BMI Mergers & Acquisitions

If the homeowner decides to list the home with another brokerage, the homeowner owes MV Realty 3 percent of the property’s value at the time the agreement is signed, which can add up to thousands of dollars.

The agreement binds any future property heirs, and if a homeowner defaults, the agreement specifies that MV Realty will impose a lien on the property for the amounts owed. The agreement includes an arbitration clause and precludes the homeowner from participating in any class action litigation against MV Realty.

“What they’re receiving in terms of consideration is so small compared to the rights that they’re giving up. The inequities are just so great,” Rebekah Lusk, a Maryland attorney who practices real estate law, told The Baltimore Banner, a local news nonprofit, about MV Realty’s contracts. “It’s an absolutely predatory agreement.”

MV Realty spokesperson Diana London told Inman that the brokerage makes the terms of its agreement clear to homeowners.

“There is nothing improper or predatory about [offering] a homeowner money today for the right to be their agent in the future,” London said. “The Homeowner Benefit Agreement fully discloses all key terms in clear English, as well as featuring them on numerous documents provided to the customer. They are also in plain English on our website.”

Prominent real estate broker Joe Rand, Chief Creative Officer at Howard Hanna Rand Realty and a licensed attorney suggested MV Realty's practice is immoral and a potential violation of Article 1 of the Realtor Code of Ethics.

“I actually had this idea about 15 years ago, thought about it for maybe 10 minutes, and decided I didn’t want to go to hell,” Rand tweeted in late October.

If these brokers are REALTORS, they’re pretty clearly in violation of the Code of Ethics requirement to treat all parties to a transaction fairly.

— Joe Rand (@josephrand) October 26, 2022

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