For those of you not familiar with the term, Dual Agency refers to an Agent who is working for both the Sellers and the Buyers in the same transaction. Recently we were speaking with a Seller who was concerned that we didn’t have a Buyer ready to go in their area of town, so that their house could sell quickly. Actually, the majority of Real Estate transactions are not because a Listing Agent happens to have a buyer just waiting for a house to go on the market. The large percentage of sales come from other agents who have buyers looking in the area.
What our Seller didn’t realize was that if we did have a buyer ready to purchase their home as soon as it went on the market, that would also mean that we would now be working in the best interest of BOTH parties – not just the Seller. Some people are comfortable with having Dual Agency, while others might feel more comfortable knowing that their Realtor is working solely for them and does not have any invested interest in the buyer or their position.
In any Real Estate Transaction, there is a ton of sensitive information that should not be passed to the other party - such as financial status, reasons for selling, how much each party is willing to bend during negotiations, etc. I’m sure that most Realtors respect these boundaries and do not pass on personal information during a Dual Agency transaction. However, if you are concerned about facts of your position being revealed, you should make certain you trust your Realtor to be professional during the process, or not request Dual Agency from your Agent. It might make a safer position for your needs during the sale to have your Agent working only for you and not for the other party as well.
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Dual agency can be challenging, so much so that many brokers don’t allow it – there are too many opportunities to make a mistake when you’re trying to represent both parties’ BEST interest. In these brokerages, you end up representing one party, while the other party either pays for their own representation or goes without representation.
I also started to comment on your scenario about the seller wanting you to already have a buyer lined up, but my comment got so long that I’m going to make it a post with a reference back to this post…
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