Manners seem to be slipping when it comes to showing property. When you learn that a scheduled appointment will run late or is canceled, have the good manners to let the listing agent know so that the seller can understand the change in circumstances.

In ShowingTime, there is a reschedule option that only takes a minute and it lets the listing agent know your appointment is not panning out.

Your Mama would be proud that you are using your good manners!

The REALTOR® Code of Ethics has been the cornerstone of the REALTOR® membership for over 100 years and provides REALTORS® a process to police themselves and to raise the bar of professionalism. It is your duty as a REALTOR® to help enforce the Code of Ethics by filing complaints when necessary.

Everyone loves the ease and convenience of texting. However, relationships between REALTORS® can be damaged because of them.

If you are a Hinds County or Jackson resident, the Governmental Affairs Committee needs you. Please send a quick email to Bethany Culley at bethanyculley@gmail.com if you are interested in serving on this year's Governmental Affairs Committee. The committee is monitoring the municipality elections and needs interested REALTORS® who live in the Jackson/Hinds area to help vet candidates.

Please show your value to your clients helping them get registered to vote in the August 6 election if they moved into a new voting district. Providing voter registration forms and even offering to mail them in shows your interest in your clients and adds value to your service. REALTORS® vote and encourage their clients to vote as well. Visit CMR’s Get Out The Vote page to download and print the Mississippi Mail-In Voter Registration Application.

It’s summer. Everyone wants to look at houses. Some are real buyers, some are not. Some are real but do not want to follow conventional processes.

All potential buyers and their agents should assume there are cameras on every property you are showing and act and speak accordingly.

Get it out of the way on June 17.  Your CEO, Jo Usry, is teaching the “Raise Your Right Hand” (required Code of Ethics class) at the REALTOR® Institute.  It’s not your same old, tired Code of Ethics class. 

If you enter into a buyer representation agreement with a buyer and your buyer “gets loose,” buying directly from a seller or through another Broker in MLS, the buyer representation agreement isn’t a determiner of procuring cause.

The CMR and MLS office will be closed April 24-25, 2019, while the staff works the MLS EXPO.  The office will reopen Friday, April 26, 2019, at 9 am.

Did you SALE it or did you SELL it?

REALTORS SELL property.  REALTORS participate in SALES.  

When you are tempted to write the word SELL or SALE....think, proof, and know that clients and customers may judge you by your good or bad grammar.  We hope you all SELL a property this week and have a SALE to report next month!

April 25 and 26 at the Jackson Hilton

Approved for 7 hours of elective CE

• Fair Housing and Reasonable Accommodations
• Zoning and Group Homes
• Fair Lending
• Avoiding Loan Modification Scams

Register through https://www.heedhousing.org/

Your Road to Home Ownership & 10 Ways to Simplify Your Life Using Banking Technology

• April 18, 2019
• May 16, 2019
• June 20, 2019

[Download Flyer]

Six of MAR’s forms have been revised and have 2/2019 revision dates. If you use MAR’s forms, ensure you are using only the most current ones. Using copies of old forms from 2008 is not in the best interest of your client. Although not revised, Form 39 Seller Multiple Offer Notification and Form 40 Buyer’s Agent Acknowledgement are forms that have kept many REALTORS® out of harm’s way by presenting Multiple Offers according to the Seller’s wishes. Check them out in the Forms Library if you haven’t seen them yet.

Be careful and avoid a potential ethics violation (Article 3, 3-9) by assuming that the MLS term “showing instructions” ONLY apply if you are showing a property to a potential client.  “Showing instructions” includes ACCESS to the property for any reason.  To say that you didn’t need to follow showing instructions because you were not “showing” the property is an improper interpretation.

Don’t rely on social media and news from places other than NAR for reliable updates on the class action anti-trust lawsuit (Moehrl v NAR et al).  Instead, rely solely on the updates that Katie Johnson, NAR’s Chief Legal Counsel, provides to the membership.

Be careful and know what you can and cannot do.

If a seller contacts you, know what you can and cannot do if the listing has not yet expired.

If a buyer contacts you, determine whether or not he/she is a party to a buyer representation agreement.

Regions Bank is offering two-hour education classes valuable to REALTORS® (elective CE credit provided) and their customers and clients. The topics include Financial Fundamentals, Banking Technology, Credit Reports, Identity Theft, and Fraud. Sharing this opportunity with clients and potential clients adds value to your services. Registration is directly through the contact names provided on the flier.

[Download Flyer]

When your seller agrees to extend the date on the listing agreement the MLS Property Status Change Form should not be used as that extension agreement since it does not include the requirements stated in MREC Rule 3.2B

You have an obligation under Article 1 of the Code of Ethics (SOP 1-12) to advise sellers of how your firm cooperates and compensates buyer’s brokers.  Part of that explanation will include how compensation works through MLS.

If you ever find yourself under investigation by MREC as a result of a complaint being filed against you, regardless of what the complaint is about, the investigators review every single document in your file pertaining to the transaction being investigated.

Sellers hire you to bring a buyer to the property.  If your photos don’t entice a buyer to make an appointment to see it, you might not be promoting the seller’s interest (Article 1 of the Code of Ethics).  Take a moment and review your photos from your seller’s perspective asking yourself, “Do my photos make someone want to see the property?”

2019 is the last year that the criteria for earning the REALTOR® Emeritus award are limited to 40 years of REALTOR® membership and prior service at the local or state levels of the REALTOR® organization.  Beginning in 2020, the criteria will also include service at the National level.

If after a due process hearing, it is determined that a violation occurred the following sanctions are authorized:

1. An automatic $500 administrative fee will be charged to a Respondent found in violation
2. Plus, one or more of the following authorized sanctions:

Today is a banner day for REALTORS® as we launch That’s Who We R®, the new national ad campaign from the National Association of REALTORS®. The campaign showcases the passion and dedication you bring to your work while telling the story of who you are as advisors, advocates, volunteers, neighbors—and real estate professionals committed to a Code of Ethics.

That’s the REALTOR® difference. That’s who you are.

[Campaign Announcement]
[Tell Your Story]
[Memo: That’s Who We R®]