The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-12-16
Realty Men Get Together, Adopt
Rules and Fix Minimum
Commission.
STUNG BUYERS CAN APPEAL
Honolulu Realty Board as Court
Will Prevent Abuses in
Land Deals.
CFrom Wednesdays AdvortiseT.l !


An important meeting of realty
agents and their representatives was
held at the Commercial Club last night
to discuss the advisability of organiz-
ing in order to further their interests
in the business and also, the interests
of their patrons. Those present were
Oliver g. Lansing, representing Don
dero & Lansing; Martin Grune, r. r.
Reidford, representing the Bishop Trust
Co.; Charles A. Stanton, representing
the Kaimuki Land Co., Ltd; l.. Kirk
patrick, F. L. Steere, representing the
Henry Waterhouse Trust Co.. Ltd; /;
Irwin II. Beadle, representing the
Trent Trust Co., Ltd; Charles S. Desky,
j. Il. o O'Connor, James W. Pratt, IL.
Fleming, w. w. Chamberlain and h. l..
Schwartzberg, representing James f.
Morgan.
The general idea of the meeting was
that all the realty men in Honolulu
should get together and form an asso.
citation IN order to deal with the bust
ness as whole, fix definite rates of
commission to be charged and also rules
for the handling of property and the
placing of the business ON such a foot
ing that the public could be assured
that they were always getting fair
deal.
In the future the association will be
known as the Honolulu Realty Board.
Tho rules as laid down in the constitu-
tion are based on the same principles
that underlie the rules of similar asso-
Citations. The first of these is the mat
ter of rates of commission to be charged
on sales The first proposition placed
before the members was that five per
cent. should be the minimum charged
on all amounts up to $4,000, and two
and a half per cent. on all amounts
above that sum.
Per Cent Is Fixed.
This caused considerable discussion
some of the members urging that il
would not always work, as often j
was necessary to lower these rates. TIVE
members quoted instances in which
they had sold land on the charitabl,
basis, one of them getting nothing ou
of it and the other only a very small
amount. 1t was then pointed out tina
in cases of this kind the proper thin
to do was to report the matter Il
the board of directors, as provided fo
in the constitution, and let them de
eide whether the lowering of the com
mission was legitimate or not.
One member advised the fixing o.
maximum amount of commission, bu
the cases, cited by other members
, seemed to show conclusively that thi
5 would never work and it was eventual
] ly passed over. Finally it was decided
e that minimum rate of five per cent
} should be charged on all amounts an,
that any member who, through stres
. of circumstances, found that he ha
j to reduce the rate should report upo
t the same to the board,
d The second point which might cal
for comment is in article eight, wher
Q the various rules for making sal
4 are laid out for the guidance of mem
f bers. The general tenure of them /
that the seller shall deliver over tn
land to the purchaser absolutely fr&
Of all encumbrances. Thus, if the waite
rates have not been paid for the mont
of January the seller must pay then
right up to the end of the year befor
the agent will undertake to sell hi
property.
Benefits Public.
One especially good feature intro
duced for the public s benefit is that
under the constitution, arrangement
have been made for arbitration. Th
man in the street benefits from thi
clause in the following way. If he ha
any idea that any queer work has bee
going on he can apply to the board {
G have the matter arbitrated, on the. coi
a dition that he win abide by the board
V decision.
G Taking it as whole the formatio
h of this body should do a great deal {
e good, and buyers will no longer be m,
a with the old trouble of every agent
II town having different prices put on II
same block of land, as has often bee
j. the case in the past.
Y AT the end of the meeting the fo
Y lowing were elected as the first boar
{ of directors: Irwin H. Beadle, j. ]
a O'Connor, r. r. ReidfOrd, Z. ]
Q Schwartzberg, and F. +. Steere. Thei
d in their turn win elect the other of
-s GERS necessary for the carrying on
m business.