This is a kind of public service message I write each spring about agency in Minnesota.
Here are some basics: If you list your house with a real estate agent and that agent brings in an offer from a buyer that she is representing you now have dual agency which means that the agent cannot represent the buyer or the seller but instead becomes a facilitator. The agent facilitates the sale and can not do anything to the advantage of one party and the detriment of another.
What most home sellers and buyers do not understand is what a broker is. All real estate agents work under a broker. If the listing agent and the buyers agent both work for the same broker that is dual agency.
There are a couple of large real estate companies in the area that have one broker for a few thousand agents. When they list your home they will tell you all about the networking and how they will market your home to other agents. What they don’t tell you is that if one of those agents brings in a buyer those agents go from being able to advocate for their clients to being facilitators.
Homebuyers need to be aware when they go into an open house or new construction the nice agent who is showing them around is representing the seller and anything they say can be to their detriment later on. Buyers should choose an agent to work with who will work for them as an advocate and not just a facilitator.
Real estate is locally regulated and the law may be different in your state.
Related articles about dual agency Agency and dual agency, Agency in real estate, Agency and the open house, Agency? What is agency?, What consumers should know about agency
