Just when I think I've heard it all in the mortgage and real estate world, my mouth about hit the floor a few nights ago when I returned a call to an agent I had never worked with before. The agent had been referred to me by other agents in his office. The agent had left me a message earlier in a not so friendly tone, telling me how he'd tried to call me twice and that I hadn't returned his calls. This was actually not the case, so with my notes in hand I politely recapped the two times I'd left him messages. He told me he needed to talk with his kids because they were told not to erase his messages. I was thinking to myself, "you don't have a personal voicemail separate from your household phone?". So, in order to prevent this problem for the future, I asked if he had a cell (because I'd already looked him up on GRAR, our local real estate MLS system, and couldn't find him there- not a good sign). He proceeded to tell me that the home number was the best number. So, I explained I had looked him up in an effort to email him as well. Well, he isn't registered with GRAR yet because he's still working on his license! Yet again, not a good sign. So none of this should have surprised me when he grilled me with questions like, "how many points do you charge, what kind of fees, " etc. He proceeded to tell me that he used to be a loan officer and got out of the business because he was tired of the subprime market. So, his next question would make me think that, perhaps, the only time he'd had any success was when the subprime market was going strong.

After we discussed the typical amount I earn on a loan, be it in the way of fees and/or how we are paid by the banks we broker to, he asked the following question:

Do you have a bird dog fee? At this point I was growing increasingly frustrated with his attitude in general and had a strong suspicion this wasn't going to be good, but I asked, "What is a bird dog?", half feeling totally ignorant but half feeling like I was about to feel naive when he responded, "A fee for sending you the business." I quickly responded, "No, Mr. So and So, that would be a kickback, and that is illegal; it's a violation of RESPA!". He said, "I know. I was just asking."

I quickly wrapped up the call and thought to myself, well, this is what they were talking about it the loan officer prep course that people who commit fraud out BOLD!

The ethical dilemma is this, do I call his broker, do I report him to our local Realtor Board? What would you do?