Real Estate Dual Agency Explained

April 11th, 2012

Real estate always involves so many different people. There are those that are looking to buy a house for a number of reasons. There are those that are looking to rent a house, or an apartment, and there are those that want to purchase property as part of an investment. These are just the people that are trying to purchase a house. You still have the entire other side of the real estate market. The side where everyone is trying to sell property. The whole idea is to do some sort of real estate match making and get these two different sides together. Once they are together, things will start to happen, but who is the match maker in the real estate world? Who is in charge of getting a buyer and a seller together so that they can make a deal? Real estate agents are.

In the real estate world there is a practice that is being called “dual agency” or “double ending.”
What are these practices and how do they have an affect on the real estate market?

It is pretty simple to break down this practice on a basic word level. Dual or double would obviously mean two, but what about the agency or ending part? What could that be referring to? Does dual agency mean two agencies?

Dual agency or double ending can mean something different in every state. It could mean that one real estate agent is representing the buyer and the seller, or it could mean that two agents from the very same real estate office are handling the real estate transaction. One agent represents the buyer, and the other represents the seller, but they are both working for the same company.

So what’s the big deal?
Here is where the problem lies. If the same real estate agent is representing both the buyer and seller, then they are getting paid twice for one transaction. This can clearly be seen as “unfair.” Many people think that this could be considered as fraud. It does sit on a fine line, and real estate agents should be really telling the people that they are involved with if they are actively doing any double ending with their transactions.

How would you feel if you found out that two agents from the same exact office where working together to sell a house, and the agency that they work for gets paid twice? Should these types of double ending deals be allowed?

Entry Filed under: buying a home,Homes for Sale/Houses for Sale,real estate advice,selling a home