In today's real estate
market, agency and how the agent you have chosen to work
with is a very important topic. The days of a hand shake
and a smile are gone, and good riddance to them. The old
way of buying real estate was only good for the seller,
because all of the parties in the transaction were
either a sellers agent, or a sellers sub agent. Simply
put, the buyer in the transaction had no representation
what so ever!
Representation
has changed quite a bit over the years, and today
we have Buyer Agency and Transaction Brokerage which
affords the buyer a choice in how they want to be
represented and the agent doesn't owe any allegiance to
the seller.
In Buyer Agency, when you hire me as
your agent, I am actually representing you and your best
interests in the transaction. I become "Your" agent.
That means that I do not owe any duties or have any
responsibilities to the seller, and can negotiate on
your behalf without having to disclose any information
about you to anyone, my allegiance is strictly to you,
the buyer.
Another
way to work around Seller Agency in Colorado is that we
have a status called Transaction Broker. That is any
instance where we don't represent anyone in the
transaction, but are actually are hired to "facilitate"
the transaction.
In
Transaction Brokerage the agent you hire owes you the
duty of fair and honest dealing. This allows the agent
to gather all requested information about the home or
the transaction at hand and disclose that information to
you, the buyer, in a timely manner.
However, there is a
drawback to Transaction Brokerage. In Transaction
Brokerage the agent becomes a neutral party to the
transaction and can not give the buyer advice.
I prefer
working as a Buyers Agent whenever possible. That gives
me the freedom that I can work on your behalf and not
have to disclose any vital information. In fact I can't
give any information out about a buyer unless I am
authorized to do so by the buyer. It also helps in
negotiations, because you can give me the information I
need to negotiate. As an example, you may make a lower
offer, and authorize me to negotiate a range of higher
prices without consulting you. Under the old system, I
would have had to disclose you were willing to offer a
higher price.
I use Transaction Brokerage as
a means of being able to show you all of the homes that
are available. You don't lose much by being in a
Transaction Broker agreement, I'm still bound to making
sure you have all of the information to facilitate your
contract and insure fair and honest treatment.
Which way should you choose to
be represented? I would say that it depends on the
circumstances of the transaction. Either way, I can
assure you that you that I will work very hard so you
will have the best home buying experience possible.
|
