A Real Estate Broker's Risk Reduction Toolbox
Top 10 Broker Resources for Sticky Situations
Every broker is required to deliver Real Estate Brokerage Services with “reasonable skill and care.”
That means that in all circumstances, you must act in the way that a “reasonably prudent real estate broker would act in the same situation.” How do you know how a “reasonably prudent real estate broker” would act in a circumstance that you are just now encountering, for the first time ever, all alone? While that is certainly how it feels when you are facing down a new problem, the truth is, you are not all alone, in any real estate conundrum. Each of you has resources. When the question is: “how would a reasonably prudent real estate broker act?”, the answer is: “ask!”
There are many resources available to every Washington REALTOR® member, including these ten:
1. Your managing broker.
In Washington State, you are licensed to sell real estate only if your license is affiliated with a firm. That firm must have a designated broker. Your designated broker is your managing broker. Additionally, you may have other managing brokers who are delegated by your designated broker, to provide oversight to you. Your managing broker(s) are your resources. If you have not already done so, develop relationships with your managing broker(s) so that you can call on them: when you need help drafting language for an offer at 10 am or 10 pm; when you have two clients each needing immediate attention and you can only attend to one of them; when a broker on the other side of the transaction is acting like a bully and you begin to doubt yourself; when your client makes a demand of you that makes you feel uncomfortable; when you don’t know if that condition you just discovered constitutes a “material fact”; when you encounter any of the myriad other experiences that every real estate broker encounters routinely and you have no idea how to proceed. Your managing broker is there to help you but can only help you if you let them know you need assistance. No matter how good your managing broker is, that person is not a mind reader. Until you reach out for assistance, you will not receive it.
2. Other, trusted real estate brokers.
Many of the benefits that can be gained from a managing broker can also be gained from another, trusted, competent real estate broker. A broker need not hold a managing broker’s license or authority delegated from the designated broker to be deemed “reasonably prudent”. Within your firm, you have a limited number of managing brokers. Our association offers limitless members who are reasonably prudent real estate brokers. Find other brokers, licensed to your firm (preferably), who are competent. Use them as a resource and offer your own services to them as a resource. Sometimes, you just need another broker to read the language you drafted in an offer and tell you what they think it means. If they read your language and think it means something other than you intended as the drafter, then you know you need to make some edits. Sometimes you just need another licensee to be somewhere that you cannot be when you need to be there. Sometimes you need a sounding board to hear your experience and tell you whether it seems normal. Sometimes you need a buddy to enter a residence with you so that you don’t have to enter alone. Develop relationships with other real estate brokers. We are an industry of independent contractors but that does not mean you must practice independently. To the contrary, every one of you will need assistance if you are successful. Develop relationships that allow you to call on other brokers, and be called upon, when help is needed.
3. The broker on the other side of the transaction.
Never underestimate the goodness of other human beings, especially those who are REALTORS®. While not every REALTOR® is going to be a trustworthy resource when they stand on the other side of the transaction from you, many will. Do not ever assume that just because the suggestion you receive comes from the broker representing the other party, you should disregard it as unreliable. To the contrary, the “other broker” is the only other REALTOR® likely to be as familiar with the facts at hand as are you. When you encounter a challenging situation in a transaction, consider asking the broker on the other side of the transaction how they would proceed. If the issue you are confronting is