Your Comments on Option-Fee and Earnest-Money Delivery, Marketviewer, and CE Exemptions

February 01, 2019

REALTOR® feedback

A post on the Advice for REALTORS® blog about when option fees and earnest money should be delivered generated dozens of comments from members. While some wondered why the rules couldn’t be changed to streamline the delivery process, Alex Andrikos said that it makes sense to keep the two things separate. “There isn’t anything the seller can default on that would make the money revert to the buyer, so the seller should be paid the money directly, and quickly, since the buyer’s option starts right away.” Scott McDonald pointed out that REALTORS® are “supposed to put the seller’s needs above all others—including our own.”

Crystal Blake commented on a blog post about the MarketViewer data tool exclusively for members of Texas REALTORS® that she would like to see data from more neighborhoods. While there are hundreds of neighborhoods represented in MarketViewer, information is displayed only for geographic areas that provide data to the information sources used by MarketViewer. Neighborhoods must average at least five sales per month to show up in the data. Members of Texas REALTORS® can access the MarketViewer dashboard at intinent.com/marketviewer.

Another post about brokers who are exempt from TREC’s mandatory broker-responsibility course—and other CE requirements—prompted questions from many brokers who had not heard of the ability for brokers to exempt themselves. That exemption applied only to eligible brokers who applied for the grandfathered exemption in October 1991.

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