Real estate reports can be an effective tool for communicating a consistent message about your brand to potential clients. Discover how you can make them look clean and organized!
If you plan to file a report against a Realtor, try to avoid making vague or unverifiable allegations; providing specific, detailed descriptions of what transpired will make for more effective filing of complaints.
1. Investigate the Issue
Real estate transactions often involve large sums of money and personal data that makes them vulnerable to unethical or illegal conduct, making consumers aware of how to report a real estate agent in order to ensure any misconduct is addressed effectively. It’s vital that they know how they can report an agent in order to ensure any misconduct is dealt with swiftly.
As your first step, document your experience with the real estate agent. This should include a summary of what happened as well as supporting documents like emails or contracts that pertain to it. Documenting these events will strengthen your complaint when filing it; specifically citing examples will further bolster its legitimacy.
Before resorting to escalated measures or seeking legal advice from higher authorities, make an effort to communicate directly with your agent in order to resolve your grievances directly. Doing this will take less time and money. Before speaking with brokers or managers about what’s bothering you directly will allow the agent an opportunity to address your concerns directly and offer a satisfactory resolution that meets both parties.
For example, if your agent failed to disclose termite damage before selling you the property, you could request that your deposit is refunded or cancel your closing date or contract altogether.
If your concerns can’t be resolved directly with the agent or involve serious violations such as fraud or discrimination in housing transactions, or involve ethical violations such as fraud or discrimination in transactions, reaching out to a higher authority is another option. For instance, Better Business Bureau offers investigations on businesses with guarantees to respond within 30 days.
Filing a formal complaint against real estate agents with the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), or state licensing agency can also be effective. If unsure where to start, consulting an attorney about your options and legal rights could provide valuable guidance in making this decision. Once informed of this option, they can then make their own choice whether or not to proceed with their complaint.
2. Gather Information
Real estate agents create content marketing materials such as blog posts, social media updates and property listings to market their services. One key aspect of successful content marketing for real estate agents is using reports that showcase important statistics and market trends in an easily consumable format. There are numerous methods of collecting this data – surveys or polls distributed to your audience; or using data points provided by sources like National Association of Realtors (NAR).
NAR reports provide valuable insights into the current state of housing markets and provide buyers and sellers with advice for navigating them more successfully. They also highlight important industry-wide trends. You can create your own real estate agent report using data points available through NAR or create an infographic highlighting market results or survey responses.
As with other forms of content creation and sharing online, make sure your real estate branding is included on any reports you create and share on digital platforms. This will help build brand recognition and strengthen credibility as a professional in the real estate industry – especially important when sharing real estate reports on social media or other digital spaces such as blogs. You could even hire a graphic designer to ensure that reports look polished and organized.
3. File a Complaint
As much as it’s always an option to report unethical conduct from real estate agents, sometimes the best course of action is working through any issues directly with them. Making clear your concerns in person or over the phone usually results in quicker resolution for everyone involved and filing official complaints is generally best left as a last resort option.
Start by communicating your concerns directly to the agent’s manager or broker. State your grievances clearly and calmly, offering to escalate if necessary. Depending on the severity of the situation, mediation or arbitration might also provide relief.
As your next step, file a formal complaint with your state’s licensing board. They will investigate your claims to see if any rules were broken by your Realtor; this process typically includes interviewing witnesses, requesting documents, and reviewing both sides of the story. It is crucial that all available evidence support your claims: emails, home inspection documents and contracts between parties should all help build a solid case against them.
Once the governing body receives your complaint, they will inform both your Realtor and the brokerage where they work of it. This gives them a chance to give their side of the story and evidence they did not violate any rules; since these cases often become an “he said/she said” contest between opposing sides, the governing body will need to determine who has more credibility before rendering its decision.
New York residents can access REBNY’s complaint form for reporting real estate agents for misconduct, incompetence or unethical behavior. Other state governing bodies likely offer similar forms on their websites that you can use to report agents who engage in unethical or illegal behaviors.
4. Gather Evidence
Authorities take legal action only after conducting several paired tests against real estate agents to expose patterns of discriminatory conduct. These paired tests pair two undercover testers – one black and the other white – who seek homes with similar financial profiles; such as Newsday conducting 86 matches that showed agents provided full service to white house hunters while taking for granted their financial ability but denied equal access to minorities.
Before filing a formal complaint, it’s a wise practice to compile as much evidence as possible – including emails, texts, contract papers and any other supporting documentation for claims of fraud, breach of duty or breach of contract. Doing this will save time and money while helping resolve the matter without incurring additional legal expenses and hassle.