Listing Agents Who GHOST Buyer Agents

I had a West Pasco Board of Realtors ethics class yesterday. In it, we were told it is NOT an article 3 ethics violation for a listing agent to ghost a buyers’ agent. Even the instructor thought that was wrong.

Real estate agents in Florida, unfortunately, have a well-earned reputation for ghosting other agents.  MLS rules prohibit buyer agents from contacting sellers directly when they are represented by a sellers' agent. That means listing agents who fail to respond to buyers’ agents could be COSTING THE SELLER a viable offer.   A seller only needs ONE buyer to sell their property. 

This policy really needs to change. In Washington State, a listing agent is given 2 business days to respond. After that, a buyers’ agent can contact the seller directly.  This is reasonable.  Even in the corporate world, it is not appropriate to totally ignore colleagues.

1) A listing agent totally ignoring a buyer’s representative is negligent in their duty to work for their seller.

2) Ignoring another agent inquiring about a listing cannot be reasonably considered “cooperation” according to Article 3 of the COE. 

3) There is no way for a seller to know if their own agent is doing this UNLESS a buyers’ agent is allowed to call after being ignored. 

4) Consequences to a listing agent creates accountability. This rule is rarely used in WA because listing agents know they will be called to account.

5) This well-earned reputation hurts our industry. We already are not a respected field. There is an easy fix for this – hold listing agents accountable with a super simple rule: Two business days to respond or buyers’ agent moves forward.