Changes to the REALTORS Code of Ethics for 2011

I wanted to share a piece from the 12/29/2010 Suburban West REALTORS Association Weekly Newsletter regarding changes to our REALTOR Code of Ethics for 2011 ...

The Code of Ethics is a continually evolving document. The Professional Standards Committee of the National Association of REALTORS evaluates the Code on a regular basis with an eye toward the legal and practical. For the 2011 edition of the Code of Ethics, the committee addressed the issue of advertising in text messages, tweets and other communications where character limitations make Code compliance difficult.

Standard of Practice 12-5 requires REALTORS to disclose the name of the REALTOR's firm in all advertisements in a reasonable and readily apparent manner. Recognizing that this information may use up most, if not all, of the available characters in some electronic media, the SOP was amended with the following language added: "This Standard of Practice acknowledges that disclosing the name of the firm may not be practical in electronic displays of limited information (e.g. "thumbnails, text messages, "tweets", etc.). Such displays are exempt from the disclosure requirements established in this standard of practice, but only when linked to a display that includes all required disclosures."

Other changes to the 2011 Code of Ethics are:

* A new Standard of Practice 3-10 was added to Article 3. The new SOP defines the cooperation that is required in Article 3. "The duty to cooperate in Article 3 relates to the obligation to share information on listed property, and to make property available to other brokers for showing to prospective purchasers/tenants when it is in the best interests of the sellers/landlords.

* Standard of Practice 3-7: This standard addresses the necessity for REALTORS to disclose their relationship with the client when seeking information from other REALTORS about a property under a listing or property management agreement. The last part of the standard was changed from "their representational status" to "their relationship status".

* Article 10 and Standard of Practice 10-3. For many years, the Code has assured the public that REALTORS would not deny any person equal professional services based on their race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. In response to the recommendations of several state associations, Article 10 and Standard of Practice 10-3 were amended to add sexual orientation as a protected category.

Please take the time to go over and understand these changes for 2011.

Thank you & happy new year!!!

Little Miss Sunshine Strikes Again

Happy Monday! I know that I often come across on this blog as a Little Miss Sunshine - because, as many of you already know, I am a pretty positive gal who loves her job. Well, brace yourself ... I am all about the love today.

A little side note ... last week, while at the PAR Business Meetings in Harrisburg, I ended up in a hallway conversation with two friends discussing "social media responsibility" and what can be done if someone posts something negative about you online. I take the position that when you put yourself out there online, you give up some control - like it or not. Of course, you must be aware of your online presence and absolutely respond to any comments - this is just good social media marketing. Through this hallway conversation I became more aware of a new change to our REALTOR® Code of Ethics (as of January 2010).

Standard of Practice 15-3
The obligation to refrain from making false or misleading
statements about competitors, competitors’ businesses,
and competitors’ business practices includes the duty to
publish a clarification about or to remove statements
made by others on electronic media the REALTOR®
controls once the REALTOR® knows the statement is
false or misleading. (Adopted 1/10)

Now just a refresher on Article 15 ...
REALTORS® shall not knowingly or recklessly make false
or misleading statements about competitors, their
businesses, or their business practices

So, what does that mean? Well, if you make a statement that you find out later is false or misleading you are required to publish a clarification to your original statement OR remove your original statement altogether.

My advice - don't post negatively about your competitors - focus on what you are doing right and it will be painfully obvious that your competition is lacking. If something really gets stuck in your crawl ... post, but respond with the grace and brilliance that I know you have inside.

Many agents are afraid of being attacked online, either by a consumer or another agent. When I teach agents about marketing online, I try to squash these fears. I believe that people are inherently good and that no one will attack you online if you are trying to do the right thing.

After this weekend, I'm reminded that not everyone got the memo. Sometimes, a person will attack you online - not with a constructive comment - but an outright personal attack.

Now, that said, putting yourself out there online gives you a new level of responsibility as well. As a blogger, tweeter, etc. you must be aware of the information that you are putting out there via your posts, tweets and otherwise. Expect and accept that people will disagree with you and may comment or tweet you to that end. Accept it and embrace it - a new perspective should challenge and may even enlighten.

So, what should you do if you are personally attacked? Please please please - take the high road. The only one who looks bad in this scenario is your attacker.