1. California Association of Realtor (CAR)
The California Association of Realtors has “approved” a statewide contract for real estate transactions that is warrantied by no one, yet required for use by 440,000 licenses and their clients. The contract contains two gnarly clauses that leads sellers and buyers to believe facts about transaction procedure which are the exact OPPOSITE of what long standing Court Presidents, Accepted Real Estate Law, and CA 1102 specify for proper procedure.
The first gnarly clause suggests no disclosure documents are due to a Buyer prior to Transfer of Title at time of Contract Acceptance. This contradicts long standing Common Law, all relevant Case Precedents for "As Is" sales, and Laws governing Statutory Disclosure Documents set forth for the TDS in CA 1102.
The second gnarly clause suggests that a Seller is required to accept defects exposed during escrow to get to Deed Conveyance, even if the defects were found as part of a clear attempt at Disclosure misrepresentation. This also contradicts long standing Common Law and all relevant Case Precedents for "As Is" sales.
Typical Buyers and Sellers aren't Case Precedent Pros. The contract suggests to Consult Attorneys for Legal Matters. We did that, and when the Attorneys were asked, they didn't reveal those details either. "Uh ohhhh".
These misleading contract clauses and this "inverted contract" benefits CAR and the entire Legal Lobby of California by encouraging sellers to attempt things that are illegal. That creates voluminous amounts of unnecessary disputes that require mediation and legal services that would NOT be required with a transparent contract.
All Real Estate Attorneys and Mediation Companies benefit, but it gets worse. CAR is not just the catalyst in this process. CAR, the official "approver" of this Contract, also offers Mediation Services and that service promotion "advertisement" is included in the contract as part of this self dealing scheme.
With all this so apparent, how on Earth has it been covered up since 1985 and prior? Hold on to your britches for this one...
The contract requires Mediation prior to litigation to retain legal rights that should not be contingent on mediation. The contract does NOT, however, reveal that all mediation in California requires 100% CONFIDENTIALITY for all parties.
You haven't heard about this before because anyone harmed in a comparable manner would have gone into mediation, showed their cards, taken money that was due to them and stayed mum. Thus, allowing all of them to do it over and over again.
The Contract stipulates Mediation as a requirement for disputes between Seller and Buyer, if the Buyer wants to retain their rights to collecting Attorney fees in the event of a win, as is standard in California.
For the few who read the Contract Mediation Clause requirements, this seems a reasonable and logical request. The idea of having to give up ones rights to collecting legal fees for bypassing it seems odd, but the suggestion is made that that encourages load reduction on CA Courts.
HOWEVER, as it turns out, all Mediation in California requires full and complete Confidentiality, and that details is NOT disclosed in the CAR approved contract.
If a legal professional is asked, they will say that confidentiality helps people be honest in mediation. That's just a lie. Confidentiality in Mediation encourages lying, because no one can reveal it. It also allows for both Attorneys to present half truths and suggestions to Buyers and Sellers which buyers and sellers feel can never be revealed, and it provides a playing field for Attorneys to manipulate Buyers and Sellers into Confidential Agreements that keep this entire mess under wraps.
This is a situation in which one Hoax initiated by those in the California Legal Lobby covers another, which covers another, and all of them lead back to the California Legal Lobby with the Real Estate Brokers, Agents and Mediators now all in on the game and profiting from it too.