RESPONSE
TO QUESTIONS OF AGENTS CONTINUING TO MARKET PROPERTY AFTER
SECURING
A SIGNED CONTRACT BETWEEN PARTIES.
( Page 36
of the Official Manual of
“Any licensee who acts as an agent in a transaction regulated by the
Tennessee Real Estate Broker License Act of 1973 owes to such licensee's client
in that
transaction the following duties, to:
1.
Obey all lawful
instructions of the client when such instructions are within the scope of the
agency agreement between licensee and licensee's client.
2.
Be loyal to the interests
of the client. A licensee must place the
interests of the client before all others in negotiation of a transaction and
in other activities,
except where
such loyalty duty would violate licensee's
duties to a customer under TCA 62-13-402 or a licensee's duties to another
client in a dual agency.”
SECTION
TWO SELLING PROCEDURES ( MLS RULES AND
REGULATIONS )
Section 2.2 SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN OFFERS: The listing broker shall submit to the
seller all written offers until closing unless precluded by law, government
rule, regulation, or agreed otherwise in writing between the seller and the
listing broker. Unless the subsequent
offer is contingent upon the termination of an existing contract, the listing
broker shall recommend that the seller obtain the advice of legal counsel prior
to acceptance of the subsequent offer.
STANDARD OF PRACTICE 3-6 OF
THE REALTOR®S CODE OF ETHICS
REALTOR®S shall disclose the
existence of an accepted offer to any broker seeking cooperation.
FYI-a: If a Seller
Client does not requests his Seller Agent to suspend showing of his property
and/or the presenting offers to purchase, the Seller Agent is required to
continue to market the Seller’s property ( showing and presenting offers to
purchase), with a valid Listing Contract, up to closing. If the Seller requests the Seller Agent to
continuing marketing his property and the Listing Contract has expired, the
Seller’s Agent must have a valid Listing Contract in force through the closing
date. If the Seller instructs his Seller
Agent to suspend showing of his property and/or the presenting offers to
purchase while the Listing Contract is still in force, the Seller’s Agent
should obtain a signed receipt from the Seller of his instructions.
FYI-b: The Tennessee Court of Appeals on October 27, 1993
ruled that a real estate broker has fully earned his commission when he has
brought together parties to sell or exchange real estate and the parties have
agreed fully on terms and entered into a binding contract for sale or exchange.
The Court stated that if the
Contract does not contain language making the earning of the commission
conditioned upon the closing of the Contract or if the broker does not agreed
to the voiding of the Contract between the parties, the broker is entitled to
the Contract commission.