Real estate professionals can help

Sellers

Knowing what your home is worth at the present market. Sign up for a Market Snapshot to see similar homes listed, recently sold, and expired in your neighborhood www.activeandsold.com 

Buyers

Create your own Personal MLS Listings Search, the same system that is available to Realtors. Visit www.yourownmls.ca

Real estate professionals can help

Real estate professionals are licensed

In British Columbia, the person you hire to assist you to purchase your home must be licensed under the provincial Real Estate Services Act.

Your relationship with a real estate professional

Early in your first meeting with a real estate professional, they should provide you with full disclosure about the nature of their relationship with you. They are required by law to provide this information and explain its implications to you.

When providing real estate services, the nature of the relationship that is created between the buyer or seller and the real estate brokerage, including its related professionals, is important.

The relationship may be either a sole agency, dual agency or no agency relationship. Dual agency is banned in BC, except in rare circumstances.

Sole agency

Where a real estate professional acts only for a buyer or the seller of a property, they have a “sole agency” relationship. The buyer or seller is known as the “client”. There are different types of sole agency relationships.

One type of sole agency is known as “designated agency”. In this type of relationship, the real estate brokerage and the client agree that the brokerage will designate one or more real estate professionals engaged at the brokerage to provide real estate services to the client. In designated agency, the licensee’s brokerage has contractual duties to the client but it is the designated agents who act as sole agent on behalf of the client.

As an agent, a real estate professional has certain duties to their clients. In addition to the general obligation that all real estate professionals have to act honestly and with reasonable care and skill in performing all assigned duties, an agent has:

• a duty of undivided loyalty to the client;
• a duty to keep the confidences of the client;
• a duty to obey all lawful instructions of the client; and
• a duty to account for all money and property of the principal placed in the brokerage’s hands while acting for the client.

In designated agency, the brokerage and the client agree that these duties – other than the duty shared with the designated agents to keep the confidences of the client, and the holding of money on behalf of the client – are the responsibility of the designated agents.

Dual Agency

In BC real estate professionals cannot practice dual agency, which means they cannot act for both a buyer and a seller, or two buyers, in the same transaction. There is an exception established for remote locations where it’s simply not feasible for buyers and sellers to be represented by two separate real estate agents. In that situation, dual agency can be practiced, with the consent of both clients, so that consumers at least have access to a limited representation.

In those rare cases where a brokerage can act for both the buyer and the seller, with their agreement, the nature of the relationship created by contract is one of dual agency. In a brokerage agency, dual agency can occur when the same licensee engaged by the brokerage represents the buyer and seller, or where a different licensee engaged by the same brokerage represent the buyer and the seller. Before a brokerage may represent both the buyer and the seller, the buyer and seller must consent to such a relationship. Before providing their consent, the buyer and seller should be fully informed regarding the limits that will be placed on the agent’s (brokerage’s) duties and obligations to the buyer and seller.

Designated agency allows two clients who have engaged the same brokerage to have independent representation by their respective designated agents, eliminating the occurrence of ‘in-house’ dual agency where the interests of those clients are in conflict, e.g. they wish to negotiate in relation to the same property.

Where a dual agency relationship has been agreed to, it is not possible for the agent (brokerage or its designated agent) to fulfill all of its duties to both parties. As a result, the duties are limited by contract and the sole agent, whether the brokerage or its designated agents as the case may be, become dual agents, with their duties being limited as follows:

• the brokerage and/or its designated agent must deal with the buyer and seller impartially;
• the duty of full disclosure is limited so that the brokerage or its designated agent are not required to disclose what the buyer is willing to pay for the property, what the seller is willing to sell the property for, or the motivation of either party; and
• the brokerage or its designated agent must not disclose personal information about the parties, unless authorized to do so in writing.

No Agency

A brokerage or its designated agent may also agree with a buyer or seller that they will not act as an agent on their behalf in a transaction. In other words, there will be no agency representation. In such a case, the buyer or the seller will be the “unrepresented party”, not the client of the brokerage or its designated agent.

This may occur when a real estate professional already has an agency relationship with a seller, for example, and a buyer becomes interested in the seller’s property. In this situation, the real estate professional is not permitted to recommend or suggest a price, negotiate on the unrepresented party’s behalf, inform the unrepresented party of their client’s bottom line price point or disclose any confidential information about their client unless otherwise authorized by the client. However, the real estate professional can provide an unrepresented party with other services, such as:

• explaining real estate terms, practices and forms;
• assist in screening or viewing properties;
• prepare and present all offers and counter offers at the unrepresented party’s direction;
• inform you of lenders and their policies; and
• identify and estimate costs involved in a transaction.

Services you can expect from a real estate professional

You can expect services such as:

• Helping you to clarify the type of home you need and can afford
• Providing information about available properties and sources of financing
• Arranging appointments to view available properties
• Providing accurate answers to any questions you may have about a specific home you are considering
• Explaining the forms used in a real estate transaction and assisting you in making a written offer to purchase
• Presenting your written offer to the seller
• Familiarizing you with the steps you must take to complete the purchase after the seller accepts your offer.

Keep in mind that if you are not represented by your own Realtor, the real estate professional with whom you are working is the seller’s agent, any information you give to him or her must be passed on to the seller.

It is in your best interest to discuss with the sellers’ Realtor only what you would discuss with the seller in person.

Questions?

We are ready to answer any of your questions. Call Stan Stanchev at 604-202-1412.

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