Understanding Customer & Real Estate Broker / Agent Roles and Responsibilities
Providing professional real estate services, we as agents and brokers take pride and a sense of accomplishment with the relationships that are developed between our competitors, clients, and customers.
Real estate transactions are typically the single-most expensive transactions in one’s lifetime and are usually considered a big deal for everyone involved. Every scenario is unique, but buying or selling a home is hopefully a fun and exciting time. After all, you may be getting that extra bathroom and bedroom or downsizing and not worrying about that extra bathroom and bedroom.
Understanding the role of and placing realistic expectations on your agent is important. As a bit of background within the real estate industry, real estate agents and brokers are typically paid only when the final signatures have been procured and the money has exchanged hands.
Typically the seller pays a commission fee to the listing agent for selling their home. If the listing agent secures a buyer, the listing agent will receive the entire commission. This is common practice and legal within most states, so long as the listing agent is facilitating the transaction without favor to one specific party.
If a buyer is represented by anyone other than the listing broker’s company, this practice is called co-broking. A common practice, co-broking allows for multiple buyers to compete and submit offers on a property. From a seller’s standpoint, especially in a seller’s market, this can provide an opportunity for the seller to receive an offer of full-asking price or sometimes an offer above the asking price. From a buyer’s standpoint, this can be frustrating as your only option is wait and see if your offer is accepted or rejected by the seller.
In the scenario of co-broking, the listing agent will realize only ½ of their original commission fees as they will now be splitting the commission fee with the agent or broker who brought the buyer. Hence, the title of the article…….
During the relationship with your agent or broker, you will likely be delving out some personal and highly confidential information. To this point, it is imperative that confidentiality information be maintained with a trusted agent or broker of your choosing. The topic of confidentiality, one of many core beliefs were developed and implemented by The National Association of Realtors (NAR) to create what is known as the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.
NAR’s Code of Ethics, adopted in 1913, and Standards of Practice were written for the purpose of ensuring that consumers are served by requiring REALTORS ® to cooperate with each other to further the client’s best interest. For further reading, you can access the entire Code and Standards at nar.realtor.
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