How Do I Sign South Carolina Advertising Agreement Template

How do i document type sign advertising agreement template south carolina

well hello there my name is Matthew thrift and I am the broker in charge of the Simpsonville and Greer offices of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Seaton Joyner Realtors here in Greenville South Carolina and this video will discuss and hopefully teach the SCR form 220 also known as exclusive right to sell listing agreement as you know just this past January January 1st 2020 the South Carolina Association of Realtors changed some things in our listing agreement we've we've bought it more up to date we've added a few things that we needed to add and I'm wanting this to go out to as many people as possible so you can get the latest information on the latest contracts that are available to you as a South Carolina realtor [Music] now as always in my videos I always start off by saying I am NOT an attorney I am a human being I am errant therefore I can make a mistake and since I may or may not be your broker and especially if I'm not your broker my disclaimer is always always always check with your broker to make sure they want you to do something that I've explained and if they don't please go by your brokers recommendations not mine remember this is being put out for agents of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Seaton Joyner Realtors agents not only just for Simpsonville and greer but for other agents throughout the company but if you do not work for our company please again I implore you check with your broker and if you feel that I've said something wrong please kindly let me know and I can get it corrected but also check with your broker okay so I think I've I think I've nailed that disclaimer into the ground anyway let's let's start out by talking about the first section on page 1 so the first section doesn't really have a number it's just basically the basic information who are the sellers who is the listing brokerage you see it there in that blank line you put your seller 1 your seller - how many sellers that you have obviously if you need more room you can use an addendum for that for if you have multiple sellers also in our company it's ok since this is not a a marketable document we can use the acronym be HHS see the enjoin or Realtors you do not need to have your office for example Simpson biller Greer its just see them join a realtor since we're all one large company it's going to continue on in that second paragraph there for the beginning start date that's pretty self-explanatory and at the next blank line there the ending a date that's pretty self-explanatory you need to have a start and end date for your listing agreements if you don't it's considered not a it's considered a voidable listing agreement everything a contracts have to have a start and end date fill out your lot block section and subdivision especially your subdivision and on going down below that's pretty easy fill out your address and then it's art in its entirety definitely don't miss your tax Mach number if you are listing more than one property for these same sellers let's say the tax amount numbers are attached my preference is that you have a separate listing agreement for that particular tax map number I remember an MLS you can only list one tax amount number so I would prefer to have a totally separate listing agreement if your listing more than one tax map number and then the MLS just refer back to each tax Mountain number within your member remarks the next section there talks about any other property that's going to be sold now remember we don't sell real property but our lenders do allow us to have a refrigerator washer and dryer now for the most part the most loans allow refrigerator washer and dryer to be actually in the state contracts so if your sellers want you to just list that as part of the part of the house so you can go ahead and put that there if you prefer or anything else that's that's necessary right there you can do so now let's go on to actually section one section one is the to disclose dual and designated agency in that first line when in when a seller or sellers initial there they are stating that you as a listing agent have provided them the meaningful explanation of dis of brokerage relationships or agency the south from the South Carolina disclosure of brokerage relationships document promulgated by the LLR that you've provided a meaningful explanation of that and you've also provided them a copy of that so they understand the differences between single dual and designated agency now the second and third line there allows a seller to decide whether or not they're going to agree or not agree to dual agency some sellers only want you as the listing agent to represent them they do not want you representing a buyer you need to have that conversation up front the same thing goes for lines three or four that is designed for designated agency which we all know if you as a listing agent list of property and another agent within your office brings a buyer the seller will be provided a time to say yes or no to designate an agency now they can do that right up front here they can automatically say no right up front most of the time we see sellers saying yes it's okay for designated agency but remember in each of these the dual or designated if they're saying they will agree to it or think about it at the time on lines three or five there remember if either one of those things happen you must have a separate dual or designated agency document signed by all parties so just keep that in mind if that does happen there's not a whole lot in that section let's go into section two section two is the terms of the agreement and and basically there's not a whole lot to this but basically it's the listing price what the seller is going to pay the listing brokerage or your listing fee and on the screen there if it says six or seven or five or whatever the case may be remember I'm not going to talk about commissions here whatever your brokerage charges to list a property or whatever you charge specifically to list a property that's where you would go if you see a number there that's strictly for demonstrational purposes only that is not a suggestion just so you know so it's basically the listing price of the property what is the property going to be listed at in the MLS or wherever it's marketed and then your commission your listing fee that the seller is going to pay the listing brokerage and then it has another line there for a dollar amount if you're going to charge a flat fee now there are some people some agents out there that charge flat fees instead of a percentage that's okay - there's nothing wrong with that check with your office policy and with your broker however they want you to handle that the next lines they're also discussing