I got a call from a lender yesterday on a deal we're working on together. She's got some potentially bad news for my clients and wanted to let me know the scoop. It's the kind of heads up I very much appreciate!

But she also proceeded to tell me that she wasn't going to call my clients with this information for a couple of days. She wanted to research all the options and have every potential question answered before she called them.

I understand that instinct. It's hard to call someone and know they'll have questions and know you won't instantly be able to answer all of them.

But, I have a basic belief that I shouldn't know something about your transaction that you don't. This is NOT part of the canon of ethics for the National Association of REALTORs. There are plenty of other agents who think this goes a step too far and that in some cases we should be protecting our clients from things they don't really need to know.

But, I don't necessarily appreciate it when other people decide what I should and shouldn't know. I can't believe most of my clients would appreciate that.

In this instance, it's not permanently hiding information from anyone. It's just a couple of days delay in relaying the information. We're not talking about someone doing something immoral or unethical.

Still, it's the kind of thing I struggle with.

So, what do you think? If you're a consumer, do you want to know everything I know as soon as I know it? Would you rather I only told you things when I think you must be informed and that I spare you some of the scary details? If you're an agent or broker,  how do you deal with this question?