The Ethical Agent Always Wins!

Ethics and fair housing are two of the most important issues will face in your real estate career. The Ethical Agent Always Wins! Although ethics, as a philosophical discipline, is a vast topic, in the simplest sense, ethical behavior can be thought of as nothing more than doing the right thing, behaving with integrity, treating people fairly, evaluating a situation and choosing the moral path, even if that path is not the easiest one to follow.

How would you characterize an ethical person?

• You might answer “an ethical person would treat other people fairly and honestly. Regardless, of their background or ethnicity.”
• You might think “an ethical person would be compassionate toward others. Consider the needs of other people when making a decision”.
• You would probably agree “an ethical person would have integrity. In upholding principles and convictions in his or her actions regardless of personal consequences.”

In fact, all of these would be accurate characterizations, wouldn’t you agree?

Unethical Behavior Never Wins

Real Estate professionals, Salesperson or Broker, have a duty to protect the public against fraud, misrepresentation and unethical practices. The expected to maintain high standards of professional conduct in their dealings with the public and with other licensees. Sadly, violations by licensees often take some form of misrepresentation.

Fraud is a deliberate act with the intent to deceive or with reckless indifference to the truth. Actual fraud is an intentional misrepresentation or concealment of a material fact. For example, if the seller’s agent advises the sellers to paint their basement. Before showing the home in order to hide the smell of mold. Neither the licensee nor the homeowner discloses the mold problem.

Ethical Agent in Real Estate

In real estate, we have laws and ethics. Real Estate License Law is written and enforced at the state level and includes the fundamental requirements for those practicing in real estate.

The National Association of REALTORS Code of Ethics historically predates most license law in the country. All members are expected to take biennial training in the Code of Ethics, 3 hours every two years.

In addition to laws and ethics at the state and industry level, there are also important federal business laws that all real estate professionals must adhere to, like Antitrust, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and Consumer protection laws. The Ethical Agent Always Wins!

New York State Real Estate License Renewal

Most importantly, in New York state, the Department of State requires all Real Estate licensees must complete 22.5 hours of approved real estate continuing education to include 3 hours of Fair Housing, 2 hours of Law of Agency, 2.5 hours of Ethical Business Practices and 1 hour of Recent Legal Matters. Firstly, if it’s your first renewal cycle, or 1 hour of Law of Agency there after. Effective September 21, 2022, 2 hours  of instruction pertaining to implicit bias awareness and at least two hours of cultural competency training was added to be included as well. The NAR Code of Ethics is not a real estate license requirement in New York, ethical business practices are. However, if you belong to a Board of REALTORS. Moreover, you must complete 3 hrs of Ethical training every 2 years, next cycle due December 31, 2023. The Ethical Agent Always Wins! Its important to recognize, not all Real Estate Brokers are members of Trade Associations. There are alternatives to doing business.

Ever heard of NY State MLS?

What is NY State MLS and My State MLS one might ask?

NY State MLS is New York’s statewide Multiple Listing Service. Open to all Licensed Real Estate Professionals (Agents, Brokers, Appraisers) working in New York. All NY State MLS members must offer compensation for any co-broke property. And, most importantly adhere to State Laws governing the sale of property by a Licensed Professional. Unlike a local MLS, NY State MLS has no boundaries as to where you can list. This means no more “out of area” listings. My State MLS is the same, but is the MLS for any state in the USA.

What are some of the benefits for joining?

Low cost is one of the best features of the MLS. Whether a single broker,  or an office of dozens of agents the MLS is competitively priced, without any extra fees or fines. Use the MLS to expand your working area (increase your territory for business). Search for specific types of sales like foreclosures and short sales. Or simply as a marketing tool to get more agents and more listings for your business.

Where do my listings go?

Listings are syndicated to ListHub which feeds to over 85 different websites. MyStateMLS.com listings are fed DIRECTLY to Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, their network of websites, and Homes.com. The MLS uses advanced syndication. That will automatically show members as the listing agent next to their listings at no additional cost. Members can promote themselves and their business by branding their listings on third party websites.

Do I have to be a licensed real estate profession to join?

You must be a licensed real estate broker, associate broker or salesperson.  Auctioneers licensed to sell real estate are also allowed to join. Attorney’s are allowed to join in states that allow attorneys to represent clients as real estate brokers.  Appraisers and lending institutions are also allowed to subscribe for comparable data. Your Real Estate License number is required when creating an account. Your firm must also be a participant.

How do I become a member?

Please visit our Membership Sign-Up page to join our site as a Manfred Member.