a dollar amount or percentage amount that you are going to that the listing brokerage is going to pay the cooperating broker yeah again if there's a number there it's strictly for demonstrational purposes it could be two it could be two and a half it could be three it before it could be five it could be ten whatever the case may be that is your cooperating brokerage fee that is going to go within the MLS that is going to be the payment that is going to come out of the listing Commission or listing fee to be paid to the cooperating broker that's all that that is discussing there it also says in that second paragraph that we're going to defer the Commission that's earned once a ready willing and able buyer presents an offer and the property goes under contract that theoretically the Commission is earned when that happens but this contract states that we're going to defer that commission until the closing date or that default by the owner if the seller pulls out of the contract theoretically this contract gives us or the listing brokerage the opportunity to secure the commission that was earned by bringing a ready willing and able buyer basically it's deterring sellers from just having a property marketed getting a property under contract and then deciding later not to sell that's kind of a hey don't do this because we're entitled to our Commission because we earned it when we brought you're ready willing and able buyer if the property is sold within blanket number of days the expiration or termination of this agreement it's the protection period of us for us I should say but that last line is the kicker says the protection period shall be terminated if owners or owner enters into a listing agreement with another brokerage during the protection period and that's a lot of times what happens when a listing agreement or a listing goes expired or withdrawn a lot of times a seller will then enter into another agreement with another listing brokerage therefore this protection period does in fact go away now when this would come into play is if a seller decided to list a property and then the agent would market the property and after a period of time then there's been showings and the agent is doing their job the listening brokerage is doing their job to market the property seller decides to go behind the listing brokerages back and stop the contract so that the seller can get together with whoever's come to them and they're going behind their brokerages back to sell the property without having to go through the listing brokerage that's what this is designed to do it's also designed to turn that for sellers to do that we don't really see a whole lot of that happening because of the language in this contract so that's a good thing but just understand just because your listing expires you're withdrawn if the property is listed with another brokerage your protection period goes away don't forget to have all owners initial on the bottom as well as the listing agent it says broker have read this page on the bottom that is not necessary the broker charge remember the Brooklyn Church duties are passed to you under your underneath that the broker's license so you can go ahead I prefer you go ahead and initial this document because this is a document that is a contract between the seller and the listing brokerage so you go and initial there have all your sellers initial there as well continue on in section 2b for the purposes of this Agreement a so shall be defined as at any transfer of a legal equitable or beneficial interest in the subject property whether for money or in exchange of another property and she'll include would not be limited to any transfer that ownership interest in any cooperation limited partnership partnership or other entity they're just defining what a transfer is and what the purpose of this document is other than that let's go on to Section three compensation to other brokerages section three discusses the compensation to other brokerages and I'm not gonna read it all basically in our brokerage in berkshire hathaway CN Joyner Realtors we our policy allows us to pay buyers agents and it allows us to pay transaction brokerages so we're not going to pay sub agency it's against our policy if you're watching this video and you do not work for Berkshire Hathaway please check with your broker please check your policy manual your your policies may be different than ours but in this company our policy is that we pay listing agents pay buyer's agents to bring buyers and we also pay those agents that only have a customer in the transaction therefore they're not being fully represented under single agency they're being brought to the transaction by the agent as a customer in South Carolina therefore we are going to pay them a transaction brokerage fee to bring them to buy our property this is just good practice as far as what our company has decided and is concerned we want to give our sellers the the the most people looking at their property and that's one of the reasons why we pay transaction brokerage as well as buyer's agents so therefore it's pretty simple you either put a percentage there or you put the flat fee and that's going to also go in your Multiple Listing Service listing so therefore these two need to match up and be a and your MLS or it could be something else it's be a in the Greenville MLS should match that number and then T B should match the transaction brokerage number that you have there other than that that's all there is in section 3 let's go into section 4 section 4 talks about earnest money and basically this entire section is the seller providing authority for an escrow agent or escrow holder such as the brokerage or the closing attorney or an escrow holder of some sort that all earnest money will be deposited within an escrow agents account for the purposes of that money being credited to the seller at closing the sellers providing authority but what I really want to to go over is just underneath that section where it says owner understands that under all circumstances including default broker will not disburse earnest money to either party until both parties have executed an agreement authorizing the disbursement or until a court of competent jurisdiction has directed a disbursement please get that a point to your sellers if there's a default by the buyer during the contract for sale just because the seller may think that they're owed earnest money for a default or some other reason unless there's a meeting of the minds and both parties agree for their disbursement money will sit in an escrow agents account especially a brokerages or real estate brokerages account now if an attorney is holding it an attorney's office an attorney escrow agent is not held under the same standards as a real estate brokerage a trust account and the attorney may have their own disbursement