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RESPA

Legal Notice

In the business of providing financial solutions for consumers, our customers from time to time seek our recommendations to professionals they need or want advice, counsel or to receive service from for a particular part of a transaction.  Our industry is governed by the House of Urban Development commonly referred to as HUD. HUD passed a law several years ago that is commonly referred to as RESPA pronounced RES-PA that can be quite confusing and it’s interpretations varying in its interpretation from attorney to attorney.  Most attorneys advice is do “do nothing” and you are safe. Then there is the reality of what the consumer wants or demands as well as an appeal to the court of common sense.

RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) specifically prohibit mortgage lenders from giving “things of value” items or services of value to persons (real estate agents, attorneys, insurance, financial planning, taxation and other related professionals as well as consumers, persons in the broadest use of the word, the direct ‘copy and paste’ from the actual text reads “the term ‘person’ includes individuals, corporations, associations, partnerships, and trusts”) in exchange for referrals of their clients for financing.

The purpose of this regulation was and is to protect consumers and control costs associated with real estate transactions. Adding a referral fee or financial incentive to a referral, increases costs to consumers due to the fact that the costs for conducting business would need to be passed on to the consumer and that is one of the primary purposes of RESPA, to protect the consumer and keep costs under control. We want to earn the right to receive other professional’s referrals by continuing to deliver exceptional service and through no interpretations want to attempt to BUY their business.

In real estate circles, it has been an accepted practice to provide a business card for a service provider. In the strictest interpretation of the law, a person could make the argument that a business card is a form of advertisement and the person delivering the business card is helping the business on the business card avoid needing to pay for postage for its delivery. A few state and or local regulatory organizations have gone as far as to require a real estate professional to give three business cards for lenders in an area to allow the consumer to choose their desired service provider. At the time that RESPA was created, the internet, email and websites were not yet in existence.  For our clients that prefer to use the internet as a medium to collect information and or transact, we have made available this section of our website this Electronic Business Card.

Our company refuses any attempt to give or receive any referral fees.  Some professionals from time to time do mention the services of our company to their clients and some do not.  All references are earned by providing exceptional customer service and are in no manner associated with a fee.  There is no expectation or obligation for any professionals listed on our website to reciprocate or provide compensation to us in any way.  Any professional listed on our website is in no way to be deemed as recommended (an example is the person at the top of the page is preferred, we do not post in any particular order) nor do we endorse in reciprocation of payment.

A posting on this site is not conditional upon directing business to our business. We invite professionals to call our office if they would like to be listed here.  However be aware that we interview and in some cases conduct background checks to ensure we are not referring our clients to potential criminals or those with complaints lodged on a state or federal level with organizations such as the Better Business Bureau.  We feel it is our responsibility to associate with professionals whose commitment to customer service and professionalism is equal to or greater than our companies and allow our customer’s to access to those reputable professionals adhering to the same level of ethics and integrity.  

We take the business of a referred client very seriously. We understand that we are an extension of the referring professional’s reputation and guard as well as protect that reputation and take that responsibility as well as trust, very seriously. We understand that the receiving of a referral that is associating with needing to pay a referral fee to the referring source, would now place the consumer in the hands of the highest bidder who is not necessarily the best person for the job. We do not want our recommendations to be induced by our financial gain.

All listed professionals have agreed to comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations, licensing and otherwise, regarding the performance of their respective responsibilities. No one posted on our site, through any interpretation shall be construed as constituting a partnership, joint venture, employment or agency relationship.  Neither party shall be liable to the other for any misrepresentation or fraudulent act by a party’s customer.  We provide these listings as a public service to the professionals and consumers in the area as a free consumer service with no referral fees or obligations associated with any referral. For more information about our website please call our office.

The above information is a compilation or interpretations from several attorneys all of them varying in their interpretation of the law. One firm recommended that a marketing agreement be formed and for the postings charge a fee. While this advice may mask or cover up a the formation of a relationship, in the spirit of RESPA’s creation, we believe that would be counter productive towards the purpose of the creation of the law, the avoidance of adding costs associated with a real estate transaction.  Beyond RESPA we need to be concerned with fair and complete disclosure to consumers as to relationships formed either directly or through third parties as the rules pertain to all regulatory agencies to include federal, state and local rules. In many areas of the country ANY formed relationship involving ANY fees being exchanged, including marketing fee’s, are required to be disclosed in writing at the time of a writing of an offer to purchase. This is an example of how one attorney’s advice towards the RESPA can place a real estate or mortgage company in violation of another area of the law. All agencies rules and regulations need to be considered in the formation of a policy.

Due to the varying rules, regulations and by-laws of federal, state and local organizations, we have elected to forego the charging of ANY fee’s altogether as it relates to the issue of referring a customer to another professional for services. If this Electronic Business Card communication platform could be interpreted as a violation, then every real estate and lending professional that has ever delivered a business card or has verbally endorsed another professional is in violation of the law.

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