Flathead Valley Directory
RESPA Notice version 1.0, effective May 11, 2026
This notice applies to businesses listed in real-estate-adjacent categories of the Flathead Valley Directory. These categories include mortgage lenders, title companies, home inspectors, builders and contractors, real estate attorneys, surveyors, insurance agents, and accounting and financial professionals. They are categories where the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and its implementing regulations apply to certain referral and compensation arrangements between real estate professionals and settlement service providers.
Granite Ridge Realty is a licensed Montana real estate brokerage. Because we operate a public directory that includes settlement service providers, we have a heightened duty to make clear that the directory is not a referral mechanism, that no consideration is exchanged for placement, and that consumers are free to choose any provider they wish. This notice describes the framework we use to keep the directory clean.
Inclusion in the Flathead Valley Directory does not constitute a referral by Granite Ridge Realty or by any agent of Granite Ridge Realty. We do not represent, recommend, endorse, or vouch for any listed business. The directory is a public list of businesses operating in the Flathead Valley, comparable in nature to a printed business directory or a chamber of commerce listing. A consumer who finds a settlement service provider through the directory has located that provider through their own independent research, not through a referral from us.
Granite Ridge Realty does not accept, and will not accept, any payment, fee, kickback, fee split, rebate, gift, thing of value, or other consideration of any kind from any business listed in a real-estate-adjacent category, whether in exchange for the listing itself, for placement, for ordering, for visibility, for inclusion in a category, for being mentioned in directory content, or for the transmission of a consumer contact through the directory's contact form. This commitment is permanent and applies regardless of any future advertising, sponsorship, or monetization program we may introduce for non-real-estate-adjacent categories.
Conversely, businesses listed in real-estate-adjacent categories do not pay, and are not expected to pay, anything to Granite Ridge Realty for their listing or for any of the activities described above. By submitting a listing, the business affirms its understanding of this arrangement.
The directory provides information to help consumers make their own decisions. We do not direct consumers to particular providers, do not algorithmically weight listings to favor certain providers, and do not influence the consumer's selection of any settlement service provider. Consumers are encouraged to compare multiple providers, ask for written estimates, verify licensing and insurance, and make decisions based on their own evaluation of qualifications, pricing, and fit.
Within any real-estate-adjacent category, listings are presented in alphabetical order by business name. We do not offer paid placement, preferred positioning, or "sponsored" treatment of any kind for businesses in these categories. A future paid-placement program, if ever introduced for non-real-estate-adjacent categories, will not extend to categories covered by this notice.
Our compliance posture is enforced through a combination of policy, contract, and technical controls:
This notice applies to listings in the following categories, identified by our internal real-estate-adjacent flag:
If we add additional categories that fall within RESPA's scope, they will be added to this list and flagged in our internal system before any listings are accepted in them.
Questions about this notice or about our RESPA compliance posture can be sent to Granite Ridge Realty at clint@skyvaultmedia.co or by phone at 406-471-3845. Concerns about the conduct of a listed business should be addressed to the appropriate state or federal regulator, in addition to (or instead of) being reported to us.