Is Dual Agency in the publics best interest?

What is a Buyer's Agent??
A buyer's agent is an unbiased and independent licensed real estate agent who is focused on promoting the buyer's best interests. The buyer's agent should have no affiliation with the home seller or his agent; this person is there to seek out a better price and terms on the buyer's behalf.

What is a seller's agent (listing agent)?
Generally speaking, this is a real estate agent who has entered into a contractual agreement to sell the seller's home (for a commission) and to promote the best interest of the home seller; this usually entails getting the highest possible price and best terms on behalf of the seller.

Dual Agency With Same Agent?
A listing agent who also represents the buyer is a dual agent. Dual agents cannot operate in a fiduciary relationship with either party and must treat both sellers and buyers equally. They cannot share confidential information and they cannot give confidential advice. (Caution)

Who benefits from Dual Agency? The Realtor.
A dual agent. It is very difficult to obtain the highest and best price for the seller when the agent also represents the buyer. The dual agent cannot advise on home price nor terms nor negotiate on anyone's behalf.

Question? In a divorce, would you have the same attorney represent both parties?

Why Use Real Estate Closing Attorney?
Real estate closings bring all interested parties together. They involve the execution and delivery of all necessary documents simultaneously with the payment of the purchase price and the settlement costs of the transaction. While this may seem like a simple process, conducting a real estate closing is a complicated matter and requires a thorough knowledge of the law. Accordingly, sellers and purchasers often turn to lawyers.

Closing involves a series of complex phases: examination of the title, completion and explanation of legal documents, and resolution of any possible title difficulties. Real estate closing attorneys conduct each of these steps. First, they examine the title records for prior conveyances, unpaid mortgages, liens, judgments, easements, and other encumbrances and clouds on title. They verify that the seller has the authority to convey a good title to the property and that no errors exist in the deeds in the chain of title. They likewise negotiate with the title insurance company for insurance coverage to insure titles against any adverse claims of ownership, liens, and easements.

Closing attorneys next combine all relevant information into one set of closing documents. At the closing, they provide detailed explanations of the documents to insure that the parties understand all issues involved in the transaction. Such matters include: the relevant contracts of sale, obligations of contracts, ordering of the title searches, their analysis of title searches, significance of the title search, quality of title, extent of risks, probability of damage, obligation to close or not to close, process of closing itself, and documents there exchanged. They then disburse funds, record relevant documents as public records, and prepare title insurance policies for the purchaser and lender.

The closing attorney's role can be summed up as follows:

For buyers, attorneys:
Review and negotiate the specific terms of contracts;
Help assess financing options and explain the terms of loans;
Evaluate all legal documents, such as the deed, title policy, mortgage, survey, closing statement, and seller disclosure statement;
Attend the closing and make sure clear title is transferred;
Scrutinize charges to make sure that they are consistent with estimates; and
Provide updates of any facts that affect the property interest and provide counsel if difficulties arise.

For sellers, attorneys:
Review and negotiate the specific terms of contracts;
Request title searches, surveys, mortgage payoff letters, condominium documents and all other items necessary for closing;
Prepare the deed, all other closing documents, and closing figures;
Arrange for the closing at a convenient time and place;
Attend the closing and ensure that clear title is conveyed;
Review charges for consistency with estimates; and
Provide updates of any facts that affect the property interest and provide counsel if difficulties arise.

Not all states require attorneys for closing a real estate transaction. Many states in the western United States allow title companies to fulfill this role, so in those parts of the countries lawyers are not usually involved in routine real estate transactions such as purchasing a residence or raw land. But to be sure always consult with a Real Estate Attorney.

No Dual Agency!
Dual Agency is the process by which one real estate broker represents both the seller and the buyer in a transaction. It is legal in Georgia, provided it is fully disclosed and consented to by all parties. It is also of questionable ethics – at best! – and impossible to effect fairly in practice. In consequence, in many states agents are forbidden to engage in Dual Agency.

Dual Agency in real life...
Here's what you're apt to think of, when you think of Dual Agency: An agent lists a home for sale, you see it at an open house and sign a contract on the spot. The agent represents the seller. Does he also represent you? If he does, his role is reduced to that of a transaction facilitator. He carries messages back and forth between you and the seller, but he is forbidden by the Dual Agency to advocate for either of you. He may be completely scrupulous in his performance, but the chances are excellent that either you or the seller – or both of you! – are going to feel cheated at the end of the process. If "your" agent isn't working in your interest, he must be betraying it instead. This may not be the truth of the matter, but it's a suspicion that leaps readily to mind.

But here's how Dual Agency usually works out. Your agent from Behemoth Realty takes you to a number of homes, including some that are themselves listed by Behemoth. You select one of these. Your agent is not the listing agent of the home you picked. It's listed with a different Behemoth agent. So there's no problem, right? Wrong. Your Buyer Broker Agreement is with the broker of Behemoth Realty, not with "your" agent. The Listing Contract is with the broker of Behemoth Realty, not with the seller's agent. Both agents are themselves sub-agents of the broker of Behemoth Realty, who is "your" representative and also the seller's. This is almost always worse than one agent representing both parties. In that circumstance, the agent will usually at least try to be fair. When both parties are represented by two different agents from the same brokerage, it almost always works out that each agent will advocate for "his own" client, which means that broker will be actively betraying the interests of both of his clients – probably without even knowing that this is what is going on.

