Virginia Association of REALTORS® Ethics Blog

Loose lips sink deals

Seemingly innocent slips of the tongue can hurt your clients’ negotiating power — not to mention violate your duty to keep clients’ information in confidence. Check out this post by AgentGenius contributor Paula Henry about the careless dropping of information she has heard around her office and in the field.

I think you’ll also gawk at some of the comments left in response to Paula’s post from other agents around the country.

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Close more deals: Get NAR’s Code of Ethics in plain English

Face it: The REALTOR® Code of Ethics isn’t exactly light reading. Weighing in at over 7,000 words, just reading the Code of Ethics is a chore many REALTORS® dread. VAR’s Code is Good Business campaign makes it easier to understand NAR’s Code of Ethics and demonstrates how adhering to the Code helps REALTORS® earn the trust continue...

The Public Is Watching Us Beat Ourselves Up

On Tuesday, new VARBuzz author Heather Elias wrote a post entitled “Too Bad“, in which she recounted the story of hosting an open house and having buyers do everything they could to avoid conversation at all costs. It’s happened to all of us, I’m sure - and judging by the comments there are a continue...

Go ahead and flush the toilet, but don’t take it for a test drive!

What would Ms. Manners say about REALTOR® courtesies? You don’t have to guess even another minute longer. Here’s a guest post from Ms. Real Manners, courtesy of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. Dear Ms. Real Manners, Recently, I received a phone call from a seller complaining that, after a showing, the lights were left on, the doors continue...

Here’s looking at you

I used to work at the Roanoke Times, sitting next to the real estate reporter. At one point she thought it would be a fun story to compare the photos REALTORS® put in their ads with what they really look like. (One in particular had been the butt of jokes from others — “She hasn’t continue...

New webcast: Ethical Considerations in Short Sales with VAR special counsel Lem Marshall

I’m getting an increasing number of calls to the VAR Legal Hotline about the legal and ethical issues REALTORS® face in increasingly-common short sales. In this brand new 29 minute webcast, I address some of the most frequently asked questions such as: Is it legal or ethical to require the seller to state that the home continue...

What’s in a name? NAR says, it better be the truth.

One of the most controversial Standards of Practice to come from NAR in long time, would have to be the new Standard of Practice 12-12, which became effective January 1, 2008.  Just to refresh your memory, Article 12 is known as the “truth in advertising” article.  We have come a long way from the published newspaper continue...

Grown-ups playing air guitar

The trouble with air guitar is that no matter how well you can fake it, you’re still only faking it. People do peculiar things at the gym. Well, at my gym, anyway. There’s the matron who moans erotically through her half-hour of stretching each morning. The gym-rat who drips sweat on each weight bench he uses, continue...

Legal Lines

WE’RE TAKING ON simple, routine, non-controversial topics this time, involving the Attorney General, the Real Estate and Appraiser boards, foreclosures, fraud – things like that.Support the troops Q. Have you heard from the Attorney General lately? A. I got a nice call a couple of weeks ago, thanks. Actually, an attorney from the Coast Guard called and continue...

When did the fun die?

Are we having fun yet? I usually like to try and guess the answer to my own rhetorical questions, but in this case I have no idea what percentage of Realtors would say that they enjoy their career. It could be 50/50, I suppose. Why do I ask? As an instructor, continue...