In a market flooded with foreclosures and plagued by plummeting property values, some homeowners are worried that their Real Estate Agents conspire behind the scenes to work out deals that only benefit their own pocket books.
This isn’t true.
When you enter into a Listing Agreement, you’re signing a contract between you and your chosen Real Estate Agent.
Confidentiality in the US Real Estate Market is now more important than ever.
As in any contract, in a Listing Agreement there is an ‘implied contract of good faith and fair dealings’. This assumes that when you enter into the contract, you and your licensed Real Estate Firm will deal fairly with each other and will not cause each other to suffer damages by either disregarding the terms or breaching the mutual contractual obligations. This includes disclosing confidential homeowner or property information that could lead to loss of home offers or a compromise of the agreed sales value of your home.
What Are Our Obligations as a Home Seller’s Agent?
As your Agent, we must tell you everything we can find out about the Buyer, including all financial details we can obtain. And we must conceal anything that would help the home buyer gain an advantage, such as impending foreclosure, need to move in a hurry, need to sell to settle divorce, etc.
What Are Our Obligations as an Exclusive Home Buyer’s Agent?
As your agent, we must keep all information about you confidential, including your ability or willingness to pay more than the quoted price for the property, as well as your motivation for buying.
Should Confidentiality Stay in Place After Your Listing Agreement Expires?
It depends. Just think of the attorney-client privilege. The confidentiality agreement protecting communications between a client and their attorney keeps those communications confidential over extended periods of time. That’s how your Real Estate Agent should work for you.
But if, for instance, your listing with Brokerage #1 expires and you re-list with Brokerage #2, if there is a continuing duty of confidentiality on the part of Brokerage #1, Brokerage #1 could not act as a Buyer’s Agent for the purchase of your property. Some of the knowledge held by Brokerage #1 could breach the confidentiality agreement you entered when you first listed your home.
We Match People With Places, Not With Purchases
So as to whether or not the duty of confidentiality should extend past the termination of a Listing Agreement, I think this is a question that needs to be thoroughly examined on a case to case basis. Depending on the client’s needs, of course.
Regardless, your agent is obligated to safeguard your lawful home buying or selling confidences and secrets. So we must keep confidential any information that could weaken your bargaining position. It doesn’t mean that we hold an obligation to withhold know material facts about the condition of the your property from the buyer, or to misrepresent the property’s condition. To do so constitutes misrepresentation and imposes liability on both you and the Real Estate Firm.
So, What Does it All Mean?
In short, our duty of confidentiality prevents us from disclosing to a buyer that the seller can, or must, sell a property below the listed price. Conversely, if we represent you as a buyer, we are prohibited from disclosing to a seller that you can, or will, pay more than what has been offered for a property.
If you have more question about Real Estate Confidentiality, feel free to contact me @ 562-364-9505 or mark@shandrowgroup.com
Sincerely,
Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker
office 562-364-9505 ext 100
mark@shandrowgroup.com
Shandrow Group
3970 Atlantic Ave., 210
Long Beach, CAÂ 90807
follow my story at http://markshandrow.com
