Dual agency is when a real estate agent represents the buyer and the seller on the same real estate transaction simultaneously. Pittsboro NC Real Estate Broker Eric Andrews discusses the benefits of using the same agent. As long as the agent is trustworthy and keeps numbers confidential, there are many advantages and it is not always a conflict of interest. Some benefits include: – Variable Rate Commission – The listing agent knows all about the property – Agents may be twice as motivated – There are no personality conflicts – In North Carolina, dual agency real estate agents can not coach. They’re more of a referee.
Speaker 1: Are there advantages to using the listing agent…
Speaker 2: There are.
Speaker 1: … to help buy a property?
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Not everyone would agree with this. We get inundated by information on the Google.
Speaker 1: It sounds like a conflict of interest.
Speaker 2: Sounds like a conflict of interest and in some ways it is. It is inherently a conflict of interest. But let me tell you, at least be aware of the advantages. So first of all, if you use a guy like me, I incorporate what is known as a variable rate. So I actually lower my commission if there’s not another agent involved. So if it’s a piece of land and it’s 10% commission, I’m going to knock it down to 8%, so you’re going to save 2%. So if it’s a hundred thousand dollar piece of land, boom, right off the bat, you’re saving two grand. The other advantage is nobody knows the property better than the listing agent. I mean, I know it frontwards and backwards. I’m not on a learning curve. I know it now. So you’re coming to me when I’m the listing agent and I know everything there is to know about, or most everything there is to know about that property.
So there’s no secrets or no surprises. And I should know that property very well. I’m doubly motivated. I mean, there’s a lot more money on the table for me, so I’m very motivated to make the sale happen. There are no personality conflicts. It’s not like me trying to prove to another agent that I know more than them, or they know more than me and no egos involved. So, that’s good, could be better streamline communication. One of the things that I learned early on in my real estate commission dealing with the North Carolina rules is that dual agency, when someone’s on both sides, the transaction buyer and seller is, am I allowed to act as a coach? I was a coach for 16 years. So I was really take pride in being a coach for someone.
I can’t be a coach in dual agency, I have to be a referee. And so that’s a lot, lot different. So it’s not like I could say, Hey, Lynn, I know they countered at 70,000, but I think they’re going to take 72. Why don’t you come in at 73 or something like that? I’m not allowed to coach in those kind of numbers, but I am allowed to referee. I am allowed to say, well, yes, you should get a survey. This is all the good surveyors. Yes, you do need a perk site. These are the best soil scientists. And so I’m certainly allowed to be involved in the process as a transaction facilitator. And the other thing that people really need to know is, we started today’s conversation with this, is confidentiality means something to me. And so when somebody asks me, Hey, what did so and so… I heard they’re under a contract da, da, da, da, da.
I’m not allowed to say it. And though I take a lot of pride in playing by the rules. And so with dual agency, somebody says, Eric, I’m going to offer 75, but I’ll go up to 76, that’s confidential. I’m not allowed to say that. And when a seller says, Eric, counter back at 82, but my bottom line is 80. That’s also confidential. So the numbers have a way of working themselves out. I don’t think you need an agent so much to help you work out those numbers. But a lot of the sales that I have, I am on both sides of the transaction because I’m a land broker and I don’t have any problem with it. I think that the buyer can be served well and the seller can be served well.
