One side called it a battle won. But the
other side said the whole war was a low
priority.
The truth in Wisconsin’s continuing
controversy over designated agency once again
seems to be in the eyes and ears of the
protagonists, who are putting their own spin on
recent developments.
The Wisconsin Realtors Association maintains
that the now-tabled state legislation that would
have allowed designated agency was but one item
on a list of transaction-related issues that
didn’t get past the legislative drafting process
this year.
"Demands on drafting attorneys and other
legislative priorities--like two state budgets
with tens of hundred of amendments--helped
contribute to unusually long and understandable
drafting delays," wrote the association’s VP for
Public Affairs Michael Theo in the April issue
of the association’s member bulletin.
Rick Staff, general counsel of the
association, said the state’s billion-dollar
budget deficit pushed issues like designated
agency onto the back burner. In fact, Staff
downplayed the whole process and claimed
designated agency was simply "a concept that had
been kicking around the organization." Referring
to the recent draft revision, he said: "Nothing
was defeated; nothing was put in bill draft
form."
A draft may not have been finalized, but
several versions were presented to the Wisconsin
Real Estate Commission. Chairman Jim Imhoff said
the commission took no position on the drafts
because the final bill wasn’t ready and the
commission knew it was going to be
withdrawn.
"The issue in Wisconsin is a $1.2
billion-dollar budget deficit and the only
legislation on the docket is to settle the
budget. The speaker asked us to take issues like
this off of the agenda," Imhoff said.
But Jay Reifert, a buyer’s agent in Madison,
Wis., hasn’t given up what he calls a "grass
roots cyber campaign" against the very idea of
designated agency in the state.
"While the war is far from finished, the
first battle over designated agency has been
won," he said.
Reifert’s efforts enlisted the support of the
Consumer Federation of America and the National
Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents.
When the almost 15 month-long session of the
Wisconsin legislature ended on March 15, only 44
bills had been signed into law. Reifert believes
this legislative gridlock only enhanced his
efforts.
"We turned (designated agency) into a hot
potato issue," he said, "and there is no way the
legislators this year wanted to have a hot
potato issue."
The hot potato was on a front burner earlier
this year, when the association was putting
forth a proposal to allow real estate brokers to
avoid dual agency on in-house transactions by
designating one individual agent within the
brokerage to represent the buyer and another
individual agent within the brokerage to
represent the seller.
The association said designated agency
wouldn’t be radically different from the way
business already is conducted in the state and
existing confidentiality laws would protect home
buyers and sellers in designated agency
transactions.
At least 20 other states already allow
designated agency. But such groups as the
National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents
oppose it and heavy-hitters like Ralph Nader
have weighed in against it.
Reifert said the proposal would dilute the
agent-client relationship and violate the tenets
of the common law of agency.
He began taking action against the proposal
by circulating lengthy e-mail messages decrying
designated agency. The messages were sent to
real estate agents, the media, government
officials, consumer advocacy groups and
lobbyists registered in Wisconsin.