BROKER RISK MANAGEMENT
WEEKLY PRACTICE TIP
Agent Websites: What You Must Know if You Have a Personal Agent Website
The Internet has created new opportunities for reaching out to consumers through advertising. The importance of the Internet as a source of business will continue to grow and play an ever-more important part in commerce in years to come.
The flexibility and ease of advertising on the Internet brings with it challenges, as well as opportunities. All of the requirements and restrictions that apply to other forms of advertising – newspaper, television, radio, etc. – also apply to your personal website. So, be aware of, and comply with, the following when creating and maintaining your agent website:
A. Notify your Broker. California state law requires the broker to supervise the advertising of its Salespersons. You should notify your broker of the URL address of your personal website and the URL address of any other website on which you may be advertising to help your brokerage meet this legal requirement.
B. Listings. If you choose to advertise your listings on your personal website, you must establish and maintain procedures to remove listings from your website on the day that listings expire. You must also have an established procedure to remove pending and sold listings from the active listings advertising page(s). Continuing to advertise listings after their expiration date violates California rules and Article 12 of the REALTOR® Code of Ethics.
The California DRE can require you to shut down your website if you are advertising expired or sold listings on it, in addition to imposing other sanctions and penalties.
You may not advertise other company’s listings unless you utilize an IDX download from the MLS, and comply with all of the IDX rules and protocols. Note: If your brokerage has “opted out” of participation in IDX, then the brokerage and all of its agents are prohibited from downloading and advertising IDX listings from the MLS.
See Weekly Practice Tips: “Other Brokers Advertising Your Listings” and “MLS on the Internet”
http://www.car.org/legal/legal-questions-answers/2010-qa/idx/
C. Content. Many services that create websites for agents also offer to populate the website with content to immediately give the site a robust, compelling look. However, be aware that you then become responsible for that content. For example, one agent website developer populated the agent sites with school test scores broken down by race – a clear discrimination violation. As a precaution, check all content from third parties when the site is created, and routinely check your site’s third-party content for your approval.
Many agents add a blog to their website to add interest to the site by adding latest trends, neighborhood/community news, opinions, updates, etc. Some sites also allow “chat” whereby readers can comment on the blog and other topics. If you choose to do this, remember that even though “blogging” is usually kept in a light, breezy and informal format, all of the rules of advertising, marketing and communicating with the public still apply.
For more information, see Weekly Practice Tip entitled: “Blogs”
D. Broker Identification and DRE License Number. State law requires that you identify your status as a broker, agent, REALTOR®, etc. In addition, most brokerages also require that the brokerage name and/or logo appear in a certain size, color, font, etc. Be sure to check with your company’s graphic standards requirements for compliance.
You also must include your Salesperson DRE license number on all “first contact” materials, including your website. To comply with this requirement, you must have your DRE license number displayed on website. It is a good idea to have the DRE number on your home page and on any “landing page” where any visitor to your website might be directed from another site or other communication.
E. REALTOR® Designation. Membership in the National Association of REALTORS® requires that the REALTOR® trademark designation appear in all advertising when the word REALTOR® is used. However, the National Association of REALTORS® has required guidelines as to the use of the word “REALTOR®” in the URL of any website. Please see www.realtor.org to review those guidelines.
F. Equal Housing Opportunity Logo. It is a good idea to incorporate the Equal Housing Opportunity logo on the landing page of your website. While not required, the placing of this logo indicates that you are an “Equal Opportunity” agent, and this can be used as a part of a defense to any claim of discrimination.
G. Links and Framing. It is permissible to link to other websites by including the URL address for those sites in your Web page (for example, a link to the Company’s home page). You should check your personal website periodically to ensure that the content of the linked site has not changed.
Framing, which is different from linking, is the technique of linking with another site in a way that it appears that the viewer has not left your website. The “linked” site appears in a “frame” on your site with your site’s information around one or more sides of the screen in a way that may appear that the linked site is a part of your site. This practice creates several legal issues. For more information on framing, see the CAR Legal Memo entitled “Framing on the Internet” at: http://www.car.org/legal/2005articles/framing-on-internet/
H. Advertising Finance Terms. If you disclose certain financing information on your web page that will trigger federal law requirements for additional financial disclosures, you must be familiar with, and comply with, the Truth-In-Lending and Regulation Z requirements.
See Weekly Practice Tip entitled: “TILA and Reg Z Ads”
I. Copying Web Text & Graphics. Do not copy text, documents or graphics from other websites to your web site. Copyright protection attaches to all text and graphics upon their creation. Use of the © copyright symbol is not required for there to be copyright protection on materials. And it is easy to detect on-line copyright violations by entering a portion of the suspected copy into a search engine. All identical language is immediately discovered.
Copyright violations are neither covered nor defended claims under most Errors and Omissions policies of insurance.
I. Posting Scanned Images. Do not post scanned photographs to your website without the express written consent of the subject of the photograph or the photographer. Posting scanned photographs can violate copyright and privacy laws.
Also, professional photographers often have agreements wherein they retain ownership of the photographs, even if you paid for them, and may restrict your use of the photos.
L. Advertising Claims. By DRE regulation, you must be responsible in making claims about your listing and your business. Do not make any claims on your website that you would not make in other forms of advertising. It is recommended that you keep supporting documentation for any advertising claim you choose to make for a period of three years.
K. Broker Review. Because the Broker has the duty to supervise its agents and is responsible for the public representations of all of its agents, many brokers reserve the right to review their agents’ personal websites; reserving the right to require agents to add, change, delete or otherwise modify the content of their websites if the broker deems the content to be harmful, misleading or otherwise injurious to the public or to the good will and reputation of the brokerage.
PRACTICE TIPS:
1. If you choose to have your own personal agent website, you are taking on a large responsibility. It cannot be created and then not tended, monitored and updated on a regular basis.
2. Make it a practice to routinely review your website to update listings and other information.
3. Be sure that your website complies with all of the laws related to advertising, etc., as well as your broker’s policies, rules and standards related to agent websites.
DO NOT FORWARD TO CLIENTS. This Weekly Practice Tip is for the exclusive use of clients of Broker Risk Management and their agents. It may not be reproduced or distributed without the express written consent of Broker Risk Management. The advice and recommendations contained herein are not necessarily indicative of standards of care in the industry, but rather are intended to suggest good risk management practices.