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New Agent Disclosure Law - Federal MARS Rules for Short Sales

Posted by Sarah Lin on March 31, 2011 at 2:01pm in Short Sale Discussions

Hello

 

I am from California and I understand there is a NEW DISCLOSURE required.

I dont know which Disclosure it is. Can someone help me please?

Have you heard about the new federal MARS rules for short sales?
 
This important law change affects any agent who either negotiates short sales or promote their short sale services as a way to help consumers avoid foreclosures
P.S.The FTC requires that, real estate agents who fall within the scope of MARS must generally provide certain disclosures, refrain from claiming an advance fee, refrain from engaging in certain deceptive acts, retain records for 24 months, and monitor their independent contractors and employees as specified
SARAH LIN
Broker
thanks!

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Replies

  • Pat Chadwell July 16, 2011 at 4:55am
    The News Release can be found at <http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/07/mars.shtm.  This is awesome news.  I had a great SS flyer for just doing a SS, it got a lot of response.  When I had to add the MARS disclosure the called dropped right off because people thought I was fishing for loan modifications. 
  • Kevin - Greenville, SC July 15, 2011 at 12:17pm

    Short-sale agents get MARS exemptions

    http://www.inman.com/news/2011/07/15/short-sale-agents-get-mars-exe...

  • Stephanie Lim April 4, 2011 at 3:07am
    Our local association's attorney just issued a release saying that the FTC is backing off and that it's only the general disclosure (not customer specific) that will suffice for the services most agents are providing.  For now, until I hear more, I plan on continue to use it all...
  • Jim West April 3, 2011 at 3:54am
    Sarah, more MARS disclosure examples

    Frontline Leadership MARS_Form_3.doc

    Frontline Leadership MARS_Form_4.doc

  • Jim West April 3, 2011 at 3:53am

    Sarah,

     

    Here is a 3 page report from NAR about MARS and some examples of the required disclosures. One thing to remember is if you have a short sale website is that the disclosure on your website has to be just above the fold s the consumer sees it without having to scroll down.

     

    Jim West SFR

    NAR MARS Info[1].pdf

    Frontline Leadership MARS_Form_1.doc

    Frontline Leadership MARS_Form_2.doc

  • Imran Mohamed April 3, 2011 at 3:45am

    Hello Sarah,

    Log into the National Association of realtors Website and search for MARS - It will bring up the Disclosures.

    The first is a For General Commercial Communication - That is any form of advertising, be it on your website, business card, T-Shirt...any genrral advertising.

     

    The second disclosure is specific and is to be handed to the client once you start a specific short sale for the client.

     

    The third & fouth disclosures - At time of approval from the bank. The 3rd iIs to be stapled to the approval letter you recieve from the bank and then sent to the client letting them know that it was approved. The 4th is also to be sent with the approval package to the client.

     

    Hope it was helpful.

     

    Imran Mohamed

    www.FLshortsalepros.com

    imran@flshortsalepros.com

     407-744-1827

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Rod Herman April 3, 2011 at 3:39am
    CAR just had a webinar on Friday where their contract attorney talked about the 2 forms. He said that the FTC has verbally changed its tune, telling NAR that in a normal RE transaction where the agent is just negotiating a short sale and not collecting any fee, the MARS rules probably won't apply. He said that they're waiting for the FTC to provide that new interpretation in writing and then they will modify the forms. As of right now, there are 2 forms to use -- one when you take the listing (MARSSN)and another when you get SS approval from the lenders (MARSMRN). However, the CAR atty said that based on the current MARS requirements, the two forms will have conflicting information if you list the home at one price but end up getting SS approval at another price. CAR usually puts their webinars on-line a few days afterwards, so you should be able to find it on CAR's web site early this week. It's an hour long webinar about contract form updates, but the first 15-20 minutes is all about MARS. Go to http://www.car.org/education/webinars/?version=2 .
  • Bryant Tutas April 3, 2011 at 1:04am

    Here are some articles on MARS that will help

    http://shortsalesuperstars.com/profiles/blog/list?q=mars
  • Smitty April 1, 2011 at 4:30am

    Sarah, if you do a quick search on this site there have been numerous discussions about the MARS FTC disclosures.  I think it will give you a more comprehensive view on the topic.

    Good luck.

  • Laura Marshall March 31, 2011 at 3:56pm
    Hi. I am also a California Broker. I use WINforms Online/Zip Forms.  Click the FORMS tab. They give you a choice of ALPHABETIC/NUMERIC/CATEGOTIZED/SEARCH. If you choose CATEGORIZED - they are in group called "Form Update for 3/11". If you choose SEARCH - just type in the form abbreviation. They are: MARSSN - To be signed by the seller at the time of the listing and MARSMRN - to be signed when you receive written short sale approval.
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