We recognize that agents may find themselves selling or purchasing a property for their own account while employed by Buy the Beach Realty Group. While it may appear that this activity can be carried on without restriction or involvement with the Company, there is an inherent conflict-of-interest in agents’ personal transactions which are not handled through participation by the Company.
Agents working in our office are given access to potential Buyers who are acquired through company-paid advertising, marketing and the retail location maintained by the Company. An agent Selling his or her own property which is not listed with Buy the Beach Realty is inevitably going to offer his or her own property to a potential Buyer acquired through these means. Moreover, supplies including on-line access to real estate contracts and forms and to our application servers is not “free like the rain”, it is a cost the Company bears in order to earn revenue.
Another area of conflict would be an agent selling a property and listing it with a competing broker. In the course of acting as an agent of the Company, you seek out listings from property owners by asking them to list property with Buy the Beach Realty Group. If our own agents are unwilling to use our services, then they should not be representing our Company to the public. We shall, therefore, terminate for cause any agent so doing without having first obtained written consent from Senior Management.
Finally, it should be obvious that your access to the MLS and status as a licensee is a condition of your employment by Company. Any purchase transaction of MLS-listed property which circumvents participation by the Company is an abuse of the reason these facilities exist.
Therefore we have established the following rules pertaining to agents real estate activity:
 | Agents may not list property in Miami-Dade County in the MLS through any other company or scheme other than by listing it with Buy the Beach Realty Group. |
| Agents must submit offers to purchase property listed in the MLS through Buy the Beach Realty Group. |
Finally a comment on the one area we have left blank…so far: Agents selling their own property as “Fisbos.” At this time we are not going to ban this activity outright. Situations occur where an agent might decide to advertise and market his or her own property or sell it to a neighbor or acquaintance. But I am frankly not comfortable with this activity for essentially the same reasons as stated above.
First off, if Fisbos really “save” commissions by informal marketing, it raises the question of whether you, as an agent, believe you offer something of value to the public. I believe that the evidence is clear that we do and we practice what we preach. All of you are always offered the opportunity to earn a sales commission when we market our own property. I believe it is foolish and short-sighted to bypass a system that manifestly works to the benefit of Sellers.
Second, even without arranging to place it on MLS, an agent marketing his or her own property to customers procured by Company activity and expense is an abuse of those facilities. The agent becomes an “in house” competitor, a parasite. It breaks down the trust and confidence which should exist between the Company and the agent and will adversely affect all agent’s access to sales leads and customers. So whether formally forbidden or not, this is not a smart move.