“Turtles All the Way Down”
Realtors who don’t want to run afoul of the Minnesota Department of Commerce take care to have prospective clients sign and initial — (very) early in the relationship** — a state-required form called “Agency Relationships in Real Estate Transactions.”
So early, in fact, that the would-be client may not yet be comfortable signing anything.
That’s true even though the form is merely a disclosure meant to educate consumers, versus something more weighty, like a contract.
[Don’t] Sign Here
If prospects balk, agents are instructed to procure the would-be client’s initials that they’re declining to initial/sign anything.
But, what if they won’t agree to that, either?
At least with especially guarded prospects, that suggests another acknowledgement: namely, that they’re declining to initial that they’re declining to initial. 🙂
P.S.: In such a case, one would certainly hope that a memo to the Realtor’s file would satisfy Commerce, should the need arise.
**Technically, the threshold is known as “the first substantive contact.”
See also, “Disclosure No-No’s for Minnesota Buyers’ Agents“; “Licensees, Principals, Agents & Brokers (Oh My!)”; “Delivering the Realtor “Miranda Warning” in an Online World“; “Perils of Dual Agency: Exhibit A”; “Awkward Dual Agent Moment #24“; and “Dual Agent vs. Double Agent.“