REALTORS® subscribe to a strict code of ethics. Let’s take a look at what that means for their clients:
- REALTORS® pledge to protect and promote the interests of their client when representing them as an agent.
- REALTORS® avoid exaggeration, misrepresentation, and don’t conceal any pertinent facts relating to the property or the transaction.
- REALTORS® cooperate with other brokers – except when cooperation is not in their client’s best interest.
- REALTORS® don’t present offers from themselves, or from any member of their immediate families, firm, or any entities that they have any ownership interest in, without making their true position known to the owner or the owner’s agent or broker.
- REALTORS® don’t accept any commission, rebate or compensation from more than one party, even if permitted by law, without disclosure to all parties and the informed consent of their client.
- With respect to monies that come in to a REALTOR’S® possession in trust for other persons, such as escrows, trust funds, client monies, and other like items, REALTORS® keep these monies in a special account in an appropriate financial institution, and separate from their own funds.
- For the protection of all parties, REALTORS® assure, whenever possible, that all agreements are in writing and in clear and understandable language expressing the specific terms, conditions, obligations and commitments of the parties.
The term REALTOR® has come to connote competency, fairness, and high integrity as a result of adhering to ideals of moral conduct in all of their business relations.
