PROView - August 2008 - (Page 10) PRO News MLS ADOPTS RULES FOR POTENTIAL SHORT SALES by Ann Guiberson, President & CEO It is clear short sales are going to be with us for a number of years. Currently in the Pinellas market, 22.4% of the pending or active with contract status are in that category. A recent NAR report shows that in Florida $9 billion in subprime loans will reset in 2009 with another $8 billion scheduled to reset in 2009. The Tampa Bay area will continue to have a big share in those numbers. The National Association of Realtors recently adopted new MLS rules for potential short sales. While the Suncoast MLS already had adopted substantially what these new rules require, the PRO Biz Board of Directors met on July 10, and adopted rules that further clarify how short sales should be handled in the MLS. • Section 4.4 Procedures for Listing Contracts: The Participant must obtain seller’s informed written consent (in either the listing contract or an addendum thereto) to disclose the potential short sale circumstance to cooperating brokers, buyers and the public. • Section 5.0: Listing Participant’s Responsibilities for Accurate Information and Signatures: Note: Participants shall not deliberately mislead property owners as to the market value of their property. • Section 5.17: Reporting Listings Under Contract to the MLS: Note: In a possible short sale circumstance, where bank or lender approval is required, the contract to purchase must be reported to the MLS, in one of the two ways as stated above (Active with Contract or Pending). In instances where all parties to the contract to purchase agree to continue to market the property, the status in the MLS must be Active with Contract. There are no exceptions to this rule. • Section 7.8: REALTOR® Only Remarks: The MLS requires the following statements for potential short sale or pre-foreclosure information: “Possible short sale, third party approval required. Compensation may be affected; call agent for details.” Review Suncoast Rules and Regulations Section 8.3, for more details. • Section 7.9: Public Marketing Remarks: With seller’s written consent, disclosures to the public such as pre-foreclosure, possible short sale, third party approval required and participant as seller, 10 PINELLAS REALTOR® ORGANIZATION are permitted in the public marketing remarks. • Section 8.2: Specified on Each Listing: Participants shall, with respect to offers of compensation to other Participants timely communicate any change of compensation to the other Participants, prior to the time a potential cooperating broker produces a prospective buyer who has signed an offer to purchase on the property. Section 8.3 is not a new rule, but is provided here for your reference. • Section 8.3: Blanket Unilateral Offers: Note: In such instances where the gross commission is subject to court or to lender approval and either the potential reduction in compensation payable to cooperating brokers or the method by which the potential reduction in compensation will be calculated may be modified, that information must be clearly communicated to potential cooperating brokers prior to the time they produce an offer that ultimately results in a successful transaction. More information on short sales can be found in the MLS Reference Center. MLS users can access the reference center through the Sidebar and all members can reach it through the Learning Tools on www.pinellasrealtor.org. One of the questions that may arise is how a cooperating broker should proceed when a listing broker submits contracts directly to a lender or other third party without the seller’s signature. Participants should keep in mind that the listing contract is between the seller and the broker, and the MLS is a contract between brokers. If a sales contract is not signed by the seller, it will remain in active status in the MLS. Listing brokers should disclose this information in the Realtor remarks. Nevertheless, cooperating brokers are advised to ask all listing brokers how the offer will be presented to third parties – signed or unsigned by the seller – and take appropriate steps to advise buyers accordingly. Article 1 of the Code of Ethics requires listing brokers to be honest with all parties; therefore they must disclose how offers to purchase will be submitted to third parties. August 2008 http://www.pinellasrealtor.org
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of PROView - August 2008 PROView- August 2008 Contents Chairman’s Notes Feature Story PROActive PRO News Marketplace Analysis Home Sales Report MLS Update New REALTOR® and Affiliate Members MLS Mind Your Manners Calendar of Events & Programs Money-Saving Gas Tips PROView - August 2008 PROView - August 2008 - PROView- August 2008 (Page Cover1) PROView - August 2008 - PROView- August 2008 (Page Cover2) PROView - August 2008 - Contents (Page 1) PROView - August 2008 - Chairman’s Notes (Page 2) PROView - August 2008 - Chairman’s Notes (Page 3) PROView - August 2008 - Feature Story (Page 4) PROView - August 2008 - Feature Story (Page 5) PROView - August 2008 - PROActive (Page 6) PROView - August 2008 - PROActive (Page 7) PROView - August 2008 - PROActive (Page 8) PROView - August 2008 - PROActive (Page 9) PROView - August 2008 - PRO News (Page 10) PROView - August 2008 - PRO News (Page 11) PROView - August 2008 - Marketplace Analysis (Page 12) PROView - August 2008 - Home Sales Report (Page 13) PROView - August 2008 - MLS Update (Page 14) PROView - August 2008 - New REALTOR® and Affiliate Members (Page 15) PROView - August 2008 - MLS Mind Your Manners (Page 16) PROView - August 2008 - Calendar of Events & Programs (Page 17) PROView - August 2008 - Calendar of Events & Programs (Page 18) PROView - August 2008 - Calendar of Events & Programs (Page 19) PROView - August 2008 - Money-Saving Gas Tips (Page 20) PROView - August 2008 - Money-Saving Gas Tips (Page 21) PROView - August 2008 - Money-Saving Gas Tips (Page Cover4)
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