escrow disbursement agreement based upon the circumstances and so we're seeing a lot more of that in 2020 so just make sure that when earnest money is is held by an attorney that an escrow disbursement agreement hopefully they have one and that the seller gets a copy of that so they know exactly what's going to happen especially when the property goes under contracts if there was some sort of default with their earnest money if it's held by a brokerage which our brokerage Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices see the in Joyner Realtors has gotten to a point where we're no longer holding escrow money we will in absolute extreme circumstances but we are directing all earnest money to be held by our attorney of choice or by the closing attorney so just make sure that you let them know if we did hold earnest money and there was a dispute our company would not release earnest money unless both the buyer and seller sign an agreement or a court of competent jurisdiction tells us how to disperse this agreement and maybe an interpleader action or some other court action other than that let's go into section 5 short section Section five signs we all want to sign in the front yard of our listing everybody wants to sign at least most agents do sometimes sellers don't so this section is really really simple I'll read it it's short owner grants to broker the exclusive right to display for sale under contract sale pending or other similar signs on their property and to remove other such signs they're giving us permission to do so right then and there point that out if your seller says they don't want any signs at all you may need to have them remove that or get their attorney to remove that by scratching that out but they're providing us permission right up front other than that there's not a whole lot to that section we're going to go on to Section six Section six talks about the brokers duties and basically it says what the broker is is going to do for the seller I'll just read a little bit here broker agrees to employ the best efforts of broker and brokers agents and staff to secure a contract of sale for the describe property upon such terms as may be agreeable to the owner that's a very broad statement the listing brokerage is stating there that they're going to do everything they possibly can to make sure that they bring the seller a contract so they get the property sold that's the reason for this agreement it goes on to say a few other things to keep the the seller informed of everything that's going on that they're going to advertise the property it multiple advertising media's of Mary customarily used in the area furnishing such additional information su h as necessary to cooperating real estate brokers especially the MLS I mean it just basically goes into everything that we're going to do to bring about a contract of sale and also at the last line their broker shall keep confident to all information received during the course of this Agreement which was made confidential by written requests or instructions from the client except us provided under South Carolina law basically you owe the seller a duty for confidentiality please keep your confidentiality that could be considered a violation of real estate law as well as a violation of the code of ethics so do your best efforts to get the property sold that is your duty as a listing agent as well as your listing brokerages let's go on to section seven section seven as you can see there is in italics and this is in our buyers agency agreement as well and this I get a lot of questions on this section because it it tends to have some wording in there that would make possibly some sellers and or buyers uncomfortable and a lot of agents have a difficult time explaining this because of some of the wording in here not that it's wrong remember SC our Southland Association of Realtors protects their members LLR protects members of the public so this is a protection clause for us and instead of me reading it and getting you all confused let me basically explain this this this section basically it says everything that we're doing we're providing services were providing advice we're providing benefits and assistance and and value to the seller but if you or the listing brokerage does something in error or unintentional that the seller is not an agreement agreement with or may cause the seller a loss this section states that if the seller decides to file a lawsuit that the seller would only be entitled to obtain that of which they would have paid you to get the property sold basically the Commission amount if you do things that are not willful or intentional to cause the loss if it's just an accident they don't like it they take in a court buy this contract there only it says that they're only able to get what their Commission amount what they would have paid you not exceeding the problem is is that people have a tendency to read on in this because it says as well as covering all of the fees and court costs for the so that's where we run into a little bit of a problem that sellers may not like that they said it says that they're going to cover your court fees and costs it also says that the seller will hold harmless and indemnify parties that the listing brokerage or the listing agent has recommended for example home inspectors or professional service providers of some sort if they do something and the seller goes after them this document says that they're going to hold the agent harmless you really need to know this section because this is a pretty important section people want to know that they have some rights so just read that put it in to maybe highlight a few different words and let them see that now if there's a problem with a seller with this area my recommendation is to have them contact a real estate attorney or another attorney how the attorney explained this section as well and if the attorney and them want to get together with how they want to change this that is totally up to them in the attorney and they will needs to be an agreement between you or the listing broker the listing brokerage to find out whatever changes need to be made I'm not recommending changing a contract whatsoever especially for agents to do that that's the unauthorized practice of law so have an attorney look that over if there's any problem with the seller in this section it's my professional advice and opinion other than that let's go into section 8 Section eight talks about the owners duties now if you're going to spend a lot of time here I any other area of this contract I would suggest you spending the most of your time here so sellers know exactly what you need their help with remember selling a home between an agent and a listing brokerage is a partnership it's a symbiotic relationship therefore owners need to do something to help you and the listing brokerage