Max Holzer
Past President
Columbus Board of Realtors
Joseph MacKinnon
Past President
Columbus Board of Realtors
Thomas Calhoon
Co-Chair
1994 Columbus Board of Realtors'
Professional Standards Committee
Raymond Dailey
Training Director and Continuing Education
King Thompson/Holzer-Wollam Realtors, Columbus, Ohio

Robert Browning
Professor Emeritus
Methodist Theological School
and member of the Honesty Project Planning Team

• 1. Because the agent has the ability to self-input listings into the database, the
• the agent has the ability to extend the listing without the seller's permission.
• 2. Agent claims exclusive listing of a property when it is not exclusive.
• 3. Agent does not act in best interest of seller by telling cooperating agent lowest price seller will accept or by betraying "weak points" of seller's property.

Examples of external dishonesty are:

• 1. Agent claims to have waiting buyer for house he/she wants to list, but no such buyer exists.
• 2. Value of property is underestimated to make an easy sale or lease.
• 3. Seller fails to disclose known problem with house (e.g. roof leaks) or intentionally gives incorrect property boundary lines to agent.
• 4. Seller present during showing calls prospective buyer and cuts a deal with buyer to take effect after the listing expires.
  

Four cases representing ethical dilemma were presented for discussion. The first involved the desire of the seller of a house to conceal the fact that his motivation for selling was that he had experienced many robberies. The second involved the problem of whether or not to reveal the fact that the owner of a house murdered his wife with an axe in the living room. The third asked if the agent should tell prospective buyers that five previous owners claimed to have seen ghosts in the house. The fourth case study highlighted the issues involved in deciding whether a prospective buyer has the right to know that the previous inhabitant died of AIDS.

The discussion that followed emphasized that there are no "cut and dried" answers to these and many questions. The high standards of the Realtors National Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice are sometimes in conflict with the law. When such a conflict exists, the law takes precedence.

Council for Ethics in Economics
125 East Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215-3605 U.S.A.
(614) 221-8661
FAX: (614) 221-8707

Website designed and maintained by CINErgy Media Communication.
cinergy@cinecomm.com