By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

I recently read an article in the New York Times about John Burger, a practitioner with Brown Harris Stevens in New York, who offered to sell Bernie Madoff’s penthouse (list price: about $7,000,000). Here’s the most interesting part: Burger planned to donate his commission check, which could have been as high as $400,000, to the fund for victims of Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme

Ultimately, the government rejected his offer because standard policy prohibits them from accepting pro bono work. Not a bad idea, though: Burger comes across as a generous practitioner and generates some good publicity from it.

I’m working on a story for the November/December issue on practitioners donating their services. Have you ever done this? What successes have you had working pro bono? I’d love to hear your stories at ktarbox@realtors.org.

Katherine Tarbox

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