Code of Ethics Case Interpretation: Advertising Real Estate-Related Products and Services

This ongoing series explores the NAR Code of Ethics through various case interpretations. Please read through the following case and try to decide if there was any Code of Ethics violations. Then click the box at the bottom to find out the answer. (These cases have been provided by the National Association of REALTORS®.)

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Code of Ethics Case Interpretation – Article 6: Advertising R​eal Estate-Related Products and Services

Realtor® X, a principal broker in the firm XY&Z, developed a robust, interactive website that he used both to publicize his and to serve the firm’s clients and customers electronically. REALTOR® X maintained positive business relationships with providers of real estate-related products and services including financial institutions, title insurance companies, home inspectors, mortgage brokers, insurance agencies, appraisers, exterminators, decorators, landscapers, moving companies, and others. Given the volume of business REALTOR® X’s firm handled, several of these companies purchased banner advertisements on the XY&Z website and some, including the Third National Bank, included links in their banner ads to their own websites.

Buyer B, who had earlier entered into an exclusive buyer representation agreement with XY&Z, received frequent e-mail reports from REALTOR® X about new properties coming onto the market. Hoping to purchase a home in the near future, he explored Realtor® X’s website to learn more about the home buying process and familiarize himself with the real estate-related products and services advertised there. Understanding that pre-qualifying for a mortgage would ensure he presented the strongest offer, Buyer B went to REALTOR® X’s website and clicked on the Third National Bank’s link. Once at the bank’s website, he found a mortgage to his liking, completed the on-line application process, and learned in a matter of days that he was qualified for a mortgage loan.

In the meantime, Buyer B’s property search proved fruitful. REALTOR® X and Buyer B visited a new listing on Hickory Street several times. Buyer B decided it met his needs and made an offer which was accepted by the seller.

A few weeks after the closing, Buyer B hosted a housewarming attended by his friend D, a website designer who had, coincidentally, been instrumental in developing REALTOR® X’s website. Buyer B told D how helpful the information from REALTOR® X’s website had been. “You know, don’t you, that each time a visitor to REALTOR® X’s website clicks on some of those links, REALTOR® X is paid a fee?”, asked D. “I didn’t know that,” said Buyer B, “I thought the links were to products and services REALTOR® X was recommending.”

Buyer B filed an ethics complaint against REALTOR® X alleging a violation of Article 6 for having recommended real estate products and services without disclosing the financial benefit or fee that REALTOR® X would receive for making the recommendation. At the hearing, REALTOR® X defended himself and his website, indicating that the advertisements for real estate-related products and services on his website were simply that, advertisements, and not recommendations or endorsements. He acknowledged that he collected a fee each time a visitor to his website clicked on certain links, regardless of whether the visitor chose to do business with the “linked to” entity or not. “In some instances I do recommend products and services to clients and to customers. In some instances I receive a financial benefit; in others I don’t. But in any instance where I recommend a real estate-related product or service, I go out of my way to make it absolutely clear I am making a recommendation, and I spell out the basis for my recommendation. I also disclose, as required by the Code, the financial benefit or fee that I might receive. Those banner advertisements on my website are simply that, advertisements.”