More on Pay to Play Scenarios
In my previous post I talked a little about pay to play. Here is the opinion of a lawyer whose expertise is in the real estate industry:
"A real estate broker who requires you to pay money to be on a list is actually putting himself at legal risk. If something goes wrong, you can be sure the unhappy customer will not only sue you, but will also sue the broker and claim that he was negligent in referring his customer to you. When the customer learns in the lawsuit that you paid to be on that list, it’s going to look very bad for that broker because it’s going to look like he did not exercise independent judgment in recommending you. Your broker is taking on a lot of risk for $300. I sue these guys for a living, so I know."
Some home inspection associations actually require of their members in the Standards of Practice not to engage in such scenarios.