From: Jay Reifert [true-agents@true-agent.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 10:02 AM To: Oppose the WRA--Defeat Designated Agency Cc: Attorney General James Doyle (Re: Anti-Trust); FTC Anti-Trust Division; William A. Black; Assistant Attorney General Subject: Conflict of Interest Exposed--State of Wisconsin Real Estate Board Shills for WRA [Before going to the heart of this message, you may find an article on the battle over Wisconsin Designated Agency, done by Inman News--a nationally-known internet real estate publication--to be interesting. You can see it at: http://www.inman.com/InmanStories.asp?ID=28408&CatType=R ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- List Removal Instructions: Reply to this Message With "Remove" in the Subject Line or Body of the Message. Governmental Officials and Their Respective Staffs Will Not Be Removed From This List. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Conflict of Interest Exposed--State of Wisconsin Real Estate Board Shills for WRA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Did you ever wonder who watches out for home buyers and sellers in the State of Wisconsin? Naturally, you might be inclined to think that it's the Wisconsin Real Estate Board, as that is the quasi-governmental entity that--on the surface--should fill such a role. You would be wrong. As created under the law, the Wisconsin Real Estate Board is made up of seven members. FOUR from the real estate industry and three from the general public. [Visit http://www.no_consumer_protection_via_Real_Estate_Board.pdf ] Let's see, that means that if the industry members vote as a bloc, the consumer members can never overrule them on matters of Board Policy, such as support for legislation. This would be roughly akin to allowing Enron to stack the US Energy Department with enough Enron employees to dictate policy, so that Enron could ensure that consumers and citizens had someone who knew the industry, that was there to watch out for them. Watch out, indeed! So, when an entity like the Wisconsin Realtors Association DRAFTS legislation that it wants to see passed by the legislature, which allows for an immense conflict of interest that can adversely affect the Citizens of Wisconsin in its own right...and then passes it on to the real estate industry controlled Wisconsin Real Estate Board for rubber-stamping...you have to ask yourself, HOW DID THIS EVER HAPPEN? Consider this: The four real estate industry members of the Wisconsin Real Estate Board are: 1) Mr. James R. Imhoff, Jr. , Madison Mr. Imhoff was a, if not the, driving force behind the Agency "Reform" Act of 1994 and has been a, if not the, driving force behind the proposed Designated Agency legislation, as well. Interestingly, in the early 1990's, Mr. Imhoff was exceptionally opposed to the acceptance of buyer agency in the State of Wisconsin. Of equal interest, was how his support for buyer agency radically changed, once he managed to help nullify the common law of agency in Wisconsin, making it so that true buyer agency was less of a threat to his market domination plans. Mr. Imhoff is the Chairman of First Weber Group, Inc. which has, according to data from the National Association of Realtors, NAR, 25 separate First Weber offices and by Mr. Imhoff's admission, 325 licensees between those offices. Mr. Imhoff is what is known in the industry as a Mega-Broker. He also controls 3 seats on the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Realtors Association, the entity that is promoting their Designated Agency scheme to the legislature. ---------------------- Mr. Richard Hinsman, Racine Mr. Hinsman is the Broker/Owner of Hinsman Realty, Inc. According to NAR records he has four associates. On the surface, this would make Mr. Hinsman appear to be a "wildcard" vote...one who could fall either on the consumer's side...or the Mega-Brokers' side. It would be interesting to know Mr. Hinsman's previous Board affiliations and whether or not he had ever held any management or ownership positions with any Mega-Brokerage houses. Regardless, he was likely chosen for his pro Mega-Broker leanings. ----------------------- Mr. Richard A. Kollmansberger, Oconomowoc Mr. Kollmansberger has an ownership interest in First Realty, GMAC. According to NAR records, he has six offices with a total of about 94 associates. Mr. Kollmansberger controls one seat on the WRA Board of Directors and, as a Mega-Broker would directly benefit from the passage of Designated Agency into law. ------------------------ Ms. Nancy Gerrard, LaCrosse Ms. Gerrard has an ownership interest in the realty firm Gerrard-Hoeschler which has--according to NAR records--five offices and about 46 associates. As a Mega-Broker, she would benefit directly from the passage of Designated Agency into law. ------------------------- Quite frankly, this is a ridiculous state of affairs. It is bad enough that the Wisconsin Realtors Association can virtually write its own laws...but to have the entity that should serve as a crosscheck on that totally abusive Realtor power also be under the control of Realtors is unbelievable. The Real Estate Board should be there to act as a voice for consumers...not the industry. REAL-Reform submits that a better way to have the apportionment on the Real Estate Board would be to have FIVE members from the general public and only TWO members from the real estate industry. At that point, it would require substantive agreement from the consumer representatives on the Board that a Realtor-backed proposal had merit and was worthy of support, rather than have the Board serve as a rubber-stamp for the Realtor agenda, which--in this case--is extremely anti-consumer and anti-competitive. As things currently stand, the last bastion of defense for the consumer in the State of Wisconsin--save the legislature, which has consistently given the WRA its way over the past several years--is the Department of Regulation and Licensing, DRL, itself. So far, only Mr. Clete Hansen, Administrator of the Division of Board Services for the DRL has given any outward indication that he is interested in seeing the issue of Designated Agency receive due scrutiny...but, the likelihood of that happening is severely limited, as the Attorney in the Office of Legal Services who should be paying attention to this issue, Mr. William A. Black, told REAL-Reform that he was too busy to stay abreast of this issue and then subsequently requested to be removed from this network email list. (As one who is responsible for safeguarding the interests of Wisconsin Consumers, REAL-Reform refused to remove him, so that he would not be in a position to later deny knowing of the importance of this issue.) Lastly, Secretary of the DRL, Oscar Herrera, has remained silent on this issue, too, causing more concern that the Citizens of Wisconsin are getting an underabundance of attention on this issue. Secretary Herrera...where are you? William A. Black, where are you? So...where do we go from here? Well, there's always the courts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget to check out the story on the Wisconsin Designated Agency battle at Inman News, a nationally known and respected internet real estate news portal. It was the top story in the NATION on Monday, February 11th. You can find it by going to: http://www.inman.com/InmanStories.asp?ID=28408&CatType=R ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Please, contact your legislators to voice your opposition to Designated Agency. You can find out how to contact your legislator to register your oppostion to Designated Agency by going to: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/wamltest/ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, PLEASE forward this message to everyone you can and please also print it out--and distribute--to those who you know that don't have email capabilities.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- [This message is going out to thousands of Wisconsin Realtors, almost 500 governmental officials--including all State Legislators and their respective staffs, the Governor of Wisconsin and most candidates for Governor of Wisconsin, the Attorney General of Wisconsin, over 425 Consumer Advocacy Groups and/or individual Consumer Advocates, over 285 Registered Wisconsin Lobbyists and over 190 Media Outlets.] -- Sincerely Yours, Jay Reifert, Organizer/Director of Operations REAL-Reform (Real Estate Agency Law-Reform) Jay Reifert, Broker/Owner*****************Excel-Exclusive Buyer Agency 100% Homebuyer Representation********5136 E. Hilltop Road 100% Of The Time****************************Madison, Wisconsin 53711 South Central Wisconsin's ONLY********(800)928-9379, Toll Free Full-Time Exclusive Buyer Agency Firm.***(608)273-8841, Office Visit http://www.true-agent.com ***********(608)273-8388, Fax Machine or mailto:true-agents@true-agent.com Check out our NEW website, at: http://www.Buy-Madison-Real-Estate.com