The Real Estate License Act, TREC rules, and NAR’s Code of Ethics prohibit any misleading or false advertisements. TREC Rule 535.155 (d) (15) states that advertising a property 10 days or more after the closing without including the current status of the property would be misleading or likely to deceive the public. REALTORS® would need to check with their local MLS to see what their specific deadlines are for updating status changes.
If a real estate license holder advertises listings on the MLS or internet and fails to remove or update the listings within the applicable period of time after the listing sells, the license holder could be accused of misrepresenting the status of available property in the advertisement. A real estate license holder might also be accused of misleading the public to believe that the license holder has an inflated number of listings. Therefore, advertisements on the internet that concern listed properties should be promptly removed after the listing sells.
The internet is inundated with real estate portals operating with what seems like complete impunity as they consistently host outdated & incorrect data. The objective is obvious; more available listings = more contact information to sell right back to the agents working in the field. Accountably eludes too many of them, despite the fact they have a license just like I do.
Not much more to say but AMEN to your comment!
That actually works in favor of licensed real estate agents that have access to up-to-date market information. Consumers aren’t stupid, especially when it comes to home buying. Most real buyers see through that and are incentivized to find a agent that can guide them to homes that are actually on the market.
Houston’s HAR.com is probably one of the most transparent and consumer oriented MLS portals in the country but I find most people I talk to do not use it. The consumer is easily fooled by other websites and they eat it up. The GATEKEEPERS are still on top. But… “that’s Real Estate”! Some things just don’t change.
I didn’t know about HAR until recently (duh don’t know why) but when I searched it for our area (small 50k Texas county) found it was very inaccurate about agents. Learned that if your broker is based in another town you are assigned to that town. My broker is based in the Austin area which is 90 miles from me and several of the agents in this county brokerage is based in Dallas. So the number of agents under our zip code is very small as not too many of those have brokerages based with this town’s zip. And those… Read more »
I find that most consumers have no clue that Zillow has fake listings (or should I say scam listings). I explain to consumers that the best place to search is Realtor.com but that the contact agent will not get them the listing agent but an agent who is part of their pay for play agents. And that agent might not be one who is local to that area.
Totally Agree with you Greg. What’s up with THAT??
What about putting detached condos in a SFR when there is a condo field as well?
Coming Soon signs are being abused again.
Just had one that was put on MLS with a contract date of June 5 and went on MLS as PND on June 9. So it was sold before it went on market. Wonder if the seller knows they might not have gotten full value than if it had been placed on market as NEW and been shown to all the public and allowed to possibly get more money with competition?
where I report this misleading listings? I have couple ones under contract that still showing active
Does this apply to keeping the Real Estate “For Sale” sign out in front of the property? I see this all of the time! I have multiple clients that have signage in their garage that was never picked up from when they purchased the property.
Agreed. I have seen some faded they had been there so long.
Until the MLS actually starts enforcing their rules, it won’t change.