The Verdict: The Ummels Lose - Agent Little Didn't Violate the Law.

 

 

The Verdict: The Ummels Lose - Agent Little Didn't Violate the Law.

Cherry Hill, NJ, April 19, 2008.  A jury in the case involving Marty Ummel, buyer of a 1.2 million dollar home in California, decided that her agent, Mike Little, did not violate the law. Mrs. Ummel says she sued Mr. Little because he didn't fully disclose information about comparable sales. “We want to change the industry. We want disclosure”, she said in an interview on the Today show. 

Mr. Little said to a New York Times reporter: “The lady is a nut job. I didn’t do anything wrong.”  It was also reported that his expert witness said she just didn't "do what is expected of a knowledgeable, sophisticated buyer..." That implies that they felt there was something to discover, she didn’t do what was required to discover it and the agent was not obligated to do it for her.
 
Not disclosing those comparable sales prices may not be a violation of law in this case and the jury verdict appears to support that conclusion. It also does not violate the standards of practice of the 1.3 million member National Association of Realtors (NAR), an organization to which Mr. Little belongs. Apparently experience doesn’t help either because Mr. Little had 26 years of it.

Given the jury verdict, how can buyers protect themselves? 

• First, make sure your agent signs a contract with you (which the Ummels did not do) that includes the requirement that you be provided with comparable sales information before making an offer on a property. 

• Second, determine if the agent is a member of an organization whose members subscribe to a code of ethics that exceeds the minimal requirements of the law.

The agent may be one of the 1.3 million members of the National Association of Realtors, as Mr. Little was, but that offered no protection to the Ummels.  Although the organization has stringent standards of practice some don’t think they go far enough.  There is another national real estate organization.  The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA) addresses this specific issue in its’ standards of practice.  Unlike NAR, NAEBA's standards of practice require that its’ members  provide their clients with comparable sales data.

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If you are in the market for a home in the Cherry Hill, NJ  area , or in South Jersey, make sure you hire an agent who will work for you on your side of the transaction.

Paul Howard is the only Exclusive Buyer Agent having an office in South Jersey. Paul, owner of NJHomeBuyer.com Realty in Cherry Hill, is a member of the highly selective National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents(www.naeba.org), representing buyers ONLY, 100% of the time.

If you are thinking about buying a home in the Cherry Hill , New Jersey area in the near future, call Paul at (856) 488-8444 or send an email for  information to Paul@SouthJerseyHomes.com. It is good to own Real Estate.

 

 Copyright 2008 Paul Howard (If you are a member of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents you may use the content of this post in whole or in part. No attribution is required.)