get the property sold so we're going to go through a few of these to furnish broker with complete and reliable information well that's a given we need to know everything we need to know about the property so that we can sell it with all proper information and to disclose anything that we need to disclose we need to know that to inform broker of any inquiries from other brokers or negotiations concerning to sell the property that's pretty simple to permit inspection and showing of the property by broker that brokers agents or sub-agents buyer's agents and by such agents a sub agents and prospective buyers as deemed reasonably necessary by broker to cooperate and the scheduling and carrying out of such showings and instructions as is necessary basically to let people in to see the property to help us show the property so we can get us hold for them to permit offering for sale of the property to prospective buyers without regard to age sex race creed color religion national origin handicap or familial status we don't deal with discrimination here at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices see then Joyner Realtors we need the sellers not to do that as well that could be considered fair a fair housing issue and could we could get the federal government involved we don't want that to happen when you make sure there's non-discrimination totally across the board this section II sometimes I get a lot of questions on this because there's a blank line there for a dollar amount to permit broker to incur or pay on behalf of owner reasonable expenses for repairs inspection utilities maintenance or similar expenses not to exceed a dollar amount for each separate expense and to reimburse broker as necessary upon receipt of the statement of expenses so here's a hypothetical so if I'm listing a property or if you're listing a property and the the seller is out of town for several weeks in the summer and you know that the grass is growing in this section the seller can actually provide up to a certain dollar amount for you to make sure that the yard is being maintained and to pay the landscape vendor for that and then the seller will reimburse you those expenses that's just a really quick quick way to explain that section II and it says to allows closing attorney to pay brokers compensation and an amount equal to the compensation provided above remember the section that we're talking about in section 3 from owners proceeds at the time of closing again at the bottom of the page you have some initials there for all the owners and for the listing agent to initial on page 3 we go on with several more duties by the by the for the seller I should say to grant to broker the authority and approval to list and publish all sales data pretending to the sell and closing of the of of the hearing above the SCAR property owner understands and acknowledges that sales data are published for the use of information for members of the boards and associations basically once this property sells we're going to publish that so other agents can use that for the comparative market analysis and other stuff like that for sales data so they're giving us permission to do that H to permit broker to take photographs and for advertising and marketing purposes and advertising mediums with those photographs see it says owner understands and acknowledges that all marketing materials including but not limited to photographs pushers and websites develop for the sale of the subject property shall remain the property the broker just because you take prop photographs of a person's house they know they are not owned by the seller I to convey marketable title to buyer and fee simple free from all liens except those stipulated here in subject to existing zoning and government restrictions applicable owners association assessments and restrictive conditions and covenants of record which do not materially affect to the property and j2 authorized owners attorneys and the settlement agent to furnace to broker copies at the final settlement statement for the transaction part of the closing date it says Kay not to deal directly with prospective buyers that's huge they need to refer to you the sellers need to refer to you any buyers that contact them not to deal directly with prospective buyers of this property during the period of this agency and shall refer shall not may shall refer any inquiries received directly and immediately to the broker now L this is huge because this this is also within your code of ethics l to authorize the broker in response to inquiries from buyers or cooperating brokers to divulge the existence of offers on the property the Code of Ethics states you must provide that information if given permission by the seller this listing agreement provides you permission to give the existence of multiple offers on a property or the existence of other offers on a property it does not give you permission to tell them the price of the offer it says to give them permission to divulge the existence of offers on the property just like your code of ethics says so just make sure they understand that as well to an am last portion to furnish broker with written instructions regarding the confidentiality of information upon termination or completion of this agreement which was received during the course of this agreement in accordance with South Carolina law if they specifically want you to maintain confidentiality on something specific that may not necessarily be confidential they need to write that in instructions to you other than that let's go into section 9 section nine talks about the sellers disclosure and the fact that the seller is going to provide one to you now remember there's some exemptions in there well where listings will not have a seller disclosure but in general and for the most part all listings that we have for the most part unless it's a an a an estate sale or a foreclosure or transfer from one family member to another for the most part you have sellers disclosures in our listings so it talks about that the seller is going to fill that out in its entirety it also says in the middle of the section there I'm not going to read it it's it's fairly long read it to read it read it read this contract over and over know it like the back of your hand but it also says that the seller will hold the listing brokerage harmless and indemnify them in the fact that any problems arose out of the filing of this document or filling this document out remember we cannot touch this document at all we can't fill it out for them we can be a scribe if they're let's say for lack of a better hypothesis and be ascribed to them but we can't answer questions or fill this out on their behalf let's go on to section 10 section 10 talks about disclosure and there's a whole lot of disclosure that we can refer to here but basically it says that the