My point is that I do not believe answering a question posed by a person on TV is violating the code. Answering a question is not “writing a purchase offer or providing a CMA” or any other “substantive” service of that caliber as outlined by 16-3.

I do not believe answering a question falls into that catagory. Answering a question is not a “substantive service”. I would be willing to sit in front of an ethics committee on it if I could show the client initiated the question and I did not attempt to engage the person in any “substantive” dealings without knowing if they had an existing relationship with another agent.

Now let’s go a step further. If the agent answers the question and then starts soliciting for business or actively trying to procure that business things could get more complicated which is something that remains to be addressed more specifically by the Code. As you know, the continued popularity of the internet creates new issues that need to be addressed and resolved.

I agree with Barry that agents need to answer the darn question and stop trolling for business. Just answer the question, provide the information that internet users are looking for and the business will follow. I have gotten great business by being transparent and providing information freely. I do not covet the MLS or any knowledge that could help others. Open arms catch more than closed ones.

Judging from your blog, I am sure this is also the case with you.

“Before providing substantive services (such as writing a purchase offer or presenting a CMA) to prospects, REALTORS® shall ask prospects whether they are a party to any exclusive representation agreement.”

Standard of practice 16-3 looks pretty clear to me that before I answer a question, I’m supposed to ask if they have representation. How many people are doing that at TV? Is anyone doing that at TV? Sure, it goes on to say, “knowingly”, for which my argument still stands, often, it is very clear that I know the prospect has an agent. And when that’s the case, Article 16-6 comes into play:

in Article 16-6, I am supposed to wait to provide my services until a new exclusive agreement is established between the prospect and myself, either at the expiration or cancellation of the previous agreement.

It doesn’t matter that the client came to me by going on TV and asking the question. I still have an obligation to determine if there’s an already established exclusive agreement. And upon the knowledge of that agreement, I’m to wait until that agreement has ended, either by expiration or cancellation, to proceed to provide services.

How else could anyone possibly interpret those two articles? And I have to ask, did you really READ them before you posted them?

And this is exactly my point. I apparently interpret our code of ethics differently then you do. Am I right? Am I wrong? I really don’t know. For any given question on TV, would an ethics committee side with me or you? I’d really rather not have to sit in front of an ethics committee and find out.

Standard of Practice 16-13
All dealings concerning property exclusively listed, or with buyer/tenants who are subject to an exclusive agreement shall be carried on with the client’s representative or broker, and not with the client, except with the consent of the client’s representative or broker or except where such dealings are initiated by the client.

Before providing substantive services (such as writing a purchase offer or presenting a CMA) to prospects, REALTORS® shall ask prospects whether they are a party to any exclusive representation agreement. REALTORS® shall not knowingly provide substantive services concerning a prospective transaction to prospects who are parties to exclusive representation agreements, except with the consent of the prospects’ exclusive representatives or at the direction of prospects. (Adopted 1/93, Amended

Standard of Practice 16-6
When REALTORS® are contacted by the client of another REALTOR® regarding the creation of an exclusive relationship to provide the same type of service, and REALTORS® have not directly or indirectly initiated such discussions, they may discuss the terms upon which they might enter into a future agreement or, alternatively, may enter into an agreement which becomes effective upon expiration of any existing exclusive agreement. (Amended 1/98)

The key here seems to be who intiated the discussions. Obviously, if the client is posting the question, they are “intiating” it.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night
and I can READ.

When we have questions like this it is a good idea to actually READ the Code of Ethics. We have an obligation to know our own Code of Ethics.

Like you, I think the basic concept of a real estate Q&A is an excellent idea. That idea alone is a true home run for Trulia. My complaint, if you want to call it that, is with the competition that Trulia has chosen to implement. The points, rankings, first answer, best answer, thumbs up/down all contribute to agents wanting to answer more and more and more questions, hoping to improve their rank. The system encourages you to answer anything you possibly can, so you can move up the rankings. Heck with ethics or legality or useful advice, just answer more and more questions.

Trulia has addressed some of the problem of out-of-area respondents by noting in a better way, the location that each “Pro” is from. That helps a bit, but the behavior won’t change, until the reward is removed.

