Over the years the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has developed a comprehensive Code of Ethics dealing with a wide variety of situations and circumstances that may arise in the real estate business. Members of NAR -- the only persons entitled to claim the designation of "Realtor®" -- agree to abide by the spirit and the requirements of that code.

In recent years, though, it has sometimes not been entirely clear as to how, or even if, the provisions of the Code of Ethics apply to the business activities in which Realtors® engage on the internet. This lack of clarity has no doubt been exacerbated by the anything-goes, no-rules, wild-west atmosphere that has sometimes been associated with the net. For Realtors®, questions about the applicability of the ethics code have recently been answered.

Recently the Professional Standards Committee of NAR submitted to its Board of Directors a number of recommendations for internet-related amendments and additions to the Code. This occurred at the association's mid-year meetings which were held in Washington, D.C. The recommendations were wholeheartedly adopted, and will become effective with next January's publication of the updated edition of the Code. It is clear that these recommendations represented only a beginning, and that further internet-related updates will be forthcoming.

Of the recommendations presented in Washington, those that had to do with internet advertising are the ones that will probably have the greatest impact on Realtor® practices. These fall under the general provision of the Code of Ethics, Article 12, which stipulates that "Realtors® shall be careful at all times to present a true picture in their advertising and representations to the public."

Article 12 deals with more than what most might think of as "false advertising." That is, it doesn't only relate to what is said about a Realtor®'s products (properties for sale) or services. It also requires that an ad must be truthful about who is doing the advertising. Thus, when a Realtor® advertises a property for sale, he or she must include some indication of their professional status. (In California, this is a requirement of state law as well.) Not only does the Code require that the professional status of the individual be indicated, but also it requires that the name of the firm must be stated in the ad.

Article 12 is occasionally breached in print media, but it seems to be done with much greater frequency in the electronic environment. Agent websites, particularly those of teams, will sometimes lack the name of the broker or realty firm with which the agent is associated. The newly-adopted amendment makes clear that, even in electronic environments, the name of the broker's firm must be displayed.

Moreover, it is also required that the Realtor®'s firm name be displayed in "a reasonable and readily apparent manner." We've all seen signs where a firm name appears in considerably smaller print than does that of the agent. On a web page, it is even easier for a firm name to be "lost" as it may take a bit of scrolling even to find it. There is little doubt that this issue will be revisited as disputes arise as to what "readily apparent" may mean. An agent website typically consists of a number of pages, will the firm name have to appear on every page, or on the "frame" of each page?

At this point, more questions than answers have been raised with regard to applying the Code to the internet environment. There will be further discussions about misleading domain names (e.g. nameofcitymls.com) and even meta tags that trick a search engine and lead a consumer to an agent site posing as something else. All of this will get sorted out in time, maybe. But one thing is crystal clear right now: Realtors® should know that the Code of Ethics definitely applies to advertising and other business activities on the internet.

Published: June 8, 2006

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Bob Hunt is a director of the National Association of Realtors and is author of the recently published book, "Real Estate the Ethical Way." A graduate of Princeton with a master's degree from UCLA in philosophy, Hunt has served as a U.S. Marine, Realtor association president in South Orange County, and director of the California Association of Realtors, and is an award-winning Realtor. Contact Bob at .