the seller is going to provide to the broker the brokers agents it says sub agents and prospective buyers or buyers agents they're going to disclose anything about the property that they know it's as such disclosure shall be in accordance with brokers company policy and it says owner hereby authorizes anyone having a lien against the property so it's not just as closing the presence of a problem or a material fact it says they're going to disclose the fact that they have a lien against a property including the mortgage holder to disclose complete information about the lien to broker and the closing attorney so if they have a lien against property it says they need to disclose it so we know how to best advise them and they need to disclose that to the attorney so they can get the final payoff I mean that's pretty self-explanatory pretty easy let's talk about section 11 taxes section 11 is taxes and this is a short section I'm gonna read the entire thing just because there's some things in here that I really want to get a get across to you owner covenants and agrees to comply with the provisions of South Carolina Code section twelve eighty five eighty as amended regarding withholding requirements of owners who are not residents of South Carolina as defined in the said statute the payment of rollback taxes if applicable and passed personal property taxes if applicable shall be negotiated between the owner and the perspective buyer remember in our contract for sale and our raw land contract for sale there's decision whether who's going to pay rollback taxes and if it you know sometimes a person can't pay the personal property taxes and a buyer is willing to buy the property and pay any property taxes that are are owed on the property that the buyer takes that on now that's not often but that does happen and if you a if you are representing a seller that's from out of state there could be some and more than likely there's going to be some taxes withheld for selling a property when you're not a residents of South Carolina I wouldn't make any advice on that I would have them speak to the closing attorney on that if they are a resident outside of South Carolina remember we're not tax professionals we're real-estate agents stay in your lane don't make professional tax advice so that's the reason why I wanted to really kind of discuss that a little bit more let's go into section twelve section 12 doesn't really affect us here in Greenville so to speak because it's the coastal tidelands and wetlands act this is more for the southern areas or the coastal areas of the state but we'll talk about it in in any case because other people are also watching this particular video not just here in Greenville it says in the event the property is affected by the provisions of the South Carolina coastal tidelands of wetlands act and it gives the section there an addendum will be attached to the sales agreement incorporating the required disclosures the payment of any necessary surveys shall be negotiated between the owner and other and any prospective buyer so if the property is affected by it there needs to be another remember correction addendum and the other documents and disclosures that goes along with that again it doesn't affect us here in Greenville about other areas of the state this does affect so please make sure that you have those addendums and those disclosures when that time is when that time comes let's go on to section 13 section 13 talks about the Multiple Listing Service and this document actually gives us permission to list a property in our Multiple Listing Service now it says it's shower shall not be entered into the multiple listing services of which the worker is a member which shall constitute an offer of cooperating brokers remember the Multiple Listing Service is cooperation with other brokerage and compensation to the person or agent or listing company that brings the buyer it's a compensation agreement to all members of the listing service owner agrees that broker may compensate any agent representing the buyer from the fees described above remember we already talked about that now there it's a Shou or shall not for the purposes of this video I'm not going to go into the shall not it's most of the time it shall be now the shall not is when you get into an MLS exempt listings that's a totally different training that I'll probably do on a video and you will absolutely need to check with your broker too especially due to the near the the clear cooperation policy that was just put into effect by the National Association of Realtors and all other basically all other MLS's across the country for clear cooperation when you do an MLS exempt listing so I'm not going to get into that on this section well get into that on another video other than that if you need to somebody does not want to do a listing of them in the MLS if you don't know how to handle that check with your broker okay that's all I'm gonna say about that in this section let's go on to section 14 section 14 talks about lockboxes and whether or not the seller will allow you as the listing broker agent or brokerage to put a lockbox on their property most of the time this is not even an issue you get a lockbox it's secure people are ok with that they realize that only realtors for the most part have a lockbox and there's other security measures if you're not a realtor that you can't just walk up to a lockbox and get the key they understand that but I want to bring up something to your attention it says owner acknowledges and agrees that neither broken or brokers agents sub agents or anyone showing the property through the MLS shall be responsible for any damage to or loss of personal property or to the realty except such damage or loss may be caused by the negligence of such party by the negligence of the person showing ok it says on page 4 top of page 4 owner further acknowledges that broker nor MLS is an insurer against the loss of personal property and agrees to release broker and MLS from any responsibility therefore so there's always going to be a some protection in there and for some liability when people are being given to access to somebody's house and so they just need to know the seller needs to know we're not an insurer if if there's a no fault of the party we're not responsible for that so if there's damage that are caused for an accident by the way we're not responsible for that so hopefully understand that hopefully the seller understands that again not hard to understand but just I wanted to bring that to your attention let's go into section 15 section 15 talks internet marketing and whether the owner agrees or does not agree that the listing may be placed in electronic marketing mediums including but not limited to the internet the Multiple Listing Service internet data exchange so it goes on other brokerages websites or