Fizbomap Blog
Idaho For Sale by Owner tips, news and updates
HB 135 Party Almost Over
Posted by Heinrich Wiebe in Fizbomap, News, Consumer Rights on March 13th, 2007
Well, we’re having a good run with Idaho HB135. Time is all but up, and I swear I can hear the fat lady starting to sing.
It sure can be disappointing to see how slanted the legislative process really is. Guess school house rock had me warmed up to the idea that common sense would prevail. Despite letters from the Department of Justice and the President of American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance, Members of the Senate Commerce and Human Resources Committee voted unanimously move the bill to the Senate floor. All Aye and no Nay. Good grief.
On the upside, the Idaho Business Review has done a great job following the issue. Here’s a link to this weeks writeup on the topic. IDAHOBUSINESSREVIEW.NET
It seems that John Eaton with IAR believes our business model won’t be affected by the bill.
“The bill shouldn’t affect Fizbomap”, Eaton said. “The bill says agents only have to be available to present the offers, not that they have to provide that service. If the customer doesn’t want those services, the agent doesn’t have to perform them.”
Eaton must not have read the statue.
Let me direct you to a section of House Bill NO 135,… please see Page 3, paragraph 2 and 3, line 11-18 READS:
54-2086
11 If a customer has entered into a compensation agreement or customer
12 services agreement with the brokerage, the brokerage shall have the obligation
13 to be available to the customer to receive and timely present all written
14 offers and counteroffers.
15 (3) The duties set forth in this section are mandatory and may not be
16 waived or abrogated, either unilaterally or by agreement.
17 (4) Nothing in this section prohibits a brokerage from charging a sepa-
18 rate fee or commission for each service provided to the customer in the trans-
19 action.
Here’s a glimps inside the real issue. Eaton has pointed out that agents/brokers working with buyers have felt they are holding the bag for sellers that use services like Fizbomap.com. They feel stuck and at risk for doing part of the work that listing agents traditionally and customarily do (even though agents close deals with sale by owners everyday without listing agents involved).
Here’s my prediction. The perceived ‘bag of risk’ will be passed to Fizbomap.com. Since the statue will soon say we are obligated to present all offers and this duty cannot be waived, agents working with buyers will send their offers to us and thus obligating our involvement regardless of our instructions (and the sellers wishes) to present directly to the seller. Since the statue uses words like “present”, we’ll follow our Attorney’s advice and put together a presentation to match. The difference now, is it will cost someone more money. Check this out… I’m going to charge the agent who has obligated us to present.
Here’s how it works. The seller who listed on the MLS with Fizbomap.com will authorize a charge for any offer presentation when obligated by statue. This revised agreement will instruct Fizbomap.com to collect this presentation fee directly from whomever wants to offer presented on their behalf. In other words, We are going to get paid by the agent who doesn’t want to present the offer themselves. Being the clever wits that we are, and consiencious to an agents bottom line, this fee can be avoided by presenting the offer directly to the seller.
What will you bet that the perceived issue of presenting directly to the seller goes away?
The farm!
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