The following is an excerpt from an e-mail exchange forwarded to me last night. I’ve removed identifying information:
Ok, it will show up as [name of licensed person] because I am waiting on my MLS application to go through. I just was licensed recently, so if you can just confirm with me that would be great. Thanks,
What’s going on here?
Many Chicago apartment rental services – we call them bedbugs – routinely employ unlicensed agents in flagrant violation of state law. Some of those agents never bothered to pursue a license. Others may be unlicensable due to criminal violations or have had their license suspended or revoked for violations. Anyone who deals with them is running an unpredictable gauntlet of risks.
Many licensed agents who participate in the local Multiple Listing Service use an MLS-facilitated service called ShowingAssist to schedule appointments to view homes and condos for sale or rent through the MLS. Accessing that system to schedule an appointment requires signing in with an MLS agent ID.
Back to the e-mail exchange. A rental service agent requests a showing of a condo for rent through the MLS. When requested to use ShowingAssist to schedule an appointment, the agent explains that he is recently licensed and someone else’s name will appear on the request. A check reveals that the agent is not, in fact, licensed. In some cases the agent is licensed and the company is simply cheating the MLS out of the dues it ought to be paying.
A similar pattern occurs with unlicensed rental service agents showing apartments for management companies who have brokerage licenses and are legally barred from paying a commission in a transaction involving an unlicensed agent. The unlicensed agent presents the management company with a copy of a licensed individual’s license information – a fake ID, in effect. Some management companies simply wink at the violation, accepting the same license info from any number of different individuals. Others refuse to play along.
Violations of state licensing law are common in the rental services industry in Chicago, and they put renters at risk and cause them damages on a daily basis.
If you’re looking to rent an apartment in Chicago and working with a rental service agent, ask to see that agent’s state real estate license – and a picture ID that matches it. If the person can’t produce a license, do not accept whatever bogus excuse you’re offered for not having it. Leave immediately.
Better yet, recognize that it isn’t difficult to find an apartment in Chicago, especially in the downtown, Lincoln Park and Lake View neighborhoods. Consult YoChicago’s comprehensive rental Guides and at-a-glance apartment lists and maps. If you’re looking to rent a home or condo, work with a reputable broker rather than a rental service. If you’re unsure of whether a company is a rental service, consult YoChicago’s do-not-call list.
thank you. excellent work.
Interesting. Is there a state or other web site where someone can plug in a person’s name to see if they’re legal?
ed,
You can check license status at the Illinois Division of Professional Regulation.
The interface isn’t the most intuitive. You need to check three separate categories for an individual: Real estate broker, Real estate salesperson and Real estate leasing agent.
Licensed leasing agents often misrepresent themselves as sales agents. It would be a violation of state law for a leasing agent to engage in any sale activity on behalf of a seller or buyer.
If a person purports to be a member of the local MLS, you can more easily check their name and company affiliated at the MRED site.
Bedbug companies frequently cheat the MLS on dues by not paying on behalf of all of their licensed sales staff as MRED rules require. Not finding an agent’s name on an MRED search does not necessarily mean they’re not licensed, only that they may be working for a company that doesn’t play by the rules or is not an MRED member. Every brokerage firm in Chicago worth talking to is.
As a former licensed leasing agent and a paying subscriber to the MLS I must say that these “bed-bug” articles are very misleading.
All of the apartment locator services are headed by licensed brokers. All of the agents are either licensed leasing agents or are working on 90 day “sponser” cards. By law, licensed leasing agents and newly sponsored agents have access to the MLS thru their managing broker.
Prior to joining MLS, when I needed to show a condo listed in the MLS I would simply use my managing brokers info whis IS allowed by law. There is even a special provision in the law that addressed agents working on a sponsor card.
It wasn’t until the downturn that Real Estate agents at the sales brokerages had an interest in renting apartments. The commission for renting an apartment is tiny compared to the commission of a sale. The Apartment People, which pioneered the apartment locator service provided a service that Real Estate sales agents and broker did not provide by having knowledge and access to tens of thousands of apartments. Looking at the number of private owner condos that are listed at places like Chicago Apartment Finders and the apartment People says a lot about the trust the condo owners have in those companies abilities to find tenants. That said, there are some companies that I would steer clear of.
“Adam Travis”
Do you really believe anyone would swallow your line?
You’re as misguided and misleading as the typical bedbug. I’ll cite just a few of the ways in which your comment is off base.
I can’t find any record in the state database of anyone with either your screen name or the name that resolves to your e-mail address having ever held a leasing agent license or any currently active license. Neither name corresponds to a current MLS member.
Did you “borrow” a real individual’s e-mail address?
Not all of the locator services are “headed” by licensed brokers. Some are merely “fronted” by licensed brokers in a manner that doesn’t comply with state law and some are operated by unlicensed individuals.
The permit period for leasing agents prior to licensing is 120 days, not 90 days.
There is no law that gives anyone access to the MLS in the fashion you claim. Unless you’re a “Subscriber” to the MLS – as defined in MRED and Realtor Board rules – you’re not authorized to access it.
Anyone who told you otherwise was simply lying to you – and that’s what rental service operators do to the naïve mopes that they con into working for them.
Major real estate brokers have rented homes and condos for as long as I’ve been in Chicago – which may be longer than you’ve been alive.
The great majority of condo and single-family home rentals can be found in the MLS through traditional brokers. The rental services list only a very small fraction of the number that can be found in the MLS
Look at the stats we publish weekly about MLS-listed downtown rentals. Traditional agents are successfully renting condos rapidly. They know how to deal with the complexities of doing so, as opposed to the rental service newbies who are clueless about the process.
The rental services came about after the state Attorney General’s office put the prior incarnation of it – apartment list sellers – out of business for their fraudulent tactics.
It’s long past time for the current Attorney General to put an end to the way rental services currently do business.