other similar online computer services and to sharing the listing data including the property address with other members of the MLS for marketing and advertising purposes only owner further agrees to permit other real estate firms who belong to any listing service of which brokers a member to advertise the listing on the Internet in accordance with the listing service rules and regulations now let me say this there are areas when you place this property on MLS that you can uncheck Internet data exchange and it going to other brokerages and to go on other websites there's areas in the MLS that can do that word it will only keep it on the MLS make sure that the owner understands if they don't want it out there that you're gonna have to do that but that's gonna limit the exposure of the property and that may not be the very best thing for the seller to do so there are other ways around if somebody does not want our sellers not want their property really out there on the internet or being shown on other brokerages web sites or shown on realtor.com Zillow com speak with your broker about that for the most part we don't really see does not agree we see almost all sellers providing that information knowing or giving us permission to do that knowing that these main web sites the Zillow Trulia the other ones out there other listing brokerages even in the MLS that's a high percentage of what gets property sold nowadays so again not a whole lot there let's go on to section 16 section 16 talks about other offers and it says the owner understands that the brokers responsibility to present offers to purchase to the owner for owners consideration terminates at closing well that's a given why would we present an offer on a property that's already closed of the subject property or expiration of this agreement which ever occurs first I mean that's pretty well simple now in South Carolina remember even if that property goes under contract we have to present all offers all offers even at the properties under contract but this contract allows us if the property is closed and somebody wants to offer on the property that terminates it closing or the exploration of this agreement we do not have to present an offer after the expiration of this agreement not a whole lot there let's go on to section 17 section 17 is a very short section is called marketing the property the brokers shall not continue to market the property after an offer has been accepted unless requested in writing by the owner to do so now this this document says that we don't have to do that we don't think it's continued to market it I'm of the belief that a property basically should be marketed should have a sign and everything else until the property is closed now we obviously are not going to say that it's active when it's under contingent or pending contract that would be a epical violation however we continue to market the property and we keep marketing materials on it and we answer questions about it because anything could happen between contracts are closed so your brokerage may be different I'm of the belief that we should continue to market properties even after contract check with your broker on that whatever they want to do however they want to do it let's go into section 18 section 18 talks about the fact that there's no control of commission rates or fees basically our company charges a certain dollar amount and the policy allows our agents to drop to a certain amount without broker permission and then if you drop below a certain amount you will another certain amount you will need broker permission to do so that's our basic policy now we have no idea what other brokerages charge we we have no control over what they charge what we charge is what we charge and brokerages can't get together to to control that commission rate it's not a fixed thing across the board if they hot if they interview five other brokerages the they can get five different listing rates or fees so you need to make sure that the seller knows that we don't know what another listing brokerage would charge if they say they got another charge because they interviewed that person before you that's fine what we charge is what it is in our policy and we don't get together with other brokerages to fix commissions that is against federal law and antitrust there's really not a whole lot to say there so let's move on to section 19 maintenance section 19 talks about maintenance and what the seller needs to maintain from the listing agreement to the time of closing or possession so we'll read it it's not a whole lot to it not not hard to understand owner agrees to maintain the property including law and shrubbery and grounds until the day of closing your possession whichever occurs first owner also warrants of all heating air conditioning electrical and plumbing systems as well as built-in appurtenant equipment or appliances shall be an operative condition on the day of closing or possession again whichever occurs first unless otherwise agreed here n owner shall deliver the premises to the buyer with no broken panes known torn or missing door screens or window screens and with no missing or broken hardware lighting or plumbing fixtures not a whole lot there let's move on to section 20 the agreement to sell section 20 the agreement to sell when a buyer is found for said property the owner shall enter a written sales agreement which will contain the terms and conditions of sale the customary provisions as to the examination of the title the curing of any defects in title the proration of taxes rents and applicable property expenses basically a line to say we're going to list your property and then we're gonna get you into a contract for sale with a buyer that will explain all the terms of how the the passing of your property is going to go to the next buyer so not a whole lot there they just got to understand that a contract hopefully is imminent and will be coming because that's the way a property is transferred when we list it twenty-one lead-based paint not a whole lot to discuss here if the property was built prior to 1978 all listings need to have the federal lead-based paint document signed by all parties and the agents so just prepare your cellar if they have a property built prior to 1978 that a lead-based paint is going to need to be filed now most of the time most of the time sellers do not know whether those lead-based paint the property if they do and they have records of that that document will have check marks to say the seller has knowledge the seller has documents all the above most of the time we don't see that the seller has any knowledge of that just you know make sure you you let your sellers know they need to fill this document out if the property is built before 1978 pretty much self-explanatory there let's go into section 22 section 22 mediation clause basically