Rental Home Listing in the Birmingham MLS
Last week I wrote a post expressing my trepidation about the our MLS's decision to allow rental listings in the MLS. We attended a meeting at our local Association and the Alabama Real Estate Commission's top legal counsel, Charles Sowell was on hand to explain the "truth and consequences" or rental listings in the MLS.
The majority of the inquires came from brokers and agents that specialized in residential sales. Their primary concerns were fears that by adding rental listings in the MLS, that they would be taking on the role of property managers or at least perceived as being property managers.
Mr. Sowell quickly dispelled those concerns and stressed that even if they were considering property management, that they should think long and hard since property management was far more than "a notion."
For the most part, real estate sales agents were not that excited about rental listings but were more concerned about fiduciary responsibilities and liabilities.
Mr. Sowell made it clear that if they were in any way, accepting rents on behalf of the owner, then they, in fact, would be acting as property managers and could spell trouble (without proper licensing, insurance, experience, certifications and the like). Mr. Sowell expressed a major concern about the number of agents that assume that just because they have a real estate license, that they could also manage properties. HUGE mistake. YOU MUST HAVE A BROKER'S LICENSE IN THE STATE OF ALABAMA IN ORDER TO BE A PROPERTY MANAGER.
Several members seemed to be surprised at my suggestion that they could simply refer the rental listing to a property manager. In my opinion, they seemed to be relieved that this was an option. The other thing that seemed to bring a sigh of relief to non property management agents was the fact that they could still earn an income by referring tenants and property owners to property managers.
To date, there are 53 rentals in the MLS and the majority of them are listed by property management companies. I can see the benefit in this service and I am very happy to say that my concerns were unwarranted.
Real estate agents need to be certain to explain to their sellers that they (the agent) are not acting in the capacity of a property manager, but rather, may list property in the MLS as a rentals as a courtesy to the seller to offer them more options.
The addition of rental properties in the MLS should prove beneficial to Bham WIiRE Realty AND more importantly, to property owners willing to rent their properties. Bham WIiRE Realty was founded in January 2009 for the purpose of managing rental properties.
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