Do you understand the difference between a client and a customer? This seems like a fairly simple question and it is quite understandable, but I realize how loosely many real estate agents use the term client. Below is the actual quote from the NAR Code of Ethics:
As used in this Code of Ethics, “client” means the person(s) or entity(ies) with whom a Realtor® or a Realtor®’s firm has an agency or legally recognized non-agency relationship; “customer” means a party to a real estate transaction who receives information, services, or benefits but has no contractual relationship with the Realtor® or the Realtor®’s firm; “prospect” means a purchaser, seller, tenant, or landlord who is not subject to a representation relationship with the Realtor® or Realtor®’s firm;
In order to refer to a person as a client, you must have a written contractual agreement. Many of you, my fellow real estate agents, eschew buyer agency agreements. If you do not use a BAA, when you call another agent to inquire about a property or give feedback, how do you explain the relationship you have with your customer to the other agent? If you claim your customer is a client, you are in fact guilty of a violation of the code of ethics because you have just misrepresented your relationship to the other agent.
Some time ago, there was a featured article here on Active Rain. The main point of this post was centered around a call placed to this agent. The caller was looking for an agent with the same name and the agent told this caller, she was not the same person and she should continue to look for the other agent. Many commenters commended this agent/writer for not poaching another agent’s client.
I found it unfortunate that folks used this term, “client,” so loosely. The only time I am working with a client is when I have a written contract. The caller who placed this call had not worked with the other agent for several years. The caller was not a client of the other agent with the same name. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the way the featured article author handled this situation. But it would have also been ethically acceptable to seek to do business with the caller on the other end.
Know that someone you did business with last week and no longer has a business relationship with you, is not a client. A past client? “Yes.” But not a current client and therefore is fair game for any licensed real estate agent to seek as a current “client.” Do you use the term, “client,” correctly? If you choose not to do business in this manner, no problem, but do not seek to label me as a client poacher, if I do.
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