even before I go into reading it basically what this clause allows is that if there's a problem that arises between the seller and the listing agent of the listing brokerage that the National Association of Realtors has set up mediation across the country and especially here in Greenville we have our own mediators and what they call Ombudsman to mediate certain circumstances that don't necessarily rise to the occasion of going to actual physical court that the seller and the agent or the listing brokerage can get together with mediators to determine you know what happened how can how can we keep from going to court to mediate between the parties so there is actions and and currencies for that with our local Association so they need to know that they do have some rights and that the National Association of Realtors has has put into place this particular program to keep people from having to spend you know hundreds and thousands of dollars of going to court these things can be taken care of the the one section in there it says disputes shall include representations made by owner or broker in connection with the services to which this agreement pertains including without limitation allegations of concealment misrepresentation negligence and/or fraud any agreements signed by the parties pursue it to the mediation conference shall be binding this mediation clause shall shall survive for a period of 120 days after the date of closing so there is a time frame there just make sure that everybody understands that but it is also binding once it's completed by the mediators it's a pretty short section as well it says owner and broker agree that the property is offered without regard to race color religion sex handicap familial status or national origin and is listed in full compliance with local state and federal fair housing laws so we avoid the very mirror essence of discrimination when we when we sell property and when we bring buyers to properties so please let your sellers know no discrimination whatsoever so hopefully that explains that let's go into section 24 section 24 facsimile says the parties agree that this agreement may be communicated by use of a fax or other secure electronic means including but not limited to the internet and the signatures initials and hand handwritten or typewriting modifications to any of the foregoing shall be deemed to be valid and binding upon the parties as if they were original signatures for example signed in blue ink original not copied initials and handwritten or typed written modifications were present on the documents and the handwriting of each party so if it's done digitally if something fax done through email it's the same exact thing as if it was an originally signed document that's pretty standard here in 2020 don't think we need to go on to any further information on that let's go to section 25 enforcement so section 25 so the parties agree that brokers may take action to enforce this agreement or collect any associated costs fees and damages owner agrees to reimburse or indemnify or pay all brokers cost and enforcing this agreement or collecting cost fees and damages including any incidental expenses or attorney's fees so again this document is meant to dissuade sellers from just merely suing and trying to collect fees from the listing agent of the listing brokerage they if there's a problem they want you to go to mediation keep everything out of court but this is an enforceable document therefore it's enforceable by the seller toward the listing company or listing brokerage or listing agent and it's also enforceable by the listing brokerage to go after the seller if they found out that the seller did something wrong so this is a legal and binding contract section 26 talks about the sex offender and criminal information I'm going to read this but I'm also going to make some very specific statements it says seller agrees that broker is not responsible for obtaining or disclosing information in the South Carolina sex offender registry and no course of action may be brought against the broker for failure to obtain or disclose sex offender or criminal information seller agrees that they have the sole responsibility to obtain their own sex offender deaths psychological stigma clandestine laboratory and crime information from sources for example law enforcement private investigators the internet the web the seller may obtain information about the sex offender registry and persons registered within the registry by contacting the local County Sheriff or other appropriate appropriate law enforcement officials here's what I want to say all about that okay it says it's not your responsibility for obtaining or disclosing I if that if this conversation comes up simply say I refer you to the local sheriff's office for anything regarding this we don't want to get ourselves involved in some lawsuit stating that somebody is or somebody was or somebody's living in some neighborhood that could be on there that is just something we don't even want to go toward and steer clear away from that information let your presence be known and let your opinion be known if this is important to them contact their local law enforcement or sheriffs Association to gather that information section 27 is a new section of this particular listing agreement or form 220 it wasn't in the contract before before January 2020 so let's definitely read this so we understand this section 27 Photography seller irrevocably conveys any and all of the sellers audio photography and video rights in perpetuity or in other words forever involving seller and sellers family and sellers property to broker for marketing and advertising and any other purpose deemed necessary by the broker so basically the way I understand this is when a photographer goes in there and there are other photos within the property that if the seller wants to leave those photos up in the property and your photographer and those photos are taken and a picture is taken up another picture they can't come back to us and say that there's a violation of copyright that's what this is trying to protect either conveying that those rights to us for taking photos for anything that's taken within there within their property so hopefully that explains that if not I would highly encourage you to contact the legal department of the South Carolina Association of Realtors for further information on that because again this is still so new we I've not even experienced anything we're involving this so if you have more questions about this I would refer you to the South Carolina Association of Realtors legal department and Legal Hotline section 28 surveillance this is pretty important considering everybody has a camera now it's a seller agrees to abide by any laws and regulations regulating audio and video surveillance of the property and persons entering