Net listings are prohibited
A net listing lets the seller name the amount he wants and gives the broker everything above it — which hides the true price of the broker's services from the person paying for them.
Rule 520-1-.06(1)(c) prohibits brokers from accepting net brokerage engagements and makes it obligatory on the broker to add the broker's fee when securing the engagement, so the client is notified of the gross price of the property and of the broker's services.
Georgia rule: this is a flat prohibition by rule, not merely a disfavored practice. Nothing cures it. Disclosing the arrangement to the buyer does not help, because the harm the rule targets is to the seller-client. Showing the broker's actual fee on the closing statement comes far too late. A definite expiration date is separately required of every exclusive engagement but does not make a net listing lawful.
Agency disclosure and its deadline
Rule 520-1-.06(4)(b) requires written disclosure to both buyer and seller, or lessor and lessee, of the firm's agency or dual agency and of the source of its compensation, timely and in any event not later than the time that any party first makes an offer to purchase, sell, lease or exchange.
State the trap outright: the deadline is the first offer, not the closing. Closing is usually months later, and the entire purpose is to inform the parties before they commit. There is no three-business-day-after-signing window; that figure is invented. The duty applies whatever the relationship — including where the firm represents neither party and must reveal who will pay it. Dual agency adds a heightened consent requirement on top; it does not create the disclosure duty.
Community association manager bonds
Rule 520-1-.06(3) sets minimum fidelity coverage at three months' assessments from all members plus required reserves. Below $60,000 of association funds handled, no bond is required at all.
Worked example: 200 members paying $250 per month, with $75,000 of required reserves. 200 × $250 × 3 = $150,000, and $150,000 + $75,000 = $225,000. The $150,000 is assessments alone; $75,000 is reserves alone.