Under the Real Estate Board of New York s 72-hour rule, brokers are required to share listings within three days. Company heads say there has been general, if not perfect compliance with the rule, while a few have raised concerns about the issue of enforcement.
Neil Binder, principal of Bellmarc, said he thinks there has been “substantial compliance” on the part of brokers in abiding by the rule, though there is no way of knowing for sure, he said.
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Others were less uncertain.
“I haven t heard of any problems,” said Pam Liebman, CEO of Corcoran, adding that her company doesn t necessarily wait 72 hours before sending out listings. She said Corcoran would be supportive of shortening the time period for sharing listings even further.
“Barbara [Corcoran] was one of the early proponents of co-broking,” she said.
Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty Partnership, Ltd., said agents have been “pretty good” about sharing their listings within 72 hours.
Andrew Heiberger, president of Citi Habitats, said listings are typically being shared later than three days, though it hasn t been a major issue given the current market.
“I d say realistically five to seven days sharing is what is happening now,” he said.
Giving an agent time to hold on to a hot listing without sharing stops the bidding-up process during that period, some say. “But that hasn t been a problem because there have been no bidding wars,” Heiberger said.
In the end, Heiberger called attempts to make sure brokers share their listings “unenforceable.”
Stephen Spinola, President of REBNY, acknowledged that “everybody allows for the fact that maybe the other person is holding back” in terms of sharing listings in a timely matter.
He said that REBNY had gotten “no formal complaints” about the sharing of listings. When the board s Residential Interfirm Forum unanimously adopted the 72-hour rule last November, it said that failure to comply could result in a reprimand or suspension of membership.
David Michonski, Chairman and CEO of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy, said he “admires” REBNY for the 72-hour rule, but says there is “no teeth” as far as regulating the rule. “There is no recourse for people who don t comply,” he said. Under an MLS-type model, brokers are actively fined or suspended from the organization for not sharing listings, he said.
Binder said he doesn t think undertaking punishment would be a good way to insure people share their listings in a timely fashion. “Once you start putting in teeth, then you create anger,” he said. He also said that it might lead to punishment of those who inadvertently forget to post listings.
“I think the spirit is to share our listings,” said Elizabeth Stribling, president of Stribling & Associates, “We all want to get them out and make a sale.”