Ontario, Canada which states you must not give an address or identify a property unless you have the consent of the owner in writing. So you can network information as long as you do not disclose the address. We are in the information age and ICIWorld has been helping brokers network information on the Internet since 1994 without one problem.

When you have an interested buyer and they want the address or to see the property, you simply make a statement that in this particular case we have to put a listing agreement in place first and we should be getting the listing in a month for instance. I will put your name on a list and you can be one of the first to come to an open once it is listed and put on MLS.

THIS IS FOR RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE ONLY

THE RULE DOES NOT APPLY TO COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Make an appointment to chat anytime.