Real Estate Professionals. Please Read. Are we legal?

[Matt Shields]

Recently my account was temporarily suspended for violating the forum rules because I had a link to the following disclosure, but I was only trying to reduce my liability and stay legal:
 

Arizona law regulates how real estate licensees can advertise through the department of real estate, and it would likely consider forums a form of advertising. (There are also some federal laws)

In its current version, the Bigger Pockets forums appear to cause Arizona licensees to be out of compliance with the law. (Other states may be similar)

• The employing broker’s name must be included in all advertisements, including classified ads, real estate advertising guides, and other magazine ads. K. Michelle Lind/Commissioner Lowe 9-22-14
• In advertising flyers, the employing broker’s name may be located on either the top or the bottom of the flyer however the employing broker’s name must be clearly legible.
• On any other promotional material the employing broker’s name must be on the front page or front of the object.
• The employing broker’s name must be visible on the front page of the website and each subsequent page of the website, without the necessity of scrolling down, regardless of the screen size of the computer.
• When advertising real property on social media, such as Facebook, the name of the employing broker must be stated. When advertising real property in “thumbnails”, text messages, “tweets”, etc., where stating the name of the employing broker firm is not practical, the advertising information being linked to must include the name of the employing broker.
• With team advertising it must be clear that the team is a part of the employing brokerage. For example, placing “The (Team Name) Team” at the top of the page in large letters with a much smaller brokerage symbol somewhere below is not sufficient.
• The employing broker’s name must be spelled out in its entirety. For example, if an employing broker’s legal or dba name on a license includes “Southeast Valley,” that is what must appear in the ad; simply saying “SE” is not sufficient.
• If the brokerage is an office of a franchise, the office must be identified; simply displaying the franchise name alone is not sufficient.

There is also the issue of liability. As real estate professionals, is it possible that we are creating unintended implied agency when we interact with people on this forum? Do we have liability if someone acts on one of our posts and is harmed? Bigger Pockets protects itself through the “Responsibility for User-Generated Content Posted on or Through this Site” under the “Terms of Use”, but make no protections for the user, and in fact, disallows it.

I have tried to contact bigger pockets about this, but have not received any reply. What are your thoughts? Have you checked the advertising laws with your department of real estate?

Thanks for any input.

[Mindy Jensen]

This issue pops up from time to time in the forums. Our Rules state "V - No Advertising or Promotions Outside the BP Marketplace." We put these rules in place to keep our forums free from the clutter and spam that you see in so many other online forums. 

"Disclosure:  Licensed agent in AZ" is much different both in spirit and in disclosure than  "I'm a licensed agent in Arizona with Blah Blah Real Estate. If you need any assistance finding a property I can help you out. I am an investor-friendly agent and can set you up to receive listings via email. I work all over the valley. Contact me at (phone number) or (email address)."

I am also a licensed agent, and I think every state has disclosure laws that read fairly similar to your state's: "A licensee must ensure that all advertising identifies, in a clear and prominent manner, the employing broker's legal name or the dba name contained on the employing broker's license certificate." 

BiggerPockets has provided all of our members with a way to disclose this information in your profile. Create an Agent Profile by going to  https://www.biggerpockets.com/profile/agent-profile. 

Pro members can set up a Signature that will display this information on every post you write. (See Russell Brazil's signature as an example of both agency name as well as license numbers.)  A Pro membership costs $39 per month or $390 per year. I know of no place where you can "advertise" for free, and no other site where you can get such a targeted market for your advertisements for such a low price. 

I don't believe any of our members have been cited for not disclosing their employing broker's name in the forums.