Heads-up on “sold” comments in active listings

by Paul Cowhig, Advisor, Professional Standards

A combination of things has led to a relatively new issue that we would like to put an immediate end to – using the public remarks to indicate a property is sold.

Largely due to the wild market over the last few years and the overwhelming amount of deals flowing through offices, reporting of sales have at times been delayed. This led to agents putting remarks in their listings in an effort to advise buyer agents that there was a sale on a property, in an attempt to slow down the calls on listings that were no longer available.

As a Board, we cooperate with our members and adapt to their legitimate concerns so we allowed agents to post remarks that a property was sold in the REALTORS® remarks even though it was still “active.”

This resulted in Realtors knowing about the sold status, but their clients could only see the listing as active. Member’s clients have called me with tears of frustration because they were looking at a house online that their agent said was sold. They wanted to know who was “lying.” These clients would have a list of five, or 10 or even 20 homes to look at and discover that only one was actually still available, if that.

But some Realtors have taken things even further, by posting in the public and/or internet remarks that a listing had been sold, which is not allowed under any circumstances and potentially violates privacy requirements.

Despite the good intentions of all, the situation has gotten out of control. So, we are sending out this reminder to members about exactly what you can and cannot do in this regard.

Public/Internet Remarks and Pictures

  • You cannot make any reference to a property being sold, or having an accepted offer, or anything that implies this is the case.
  • You cannot reference a sale price in any way.
  • You cannot put any printing/comment/information on the pictures ever. That is considered advertising and is not allowed.

REALTOR® Remarks

  • You cannot reference a sale price in any way.
  • For the FVREB you can say: Sold, Sold Firm or Accepted Offer.
  • For CADREB and REBGV you can only use Accepted Offer. You cannot use the word Sold.
  • You can include subject removal dates.

If you come across a listing that does not comply with these rules, use the “Correction” button from within the listing on Paragon. The MLS® staff will be alerted and will follow-up.

Thanks for your attention on this and please pass it on!