{"id":983,"date":"2018-07-30T15:26:40","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T20:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.realtyhop.com\/blog\/?p=983"},"modified":"2018-08-15T14:03:30","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T19:03:30","slug":"what-is-dual-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realtyhop.com\/blog\/what-is-dual-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Dual Agency?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our last article, we went over the different types of agency relationships<\/span><\/a> and specifically focused on the differences between seller and buyer agency and the benefits of working with either a seller\u2019s agent or a buyer\u2019s agent. Today, we\u2019ll delve into the concept of dual agency and go over the pros and cons of working with a dual agent.<\/p>\n

In a dual agency relationship, the two roles of being a seller\u2019s agent and a buyer\u2019s agent are combined and one agent, the dual agent, represents both parties. Due to this, dual agents do not owe all of the traditional fiduciary duties. Instead, he\/she owes only limited fiduciary duties to both the seller and the buyer that they are representing. As one can rightfully assume, this can easily lead to potential conflicts of interest and therefore most states will only allow dual agency once all the parties involved have given their informed consent in writing. <\/span><\/p>\n

Normally speaking, dual agency relationships don\u2019t happen quite as often in cities like New York because of its huge real estate market. However, a dual agency situation can happen more frequently in smaller markets where there aren\u2019t as many available properties. If the state applies agency duties at the broker level and not the agent level, then there is also the concept of designated agency, which occurs when the buyer and seller are represented by two different designated agents (also known as appointed agents) who work for the same brokerage firm. Using designated agency relationships allow brokerage firms to avoid problems that may arise from a dual agency relationship with a singular agent. In fact, if the firm is big enough, the two designated agents may not even know each other, meaning there could be less potential conflict. Designated agency relationships\u00a0are usually more common when there is a one major brokerage firm with many listings in the local market. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So what are some of the pros and cons of working with a dual agent? We\u2019ve listed some of the more common ones below:<\/span><\/p>\n

Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n