Home > Blogs > Greg Nino > You & Greg Talking Real Estate - Laugh, Learn & Share

Houston Realtor Ordered To Pay Over 630k For Sharing His Password..............

By Greg Nino

Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Compass 0524642

December 24, 2010 04:47 AM

According to Local 2 News here in Houston a local Realtor has been ordered by a judge to pay more than $630,000 to Co Star Realty Information.

The Realtor involved in the lawsuit allegedly violated intellectual property and Copyright right laws. On TV they said he "shared his password" and violated terms of use.

The commercial Broker did not comment on TV and wasn't interviewed. He's been licensed since 1987 and still has an Active Brokers License.

Two things should be remembered:

1. Don't share your user name and password to any real estate MLS to anyone for any reason.

2. Do not violate your terms of use with any real estate association.

Re-Blog

Comments(21)

Comment

Show All Comments

Sort:

Eric Kodner

Madeline Island Realty - La Pointe, WI

CRS, Madeline Island Realty, LaPointe, WI 54850 -

I agree it's inappropriate to share an MLS password or violate terms of service. However I smell a filing with the Texas Court of Appeals on this one..

Dec 24, 2010 05:00 AM

William James Walton Sr.

WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Briotti Group - Waterbury, CT

Greater Waterbury Real Estate

Hmmm....the stupid things that people do, Greg. I wouldn't share my passwords to any of my confidential business information (or any other confidential information, for that matter) if my life depended on it.

Dec 24, 2010 05:06 AM

Jon Budish

Resident Realty - Fort Collins, CO

630K for sharing his password? Is that all the poor guy can afford? The MLS must need some cash pretty badly!

Dec 24, 2010 05:08 AM

J. Philip Faranda

Howard Hanna Rand Realty - Yorktown Heights, NY

Associate Broker / Office Manager

Giving out your password is serious business. Few people realize that.

Dec 24, 2010 05:37 AM

Don Rogers

Keller Williams Realty Chesterfield - O'Fallon, MO

Realtor, Broker, CDPE, GRI, OnullFallon MO & St Charles County MO homes

I am glad to see that the penalty was large enough to discourage others from doing the same thing. Things are truly big in Texas!!

Dec 24, 2010 05:49 AM

Maya Swamy

Funds Available - Long Beach, CA

Ph.D. Long Beach, CA - fundsavailable.com

I recently refused to give my passwords to my son. Fortunately being a lawyer he was able to understand the legal issues involved.

Dec 24, 2010 05:59 AM

Carla Muss-Jacobs, RETIRED

RETIRED / State License is Inactive - Portland, OR

Where they'd come up with this amount is what I want to know! I don't give out the password, OR loan the lock box key!

Merry Christmas, to the Nino Family!!

Dec 24, 2010 06:26 AM

Liz and Bill Spear

Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com - Mason, OH

Transaction Alliance Cincinnati & Dayton suburbs

Greg, It's going to take a LOT of closings to break even on that one!

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Dec 24, 2010 07:45 AM

Dan and Amy Schuman

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services - Solon, OH

Luxury Home Specialists

That's a pretty harsh penalty, but then again, there may be more to the story that we don't know. In any event, I doubt they'll ever collect it. Happy Holidays.

Dec 24, 2010 08:02 AM

Bill Pohl

Tetra Homes, Inc. - Loveland, OH

Greg - From my calculations, he only has to sell $21,000,000 worth of real estate (at 3%) to get it paid off.

Dec 24, 2010 09:11 AM

Lyn Sims

Schaumburg, IL

Real Estate Broker Retired

Seriously steep don't you think? Who decided on the figure?

Dec 24, 2010 12:26 PM

Bob McCranie

Broker Associate / Team Lead - Texas Pride Realty Group - Carrollton, TX

Your best advocate when buying or selling your hom

That seems excessive but passwords should be secret!

Dec 24, 2010 06:06 PM

Greg Nino

RE/MAX Compass - Houston, TX

Houston, Texas

This wasn't a fine assessed by any association, but an order by a court. I'm guessing the Brokers behaivor cost someone a ton of money. This would explain the large judgement. Who knows!

Dec 24, 2010 09:28 PM

Pam Sitterly

RE/MAX VINTAGE - Magnolia, TX

CRS Magnolia-Tomball Texas

WOW! This is shocking! But I don't share password information either. I pay for the privilege of accessing our MLS so I think everyone should.

Dec 25, 2010 12:55 AM

Shirley Parks

Sands Realty 210-414-0966 - San Antonio, TX

Broker, 210-414-0966, San Antonio TX Real Estate

Hi Greg, I have had a client ask me to share my MLS login info. Of course, I didn't do it. I can't imagine anyone sharing it.

Dec 25, 2010 12:29 PM

Sussie Sutton

David Tracy Real Estate - Houston, TX

David Tracy Real Estate for Buyers & Sellers

That is scary! Where in the heck is he going to get that kind of money to pay that off?

Dec 25, 2010 03:32 PM

Anonymous

Tom Kilker (TOM KILKER REALTY LLC AZ NM)

With all of the other things that are going on on the web nowadays, the secure information is open to anyone that has the knowledge to hack in and take your personal informaiton. To open the door by giving out pass words to the MLS info could have far reaching reprocusions if the those pas words got in the wroug hands. You can never tell who is watching to take advanctage of that like of info. I could have cost more that the fine!!!!

Dec 26, 2010 07:24 AM

#18

Evelyn Johnston

Friends & Neighbors Real Estate - Elkhart, IN

The People You Know, Like and Trust!

Whoa! I haven't given my password or key out, but golly, that's a lot of money!

Dec 26, 2010 09:16 AM

Gerry Michaels

Glasswork Media Arts - Gettysburg, PA

GettysburgGerry Social Meida

I have never and never will share my password or lend my card (we use cards here instead of keys), and now I know why...ouch...

Dec 27, 2010 06:29 AM

Marcy Moyer

eXp Realty of California Silicon Valley Probate, Trust, and Investment Sales - Mountain View, CA

Probate, Trust, and Investment Specialist

A 630K fine seems a bit excessive. Also, stupid since almost everything except the phone number of the seller is available online anyway.

Dec 27, 2010 01:14 PM

Houston Realtor Ordered To Pay Over 630k For Sharing His Password..............

Comments(21)

Greg Nino

Service Areas

Real Estate Resources

Recent Posts

Additional Information