Then there’s the bigger problem of illegal advice. That’s tougher, because I see as many local people make this mistake as out of area people. I really don’t know how we are supposed to address it. For the most part, if there’s a question that is likely to have an illegal answer, I’m not going to answer on TV. I’ve answered questions that could get people in serious trouble on my own blog, where I have a lot more control, but I won’t do that on TV. Maybe there’s no risk, maybe there’s only a minor risk, but my license is too valuable to me.

Finally, if someone posted, “I want to a buyer’s agent for XYZ property, and I’m willing to pay $ABC”, I would provide a somewhat straightforward answer, but it absolutely wouldn’t be “sure”. I think Ardell on her blog recently wrote something to the affect, “there’s no price that I’ll work for someone I don’t like. While for people I do like, there’s always a discount.” I love her transparency, and the sentiment.

And I have definitely answered, “talk to your REALTOR”, when someone admits to currently working with a REALTOR. Many would argue I could be interfering with established agency if I interject my advice in that case, which is an ethics violation. I don’t know if it is one or not, but I’d really like to see every poster acknowledge if they are currently working with a REALTOR so that I can avoid any accidental ethics violations.

Pete from Trulia promised changes last fall. The Wall Street Journal interviewed me about that. I honestly expected it to get much, much better by now, but alas, while I will admit it’s a bit better, I think there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

Your post and Jay’s post detailed the manner in which questions were answered andmonths later..some are doing the same thing. Amazing!

Seems like you guys have it figured out in your area though as to how to utilize the platform.

I think it’s very viable iof answers are done correctly..what do you guys think?

I get the RSS feed for my area as many others do as well and it just amazes me that the interaction opportunity is so often being lost by the Realtors who sometimes answer.

I am not sure people realize that so many can view the answers and realize what kind of impression that it leaves.

I’m going to keep at it, trying to answer questions I can and keep my nose out of those I can’t.

Hi Barry!

Great post. Thanks for sharing your feelings with us. What can I say, you make some really valid points Barry. The culture on Trulia Voices or for that matter, any online community or social network, will go through some growing pains. There is also a learning curve for those agents not accustomed to participating in an online community.

We provide a list on our blog but it may be time update the list.

http://www.truliablog.com/?p=191

It’s quite a challenge to change the mindset of some agents about “how” to effectively communicate with the numerous buyers and sellers we have on Voices. As you say, if someone asks a question and you don’t have an answer, then skip that question. Answer the questions that you “own”. Answer them in a manner that adds value to the conversation and more importantly gives the consumer an “answer”.

No online forum or community is perfect. That said, if you see someone providing an answer that does not address the persons question, and you “know better”, then please, by all means jump in. As you say, it’s your time to shine and differentiate yourself from all the others in the pack. And believe me, we have many agents that are standing out by providing some fantastic answers.

More and more, the agents who provide solid answers to hungry consumers are getting contacted by home buyers and sellers resulting in closed transactions. If you haven’t seen two of our Voices videos already,which includes some great testimonials from Deborah Madey, Mario Pinedo and Jonathan Miller, I encourage you to do so.

http://www.truliablog.com/?p=356
http://www.truliablog.com/?p=364

It’s amazing how many consumers I meet that tell me how useful Trulia and Voices in particular, has been to them. So, consumers are getting tremendous value by visiting our site. Now we just have to make sure, with valuable feedback from folks like yourself, that we continue to improve the quality of our community.

Peace!

Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia.com

P.S. I have not seen any playbook

Getting specific, if an agent answers in a direct fashion: Live here, the schools are better. The consumer gets what they want, but the agent just broke fair housing law. If I post a different answer to the same question, am did I participate in breaking fair housing law? What if I post a legal answer, but at the same time do not clearly denounce the illegal answer? Might I be guilty of something wrong? I sure hope not, but is it worth risking my license?

Accordingly, I answer questions there sparingly. I also do as Jonathan does now and again, and bring questions to my own blog. Interestingly enough, I received two email inquiries in the last week from people that found my profile at Trulia. That’s not something to sneeze at, for sure.

You hit on one of my major problems with the answers – the “ask your Realtor” standard response that comes. If you can’t recognize that people are asking for free advice and don’t have/don’t want an agent, you’re oblivious. Many agents are.

Almost as entertaining is watching agents jump all over themselves to get an answer there even when the person asking clearly as an agent and isn’t going to make a change. That’s the one time where “you need to ask your agent” is the best answer.