Real Estate Reform Initiative

Disillusioned and unhappy with the present state of land laws that make real estate transactions unduly lengthy and costly, earlier this year Nicholson Phillips embarked on a real estate reform initiative. The initiative includes a series of meetings and then presentations to realtors and allied professionals, and will later this year involve attorneys and others, in an effort to contribute to an improved and more efficient real estate transactional marketplace. The main tenets of the initiative can be seen by visiting the firm's web site, but a summary of its main principles are as follows: The industry should adopt the use of binding standard form agreements for sale. Whether used by attorneys or (preferably) realtors, this it is proposed will speed up the process whereby deals are concluded by realtors and then re-hashed by attorneys to be consolidated into an agreement form. The use of standard form agreements presupposes that realtors will be properly trained and more effectively regulated, and that members of the public are made sufficiently aware to prevent or reduce possible abuse. A much greater role for and recognition given to members of the Realtors Association, responsible for enhancing the professionalism of realtors. Enhancement of the laws in relation to deposits and earnest monies, especially in relation to the issue of interest. The laws in this area are not sufficiently comprehensive where it concerns realtors taking deposit monies. [more]