Legal Update- Here's a Thing

LEGAL UPDATE

FROM CAR GENERAL COUNSEL

Scott Peterson

HERE'S A THING...

THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON FOR REALTORS® IN 2022

As many of you know, I travel around the state to different local associations and brokerages with my “Ten Things” presentation for the year. I do this because it’s important for you to keep abreast of legal changes and important issues for your business. Many of these topics come to me through our “Legal Hotline,” which is a benefit as part of your membership. You can call the Hotline if it is approved by your Employing Broker and you have questions regarding contracts, deadlines, scams, technology, insurance, etc.

This year, I have one important Thing that is more about you than any new legal issues. If you didn’t get to see my talk, I wanted to make sure you knew my number one “Thing” for the year, “Respect Yourself, Dammit!”

REALTORS®, when I started putting together my list of topics for the year back in January of 2022, we were in the middle of a crazy market—multiple cash offers, appraisal gaps and waivers, and buyers and sellers who were at the end of their ropes looking for a beacon of light in a tight market. I talked to many of you at the height of this market, and you were making sure you were doing the right thing for your clients. You were working your tails off!

Compare that with right now, a slower market, where things are somewhat “normal” again (whatever that means in this business). Now I can tell there is some increasing stress coming across in your voices: the number of days homes are for sale on the market is taking much longer, both buyers and sellers have more time and room for negotiation, interest rates continue to skyrocket, and the economy continues to slide.

So, what’s the difference in how you conduct your business and what you tell your clients from February of 2022 and right now? An extra hour to write the contract? Time for one more cup of coffee in the morning? Stressed Sellers rather than stressed Buyers?

THE ANSWER IS: NOTHING.

I mean it, there’s no difference. You’re still an expert in your geographic location, you still have a code of ethics you hold dear to your hearts, and you still seek out every learning opportunity you can find to benefit your clients. You are still working your tail off!

But now is a good time to take these REALTOR® values and work ethics and tell your clients.

Think about what you bring to the table for your clients and sell it to them.

If you think about it, what other profession do you know of where a person doesn’t get paid unless they are successful?

Respect yourself, Dammit! You earn every ounce of it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR REALTORS®

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