On June 6, 2005, Senate Bill 673, sponsored by the Oklahoma Association of Realtors, was signed into law by Governor Brad Henry. In a similar move, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed SB810 into law.

Most Realtors in both states rejoiced, as the measures were designed to "uphold protections" already outlined in state licensing statutes.

"We couldn't be more pleased that the governor chose to protect consumers by upholding the protections outlined in Oklahoma's Broker Relationships Act," OAR President Theresa Stewart of Ada said. "This is a victory for both the real estate industry and Oklahoma consumers."

According to OAR, the consumer protections outlined in Oklahoma's Broker Relationships Act, which are reiterated in SB673, include "treating all parties with honesty, timely presentation of all written offers and counteroffers, timely accounting for all money and property received by the broker, providing a written estimate of closing costs and disclosing information about the property as required by the Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act."

"All along, we've said SB673 is about upholding Oklahoma's Broker Relationships Act, and this new law ensures that Oklahoma consumers will still receive the protections they deserve when dealing with a licensed real estate professional," Stewart added.

SB673 was authored by Senator Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant and Representative Doug Miller, R-Norman. The bill passed the State Senate on May 19 with a 40-4 vote and the House of Representatives on May 25 with an 89-7 vote. Since SB673 contains an emergency clause, the law goes into effect immediately with the Governor's signature.

In Texas, a similar bill will go into effect September 1, 2005, to clarify the regulation of certain transactions relating to the sale of real estate.

Among the provisions will be Sec. 1101.557, which provides that a broker license holder who represents a party in a real estate transaction or who lists real estate for sale under an exclusive agreement for a party "is acts as that party's agent, and a broker may not instruct another broker to directly or indirectly violate Section 1101.652(b)(22)" (to negotiate with the seller directly instead of with the agent) "and must inform the party if the broker receives material information related to a transaction to list, buy, sell, or lease the party's real estate, including the receipt of an offer by the broker; and shall, at a minimum, answer the party's questions and present any offer to or from the party."

According to the Texas Association of Realtors (TAR) website, the law "helps define a real estate broker's duties to his or her client" as well as clarifies existing law enacted by the Texas Real Estate Commission which governs licensing. TREC requires a broker under an exclusive relationship with a principal to negotiate the best possible transaction for the client.

What these laws mean is that the minimum level of service has been clarified from existing state licensing laws -- from the trade to the public. They mean that the broker must at a minimum present offers to and from the client and must answer the client's questions.

While this may seem an expected minimum of service, consumers have recently been introduced to new real estate business models in which brokers seeking to compete by providing minimum services. They are creating what's known as MLS-only listing agreements in which they put the seller's home into the MLS for a nominal fee but do not support the seller or take on further risk or expense by providing any additional advice or services unless asked and for additional fees.

The advantage for the new business models is that unlike typical commission models, the MLS-only broker is paid in advance and the fee is non-refundable. While that could work in theory for some experienced sellers, some brokers have complained that they are being asked by the MLS-only broker's client for advice and services that they are in violation of their licensing laws to provide.

Both real estate organizations, OAR and TAR, say the new laws simply clarify what a broker can and can't do for a consumer.