Brokerages

Listing Agents

The listing agent (the agent who lists and is actively attempting to find a qualified buyer for a seller’s property) is the agent who works in the best interests of the owner/landlord. Did you know this agent must “safeguard his principal’s confidence and secrets. A real estate broker, therefore, must keep confidential any information that might weaken his principal’s bargaining position if it were revealed” except in the case where material defects to the property exist?

Selling Agents

There are at least two sides to each real estate transaction: Buyer and seller or tenant and landlord. We’ve discussed the importance of a listing agent, but obviously the other side is as critical to any deal. A selling agent (aka a buyer’s agent) similarly has fiduciary responsibilities to the purchaser/tenant much like the listing agent has to the owner/landlord.

Did you know that a buyer doesn’t need a selling agent? Is it advisable? No, but like the migration of the monarch butterfly it does happen from time to time. In most cases, the seller (via commission paid to the listing company) pays the both the listing agency and the buyer agency.