Who Writes Realtor's Listing Agreements?

[Souix]

What is the name of your state? Oregon

In our meeting today, we were discussing our new listing agreements and no one knows who writes them. Someone said that a committee of Realtors writes the form, but then wouldn't that be practicing law without a license? I always thought attorneys wrote those forms. Anyone know?

 

[nextwife]

I don't know in your state, but all the real estate forms that real estate professionals use in our state are referred to as "State Bar" forms. They are standard language forms that have all the usual clauses pre-drafted, such as financing contingency, and the real estate professional selects and fills in the appropriate clause and puts a line through the inapplicable ones. Our standard offer is four small type legal size pages (two of which are "definitions")plus a two page long addendum page and a copy of the property condition report, which becomes part of the offer.

I am sure the State Bar forms (which all have specific names and numbers here) were drafted by attorneys. They can be adjusted by adding and subtracting some language, but only those standard forms are used for residential listings and sales. Because the state and bar have approved these forms for use by realtors, the realtor is not considered practicing law by completing this at the listing or offer. If he drafted his own from stratch for someone, he would be practicing law.

 

[oberauerdorf]

Since this subject intrigued me, I did an exhaustive search through my resources both online and in my 'library' and found the following:

Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 696 (Real Estate and Escrow Activities), and rules in Oregon Adminstrative Rules Chapter 863, although mentioning certain forms (with their printed examples) which are required to be filed depending on the circumstances and the construction of such forms, There is no mention of nor reference to a listing agreement form, it's construction and/or legal format.

In fact, aside from stipulating that any changes to such a form must be accompanied by a signed addendum and the process of making such a form legally binding, there is no mention at all of the listing form itself, only of listing obligations of the parties and certain other 'disclosure' requirements.

So, although I don't like to 'assume', in this case I would have to assume that the reason attorney's draft such agreement templates is to keep their clients out of legal trouble, NOT because it is a matter of law.

 

[HomeGuru]

The listing agreement is a legal contract therefore the state or local Board of Realtor's hire attorney's for that purpose. Contact your standard forms committees.

 

[Souix]

The listing agreement is a legal contract therefore the state or local Board of Realtor's hire attorney's for that purpose. Contact your standard forms committees.

***Ok thats sort of the answer I was looking for. I guess I will call OAR and find out who that is. The reason I am asking is if you read the Oregon Listing Agreement 2004, there are some really stupid things in there and we were hoping to find out who is responsible for that language. Thank you.***

 

[nextwife]

OK, now you've got to tell us what really stupid things are in there!

 

[HomeGuru]

***Ok thats sort of the answer I was looking for. I guess I will call OAR and find out who that is. The reason I am asking is if you read the Oregon Listing Agreement 2004, there are some really stupid things in there and we were hoping to find out who is responsible for that language. Thank you.***

**A: the attorney's are responsible along with the standard forms committee.

 

[Souix]

This is the response from our RMLS(tm): The forms were initially written by an attorney, subsequently, changes were required so the Forms Committee which is made up of volunteer Realtors made changes which were reviewed and approved by Attorneys and approved by the Board of Directors.

The part that was changed was under the section Right to Compensation, whereby if a listing agreement is terminated and any buyer bought the property after the termination, then the owner would be liable to us for 50% of the brokerage fee after so many days from termination and so on and so forth. This is not exactly what it says word for word, because the terminology is confusing. But its a fill in the blanks sort of thing, or just leave blank.

Since my company has a Committment to Service Agreement in writing, this goes against our company policy so our broker told us to put -0- in those blanks.

These additional changes just seemed stupid to me because policing who buys what at what time is really really hard to do unless you have tons of free time on your hands, and if you do, then you are not selling real estate, you are just sitting around waiting for things to happen.

Is this too much information? =)

 

[oberauerdorf]

Yep

but you're right. It seems to me that such a clause is meant for those who don't have a separate Committment to Service Agreement which outlines in plain english the committment of both sides.

So, filling out the form with a 0 will take what? 2 seconds? Or three seconds to put N/A.

 

[Souix]

Yep

but you're right. It seems to me that such a clause is meant for those who don't have a separate Committment to Service Agreement which outlines in plain english the committment of both sides.

So, filling out the form with a 0 will take what? 2 seconds? Or three seconds to put N/A.

***Our principal broker is going to have that section pre printed on our documents, but my point is, this language is confusing to the general public lay person, its stupid and its very very irritating...besides you need a magnifying glass to read it. If any Realtor is doing their job correctly, they need to explain this form to their client, completely. If it starts getting too technical, you can see their eyes glazing over.***

 

[oberauerdorf]

Tha's when you grab the money and RUN!!!!

Welcome to the world of attorneys.

 

[Souix]

Tha's when you grab the money and RUN!!!!

Welcome to the world of attorneys.

***hhhmmmm, am I the only Realtor in the world who is more concerned about my client than my pocketbook?***

 

[HomeGuru]

***hhhmmmm, am I the only Realtor in the world who is more concerned about my client than my pocketbook?***

**A: no, and keep in mind that there is no law that prevents a RE company from changing, revising or modifying the BOR listing contract form.

 

[Vegemite0]

Has the Oregon RMLS contract been updated? I have a copy of the offending 2004 agreement with the confusing "Right to compensation" section. Is it ethical for a realtor to ask for compensation after sitting on a property for 6 months?

 

[Souix]

Has the Oregon RMLS contract been updated? I have a copy of the offending 2004 agreement with the confusing "Right to compensation" section. Is it ethical for a realtor to ask for compensation after sitting on a property for 6 months?

Yes it is if the listing is still under contract. A large percentage of the time the property is overpriced and the seller has probably been asked to reduce the price several times by the agent. However, within the last 6 months the market in any county in Oregon has been RED HOT and homes are selling within just a few days of them going on the market. So now sellers think their property is underpriced, unless the Realtor has explained the market to them properly. So no, it is not unethical because it depends on what conversation the agent has had with the seller during the listing period. We are all required to keep records of this.

So in answer to your other question, no the Oregon RMLS contract has not been changed since 2004, but the print has been enlarged making it 2 pages instead of 1 which is alot easier to read.