When buying or selling real estate, you may find it helpful to have a real estate agent assist you. Real estate agents can provide many useful services and work with you in different ways. In some real estate transactions, agents work for the seller. In others, the seller and buyer each have agents. And sometimes the same agent works for both the buyer and the seller. It is important to know whether an agent is working for you as your agent or simply working with you while acting as an agent of the other party.
In most states, an agent can represent either the seller or buyer as a single agent, or both the buyer and seller (with their written consent) as a dual agent. In a few states, an agent can act as a transaction broker without representing either buyer or seller. Nearly all states have agency disclosure laws that require your signed consent to representation. Contact your local office of real estate regulation to learn more about how agents work in your state.
Seller's Agent
If you are selling your home, you may want to "list" your property for sale with a real estate firm. If so, you will sign a "listing agreement" authorizing the firm and its agents to represent you as your seller's agent in your dealings with buyers. You may also be asked to allow agents from other firms to help find a buyer for your property. Be sure to read and understand the listing agreement before you sign it.
Buyer's Agent
When buying real estate, you may have several choices as to how you want a real estate firm and its agents to work with you. For example, you may want them to represent only you as a buyer's agent. You may be willing for them to represent both you and the seller at the same time as a dual agent. Or you may agree to let them represent only the seller as the seller's agent or subagent. Some agents will offer you a choice of these services. Others may not.
Dual Agent
You may permit the listing firm and its agents to represent a seller and a buyer at the same time. This "dual agency relationship" is most likely to happen if you're selling your home and an agent with your listing firm is working with someone who wants to purchase your property. If this occurs and you have not already agreed to a dual agency relationship in your listing agreement, your listing agent will ask you to sign a separate agreement or document permitting the agent to act as agent for both you and the buyer. It may be difficult for a dual agent to advance the interests of both the buyer and seller. Nevertheless, a dual agent must treat buyers and sellers fairly and equally. Although the dual agent provides services on both sides of the transaction, buyers and sellers can prohibit dual agents from divulging certain confidential information about them to the other party.
A Good Agent
When someone wants to sell or rent his property, he usually calls a real estate agent. The agent arranges to advertise the properties she is showing, and may visit each property before it is shown to clients. It's also important for an agent to be familiar with the neighborhoods she works in, so she can counsel her clients about a property's fair market value.
A good real estate agent is informed about things like schools, tax rates, and public transportation systems, as well as the going mortgage rates. A real estate agent must manage delicate price negotiations when an interested buyer and seller interact. The agent also coordinates the "closing" when a property is sold, which refers to the actual signing of papers and transfer of a property's title. Finally, a real estate agent should be able to discern and be sensitive to a client's needs during what may be an uncertain time. To be available when their clients have free time, most real estate agents work during evenings and weekends.
Stop the Confusion Before It Starts...Knowing How Agents Work