Dualing Agents

Little understood, yet frequently common in Massachusetts is the use of "dual agency". Years ago, agents represented sellers in the real estate transaction. Buyers kind of thought that the agent that showed them a property was "their agent" -- at least the all too friendly voice that cheerfully called them periodically seemed like their agent. In reality, the agent was working for the seller and showed properties as a "courtesy". Anything the buyer said could be carried back to the seller. Enter the buyer's agent -- a new breed of real estate agent that popped up in response to a growing concern over the fact that buyers were not really represented at all in the real estate transaction. Now we had two distinct third parties involved in the process - the buyer's agent and the seller's agent. However, in many transactions the seller's agent was also the one to show property to a buyer which posed a problem. The solution was to have both the buyer and the seller sign a piece of paper saying that they understood that the agent couldn't satisfy both parties so instead would really do nothing. Questions that a buyer might ask the agent would go unanswered. Neither could the seller have questions answered for fear of a conflict of interest arising. What really is confounding is why either party (the buyer or seller) would be willing to pay a commission to someone that did nothing to help them. Before you say that a buyer doesn't pay a commission, you're wrong. A commission is part of the cost of buying a home as the listing fee is figured into the seller's asking price. We have often heard consumers have an "aha" moment when dual agency is explained to them. Now they know why the agent appeared uncooperative. She was merely performing her role on the way to collecting her commission.