In all instances Southeastern Land Group strives to do what is in the best interest of our clients who are buying and selling land across the Southeast. One major part of helping our clients purchase or sell rural property is cooperating with other brokers.
All agents, associate brokers, and responsible (qualifying) brokers for Southeastern Land Group are Realtors, meaning that we are not merely licensed real estate agents in the states where we practice, but we are also members of the National Association of Realtors. As Realtors we agree not only to abide by the laws of our state, but also swear to uphold the Realtor Code of Ethics and follow the Standards of Practice.
Article 3 of the Realtor Code of Ethics states, “REALTORS® shall cooperate with other brokers except when cooperation is not in the client’s best interest.” Most people in the public assume that all real estate agents and brokerages are going to cooperate with every other licensed person, and generally this is true. There are, however, some brokers that are exceptions to this rule.
Southeastern Land Group tries in almost every situation to invite the participation of other brokers. 999 times out of 1,000 it is in our client’s best interest to invite another broker to bring their buyer client to look at a property that we have listed for sale. We also generally offer to split the commission evenly with other brokers, which is not required by law or by the Code of Ethics. We believe this, as a practice, is in the best interest of our clients, and again it is surprising that other brokers do not take this position.
Evidence of our belief in cooperation as a way of doing business can be seen by our team’s memberships in professional organizations such as the National Association of Realtors, Alabama Association of Realtors, Lee County Association of Realtors, Realtors Land Institute (we have members in the national, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia chapters of RLI), the Black Belt Land Brokers group, and other associations. We have a strategic alliance with another brokerage, SonUp Real Estate, that offers our clients some unique advantages that SELG alone cannot offer.
Southeastern Land Group has a team of land professionals that are willing to work with all other licensed agents to do what is in the best interest of our clients. We work hard to ensure that you get the very best representation and that we do it by abiding by the rules. We do our best to let The Golden Rule be our guiding principle. Let the team at Southeastern Land Group work for you when it comes to buying or selling your farm, timberland, recreational tracts, or transitional properties.
Written by: Jonathan Goode– Accredited Land Consultant (ALC) and licensed broker in AL and MS