San Francisco Association of REALTORS®

Introduction

The San Francisco Association of Realtors® is a California Non-Profit Mutual Benefit Corporation made up of real estate industry professionals and staff. SFAR is committed to compliance with all international, national, and state/provincial antitrust and competition laws. Penalties for violating antitrust laws can include huge damage awards and even criminal liability. Simply defending an antitrust suit or being the object of an investigation by antitrust regulators comes with very high costs.

Consequently,  all members of any committees, workgroups, task forces, and their leaders and staff liaisons must take responsibility for compliance with competition law. This policy is thus intended to prohibit any anti­ competitive conduct by SFAR, its staff, and any and all volunteers (or "activity participants") and to reduce even the appearance of anti-competitive conduct.

Procedures for formal meetings

The following procedures apply to all meetings of the SFAR Board of Directors (the "board"), working committees authorized by the board, and member meetings conducted under SFAR's auspices, whether the meetings are held face to face or via technological means. Individuals charged with chairing (or co-chairing) meetings should be familiar with this policy.

1. Each meeting should be preceded by the publication of notice of the meeting to those eligible to attend it and an agenda identifying business subject to discussion at that meeting.
2. Any person who receives an agenda for a meeting at SFAR should review it to identify any agenda item that might give rise to concerns about competition or collective action; such items, if any, should be referred to legal counsel for review before the meeting.
3. At the beginning of each meeting, the chair or counsel should remind participants of this antitrust policy in such a manner as to ensure that participants understand the parameters for appropriate discussions, and, should read the Statement for Meetings included below.
4. Subject to this policy, every eligible participant in any meeting should be encouraged and permitted to express his/her views on any issue subject to deliberation before a decision is made.
5. In the event that a discussion is, or is likely to become, inconsistent with this policy, the meeting chair, co-chair, or counsel (if present) shall recommend suspension of the discussion until review under applicable competition law can be conducted; the minutes will note any such suspension.
6. After each meeting, a chair, co-chair, or liaison should cause minutes of the meeting to be prepared. These minutes should include a record of the resolutions adopted at the meeting, any objections raised by meeting participants to the subject matter of a meeting, and any other annotations contemporaneously advised by counsel or the meeting chair.
7. Minutes of all meetings will be finalized by staff and reviewed by the officers and counsel at a subsequent meeting.
8. All parties who receive minutes and materials related to meetings are asked to comment promptly, in writing, on any minutes circulated if there appears to be any error, omission, or item in need of revision.

Guidelines for discussions

The following guidelines apply to discussions in formal meetings as well as to informal discussions in breakout sessions, workgroups, or task forces, and even in social contexts associated with Association or MLS meetings. Members should consult with counsel before engaging in  any of the following:

• Any discussion involving two or more competitors that goes beyond general market events and trends (e.g., the sharing of non-public information about a participant’s specific business strategies or activities).
  • Discussing public, aggregated industry-wide information that is at least 90 days old is always safer than discussing non-public information, information that is specific to particular members, or information that is current or prospective. 
• Making, discussing, implying, or suggesting any agreement between two or more Members to: 
  • Fix prices, limit or alter product or service offerings, or allocate geographical territories or customers;
  • Refuse to deal with any third party or parties, whether a vendor or supplier of products or services, or a customer or class of customers;
  • Limit innovation, product choices, or research relating to any of the foregoing.
  • Sharing of recent, current, or planned fee structures; or data regarding operating "input" costs, especially if such costs could affect service prices. This does not prevent any meeting or activity participants from gathering and aggregating certain kinds of historical pricing information.

Statement for meetings

The following statement should be read aloud at the beginning of committee meetings and workgroup meetings. 

This policy was last reviewed and updated on April 9, 2025.