So why does Dual Agency even exist?
Because brokers want to double-dip on their own listings. In the bad old days, the buyer was not represented at all. "Your" agent would act like your champion, but he was always the sub-agent of the listing broker, even if he worked for another brokerage. Every agent was working for the seller, and nobody was working for the buyer. It made no difference to the buyer who sold the home. The buyer was without representation anyway. But it made a lot of difference to the listing broker. If he could sell his own listings, either he himself or his agents, then he wouldn't have to split the sales commission with a cooperating broker. Now that we finally have true buyer brokerage, full representation for buyers, brokers have invented a fig-leaf called Disclosed Dual Agency in order to cling to the doubled commissions.

A little bit faithful...?
Agency is fidelity. When we act as your agent, we are obliged to put your interests ahead of all others, including our own. How could this ever be possible in a Disclosed Dual Agency? It can't. If we are truly faithful to your interests, we are necessarily betraying those of the other party, and vice versa. If we are mute transactions facilitators, we are robbing you of the expertise of our counsel and advice – which is what you hire an agent for. In ordinary circumstances, the sole purpose of Dual Agency is to make sure that the real estate broker gets paid double for betraying the interests of both of his clients. Whose interests are actually being served ahead of all others? The broker's – and no one else's.



This relationship involves the following limitations:

The Agent will deal with the Buyer and the Seller impartially.

The Agent will have a duty of disclosure to both the Buyer and the Seller.

The Agent will not disclose that the Buyer is willing to pay a price or agree to terms other than those contained in the Offer, or that the Seller is willing to accept a price or terms other than those contained in the Listing.

The Agent will not disclose the motivation of the Buyer or the Seller to sell unless authorized by the Buyer or the Seller.

The Agent will not disclose personal information about either the Buyer or the Seller unless authorized in writing.

The Agent will disclose to the Buyer the defects about the physical condition of the Property known to the Agent.

Before receiving an offer both you and the other party will be asked to consent in writing to this new limited agency relationship.

Dealing with dual real estate agents
Historically, real estate agents have represented the seller of a property. The seller, after all, is usually the one who pays their commission, and agents therefore have a fiduciary relationship with the seller. This in no way means that agents may operate outside the bounds of the law and ethical conduct of course. It just means that the real estate agent is just that, an authorized agent of the seller for a particular transaction. More recent trends have introduced buyer's agents, who usually work exclusively for the buyer, and dual agents. Dual agents represent both seller and buyer, particularly in cases where the agent's company is the listing company. Dual agency is legal in most U.S. states; however, most consumer advocacy organizations recommend against using a dual agent. This is because there is an inherit conflict of interest for the agent - they receive a commission based on the selling price of the property. The higher the price, the higher their commission, so their reasoning is that dual agents never really have the buyer's best interests at heart. If you've decided to work with a dual agent, this will need to be disclosed to both the buyer and seller, and they both have to agree, in writing. Dual agents are bound by law and ethics to treat both buyers and sellers honestly, equally, and fairly. Dual agents can be prevented from divulging confidential information about each party to the other. This could severely harm negotiating positions. The bottom line in dealing with a dual agent is to remember that the buyer and seller have conflicting interests in the price and other terms of the sale. It's very difficult for an agent to truly and equally represent both parties, since the conflicting interests make that inherently impossible. If you do choose to use a dual agent, be sure the exact nature of your relationship with the dual agent is clear, know what services the agent will be performing for you during the transaction, how the agent will be paid, and how any conflicts that arise will be handled.

Buyer's Agent a better choice!
The Listing Agent, unless specifically disclosed otherwise, represents the seller in any transaction for the sale of a home. It is that Agent's fiduciary duty to protect the seller's position at all times. No matter what they tell you their loyalty will lie with their selling clients. That is why you should want an agent with experience to work for you to represent YOUR interest as a buyers agent when buying a home.






REALTORS TRYING TO BUILD HOMES
You would have to wonder the quality of a home when Realtors are involved in building homes, listing them and selling them all at the same time. Realtors should not be practicing builder duties. A builder has the experience, knowledge and the license to build solely homes verses an inexperience and with the lack of building knowledge a Realtor would. You would have to question who will warranty the construction if problem arises. Each Professional needs to stay within their field of expertise. You would also have to wonder the loyalty of a realtor taking on listings from other home sellers and trying to sell his own built homes.
___________________________________________________



What is Total Square Footage:
Some Real estate professionals and Real State Brokers like to use the word total square footage when listing a home। The word (Total Square Footage) is used when the listed properties square footage under heated & cooled is to small for the listed price. The total square footage of heated, cooled, garage, porches and decks are sometimes used to justify the price per square footage of that property. So you need to ask for the total heated & cooled square footage and divide by total price = price per sq. ft. The City and County Requires any addition or unfinished bonus rooms done after the home was built would need to pull a permit. This is not the only real estate company in Thomasville that has the wrong information Advertised on square foot। This information can be found in The Public records. Do Your Homework" Be A Smart Home Buyer!

NOTE:
The purpose of this post is merely informative and gathered information from various sources and licensing law from other states that band the practice to bring awareness in the industry. This is merely an exercise of freedom of speech and beliefs, if you as a reader do not agree you simply have to stop reading and move on. If you agree feel free to post your comments.