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Ethics Q&A
No-call lists and farming letters.
Read the full Code of Ethics.
Q While calling homeowners in my farm area to inquire if any of them were considering selling, one person rudely informed me he was on the Texas no-call list and planned to report me. I’ve heard about this list but wasn’t aware I had to buy it. Am Iviolating state law or the Code of Ethics by calling to see if people might want to use my services?
A Licensed real estate agents and brokers are not required to purchase the state’s no-call list. Thanks to the efforts of the Texas Association of REALTORS® during the 77th Texas Legislature, professionals who are licensed by the state are exempt from this requirement, since they have licensing bodies that regulate their activities and can take appropriate action if necessary.
To qualify for this exemption, the person making the call must be licensed by a professional licensing agency (e.g., TREC), the call may not be made by an automated caller, and a transaction may not be completed over the telephone. (It may be completed later at a face-to-face meeting.) Also, if the caller specifically instructs the licensee not to call, the licensee may not call the property owner. This means that licensees must maintain and honor their own no-call lists. Any person using the telephone to solicit business must identify himself by name, state his company’s name, and explain the purpose of the call immediately after making contact with the consumer. Finally, calls may only be made between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and between noon and 9 p.m. on Sundays.
There is nothing in the Code of Ethics that restricts your use of the telephone as a marketing tool. Of course, the fact that you are on the telephone does not exempt you from abiding by the articles of the code. For example, you must not interfere with another agent’s exclusive agency relationship.
Q I want to send out a farming letter to home-owners in the subdivisions where I focus my real estate practice. Is there any required disclaimer language concerning properties already listed for sale that I must include in my letter so I don’t violate the Code of Ethics about soliciting other agents’ listings?
A Standard of Practice 16-2 makes it clear that the Article 16 prohibition against engaging in any practice inconsistent with the agency relationship of another REALTOR® is not intended to prohibit general announcements to prospective clients, even though some of those announcements reach the client of another REALTOR®.
"General" announcements include general advertisements addressed to all possible prospects in a given geographical area. What is prohibited by Article 16 are solicitations that are not part of a general mailing but are directed toward owners identified through current listings, signs, or other sources of information required by Article 3 or MLS rules to be made available to cooperating REALTORS®.
While there is no ethical rule requiring that farming letters that otherwise satisfy the requirements of Standard of Practice 16-2 include a disclaimer, many agents do include some form of disclaimer to make it clear to owners and their listing brokers that their general solicitation of listings was not intended to solicit the current listings of another REALTOR®. To that extent, such disclaimers promote professionalism and goodwill within the REALTOR® community and the clients they serve.
Send questions about ethics to texasrealtor@texasrealtors.com. Not all questions received can be answered.
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