Johnson's real estate business could pose problem

While touting himself as a real estate broker devoted solely to helping buyers find what they were looking for, Republican mayoral candidate Ken Johnson was also running another firm that catered to sellers, a move contrary to the ethical standards of a national association to which Johnson belonged for years.
Johnson’s best-known real estate company, A Buyer’s Market, made its money representing buyers searching for a new home or investment property.
To bolster business and develop professional ties, Johnson belonged to the Virginia-based National Association of Exclusive Buyer’s Agents, which calls itself “an independent alliance of real estate professionals who provide client-level services and whose real estate companies do not accept seller-property listings.”
A key element of its ethical standards, stated frequently on its website and literature, is that buyers who turn to “exclusive buyer agents” are looking for brokers who will work only for their interests and do not sell property as well.
Johnson, however, sold many pieces of property through another of his businesses, Properties Plus, for at least the past couple of years.
He quit the national broker’s group only this week, apparently after learning that it was investigating whether he had violated its ethical standards.
Johnson said he resigned “because I’m no longer an exclusive buyer’s agent.”
He said a “fundamental change in the marketplace” has occurred, shifting the power from sellers to buyers because of the glut of property on the market, so he’s aiming now at helping people sell their homes for a set fee.
A Buyer’s Market, he said, is today a firm “dedicated to buyer’s service but it’s not exclusive” any longer because he’s selling property as well.
Johnson said that he had been a member of the national group for years but he never realized that his Properties Plus firm posed a conflict with the rules governing exclusive buyer’s agents.
When it was brought to his attention, he said, he resigned.
Andrew Snow, a broker who serves as the chairman of the national group’s Ethics and Professional Standards Committee, said in an email Thursday that he could not discuss any cases that might have been raised because they are “by their very nature confidential, just the same as many other professional associations.”
Johnson submitted his resignation to Snow in an Oct. 30 email obtained by the Press from a real estate professional unhappy with Johnson’s conduct. The broker asked to remain anonymous because the facts spoke for themselves and disclosure could harm his business and personal relationships.
In the resignation email, Johnson indicates that a problem had been brought to his attention by Snow.
After apologizing “for my delayed reply,” which he attributed to being “entirely focused” on “running for political office,” Johnson wrote, “The most expeditious action for me is to simply drop my NAEBA membership.”
Johnson said he did nothing wrong and as soon as he realized that he did not qualify for membership in the national group, he left its ranks.
However, there are scores of “exclusive buyer’s agents” advertising their businesses on the internet in many states and all of them tout their refusal to represent sellers.
“Exclusive Buyer's Agents never take listings and never represent Sellers!” says The Buyers Agent of NW Florida in Pensacola. “They always represent Buyers and never try to work for work for the buyer and seller at the same time.”
The central concept is that exclusive buyer’s agents can’t ever face the dilemma, even remotely, of representing a buyer and a seller at the same time, a happenstance which could make them less likely to look out only for buyers.
Johnson said that his Democratic opponent, Art Ward, may have had a hand in trying to turn the real estate issue into a campaign tool to lever votes on Tuesday.
Johnson said Ward has dodged answering questions about his role in the state Freedom of Information complaint that resident Jay Meisinger filed against the city “while at the same time conjuring stuff up to try to smear me in the final days before the election.”
Johnson said it is time for “an end to this bitter divisiveness” that would lead candidates in Bristol to seek “personal and political benefit” by creating issues out of nothing.
However, this matter was not raised by Ward or anyone connected to his campaign. Instead, it was brought to the Press’s attention by a real estate professional with no obvious Bristol ties who thought voters should weigh it when considering Johnson’s integrity.
For information about the national organization, check out its website at www.naeba.info.

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com