February Membership Event 2018 New Advertising, Forms and Laws Update February 22, 2018 Presented by California Association of REALTORS Assistant General Counsel Neil Kalin
2018 Advertising Standards For Licensees
License Designation (Broker, agent, REALTOR or abbreviation) Required in newspaper, periodical or mail (Used to have exception for classified rental ads with phone # or address of rental) Bus. & Prof. Code 10140.6(a) and BRE Regulation 2770.1
License # Required on Solicitation Materials that are Point of First Contact and Real Estate Contracts Includes business cards, stationary, flyers, ads on tv, in print or electronic media, for sale, for lease, open house and directional signs, and other materials intended to solicit (such as websites owned, controlled or maintained by licensee, email, regular mail, leaflets) No smaller than the smallest print Excludes (1) generic open house, directional and for sale signs without any licensee name and (2) signs only identifying broker but not salesperson or broker associate Used to exclude all for sale signs on or around the property DRE, (BRE, CalBRE until July 1), RE Lic. (Not just number) (Winter 2017 R.E. Bulletin) Bus. & Prof. Code 10140.6(b) and BRE Regulation 2773
Identification of Broker Law - Same as for salesperson license #. All solicitation materials that are point of first contact must include responsible broker identity Responsible broker identity is name used in business (not name of individual designated officer of a corporate real estate broker) NAR Standard of Practice 12-5 requires an ad to include name of firm in a readily-apparent way AOR interprets NAR Code of Ethics may have own view on generic open directional or open house signs *Note difference in between Team Advertising Rules
Team Names
Team Name Advertising Must include at least 1 team member full name and license # Must have broker name as prominent as Team Name (not required to have broker license #)
Team Name Requirements 1 salesperson plus at least one other licensee 1 salesperson surname plus one of these three words: Group, Team or Associates Name does not suggest independence from broker Name can include Real Estate or Realty if other requirements met
Fictitious Business Names Salesperson can only use legal name Broker, either corporate or individual licensee, can have a FBN. *No name of salesperson Salesperson can use a Team name, if rules are followed, and not considered a FBN
2018 New Laws and Forms
Home Inspector Report Regarding Swimming Pool Safety Features (Senate Bill 442) New pool construction must have 2 of 7 features (such as enclosed fencing, alarm on home exit doors, pool entry alarm, approved cover, removable mesh fencing with self-latching gate) For existing pools, inspection report must identify which feature exists for already built pools
Recording Tax Fees (Senate Bill 2) Recording fee of $75 $225 per transaction to fund affordable housing fund Excludes transaction is which documentary transfer tax already required or transfers to an owner occupant (does apply to refinance, for example)
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Up to 20% deduction for business income (maximum income limits) Reduction in MID and SALT Keep 250/500 thousand capital gain exclusion
December 2017 Forms Amendment to Existing Agreement Terms (C.A.R. form AEA) Property Images Agreement (C.A.R. form PIA) Team Agreement (C.A.R. form TEAM)
June 2018 Forms Buyer Homeowner Association Advisory Seller Disclosure Instruction Revised Statewide Buyer and Seller Advisory
Recent Case of Interest
Jacobs v. Coldwell Banker (injury while viewing property) 2d Civil No. B277832 Decided: August 14, 2017
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