the property including agreeing not to use any surveillance in areas where persons have an expectation of privacy such as restrooms seller agrees that the broker may or may not disclose potential surveillances or surveillance as broker deems necessary included including signage on the property and advertising or in any advertising and marketing okay so we're teaching our agents just automatically assume that there is surveillance and/or recording audio equipment and video equipment in every house and to hold all the discussions and statements until you're off premises of the property that's specific in the buyers agency agreement but this is giving the agent the authority to disclose it or not to disclose it and I'm in hopes that most sellers will say yes you have the authority to say that I have surveillance equipment in my house but here could be some that say they don't and so you either check may or may not disclose it I would highly encourage you if they do give you that permission that you do obviously put that in the member remarks of your mls so everybody's aware there is surveillance and they and the property and so that there's not a problem that arises when a property is being shown again let me stop and say if you have an issue with something I've said in this particular section this is also a newer section please I implore you contact a South Carolina Association of Realtors a Legal Hotline and let them also explain this to you as well section 29 is very simple it says other terms and condition and discuss some lines in there I guess that's going to be between the seller and the listing brokerage what are the types of conditions I mean I can think of one right off the bat if this if you as the listing agent and the seller agree to maybe certain price reductions along the way this may be a decent area to put that in for example if the listing price is set at one thing at listing date and you and your seller decide that if the property is not under contract within a certain period of time that the listing price shall be reduced to a certain amount and the MLS will be updated on that certain date that you choose now that's a section that would probably use for that I'm sure that you can probably think of other conditions or other terms that you may want to put in that section as well but there it is for you to fill it up and agree to so we will go on to the bold writing right underneath that section okay so this section is not really numbered so this is we're referring to the bold all in capital letters right below section 29 and I'm gonna read it because anytime something is bold and in all caps it's probably pretty important so it says the undersigned hereby warrant that they owned the property I hope so and/or have the authority to execute this agreement and I hope so for that too this is a legally binding agreement owner shall seek further assistance if the contents are not understood let me stop right there they shall seek further assistance if there's a problem with a seller not understanding or questioning something in this agreement we need to refer them to legal to an attorney somebody else with legal authority to explain this document to them we are not attorneys we cannot practice law and if there's a problem regarding this particular legal and binding agreement they need to seek legal counsel if they don't understand or they're not explaining it to the point where they understand it if they don't agree with something that they don't want to sign something it'd be a good idea for you also to have them contact an attorney as well I'll continue on owner acknowledges receipt of a copy of this agreement okay so when they sign you gotta give them a copy and a copy of the South Carolina disclosure of real estate brokerage relationships formed again they've already signed for that or initialed for that on page one but if they're again they're acknowledging it receiving it they've you've given them a meaningful explanation of what that form says it also says owner agrees to receive communications from the broker at the email address phone and fax number listed below and that's where the owner is going to sign date and time provide the email address especially you know given the fact that something happened to you with the broker in charge needs to know exactly how to get ahold of its listing clients other than that you go on and continue to fill the rest of that out and the real estate firm there you sign the document you date and and remember on the bottom of this page - there's also owner initials and broker initials on the bottom of page five that will conclude the training on Form 220 the exclusive right to sell let me end as always with my disclaimer so as I mentioned at the very beginning of this video I am NOT an attorney I am simply a broker in charge putting out this video to help the agents of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices seed and joiner Realtors how have them get their questions answered about what something means or how to explain something in this section or in this document completely and it's also for the use of other agents across the state of South Carolina that are licensed under in real estate under South Carolina law again I am arrant I'm not God if I've made a mistake please kindly let me know I will correct it but I want to stop and say this if you do not work as an Associated licensee underneath my license and you feel that I've said something that you may disagree with or that you know that your broker disagrees with please I implore you go with what your broker in charge says please just contact them if I could not explain something appropriately please go back to them and have your broker explain it I'm always going to push everybody back to their broker in charge again the way I interpret something may not be exactly the way your broker in charge interpret something so check with them and make sure that they're good with everything that may have been taught in this video and if they're not go by what they say and I implore you as well I said it a couple times if you think I've said something wrong or if there's a problem with something that I've said please contact the legal department or the Legal Hotline of the South Carolina Association of Realtors and get their interpretation and their take I this video is not in any way shape or form endorsed or even a any any way by the South Carolina Association of Realtors that's how me do this they have not okay this is again a training for our particular company so I just want to let you know that right up front SCR has nothing to do with this video but they are a great resource to get your questions answered if this video has not I hope you have a wonderful day I hope to see around the real estate corner I hope to do business with you soon take care take care of yourself bye bye now