After several years Mrs Lizardo and I have decided to pull up stake and leave the house we are renting (we just bought our first house!) Since the real estate market here is very hot, our landlord has decided to sell the house. For any number of reasons, it is in my best interests that the propertry sell as quickly as possible. Since I am an active participant in the sales process, I know exactly how much the landlord is willing to accept for the place. Is it ethical for me to share that informatoin with potential buyers in order to expidite the sale?
How do you get the information? If you got it under circumstances where the landlord could have reasonably expected you to keep it confidential, then IMHO, by sharing the info, you are breaching your landlord’s trust. That’s unethical IMHO.
On the other hand, if the landlord has publicly announced his bottom line price, then IMHO, there’s nothing wrong with sharing.
How do you know it would expedite the sale? The value of the building is based on what someone is willing to pay for it. In a hot market, his asking price may be met.
It is known in retailing that it’s possible to charge too little for a product. People have a perceived value in mind for an object, and if the price is below that, the product may be perceived as inferior. So you may not be helping your landlord by suggesting that he would accept X for the building. In fact, you may hurt him, because a potential buyer may assume that you’re not telling the truth, and offer X-$10,000 for the building. Then where would your landlord be?
Best then to just keep quiet and let the market take its course.
Not if he’s asking too much. In a hot market, if the house doesn’t sell fast, the asking price is probably too high.
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This doesn’t really apply to most residential real estate. There are enough bargain-hunters out there that an under-priced house will be snapped up FAST.
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Better off than if the buyer thought the seller was inflexible, IMHO.
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Maybe from an ethical point of view. Probably not from a pragmatic point of view.
Anyway, I suppose this belongs in IMHO or GD or something.
If you’re a Realtor you might have specific ethics for this but I don’t see why you would
otherwise. Shucks, I would just make a deal that I get to keep whatever money is above what
he wants 
I think handy is right. If you are a Realtor[sup]TM[/sup] or have a direct fiduciary obligation to the landlord (as his attorney, for example), there may be a General Answer here.
Absent that, I think it’s off to IMHO.
I just had to comment on the novelty of having “Real estate” and “ethics” right next to eachother in the thread title.
