“Let the Buyer Beware”

Many home buyers do not understand the importance of having an Exclusive Buyer’s Agent look after their best interests. Just as using a spouse’s attorney in a divorce is never a good idea, home buyers should also be represented in every real estate transaction as well.

Ask your Sarasota real estate agent whom they actually represent.

1. The Seller?
2. You, the buyer?
3. No one?
4. Do they ever list real estate to sell?

Sadly, most real estate agents will try to explain answer # 3 to you. Most of our Florida real estate agents are now called “transactional agents.” They represent the transaction, not the buyer or the seller. In an effort to help Florida real estate brokers avoid liability in residential real estate transactions, Florida has become a “Presumption of Transactional Brokerage” state. That simply means that Florida now presumes every buyer and seller of Florida residential real estate understands that their agent does not work for them, unless there is a written and signed agreement to the contrary.

Our Sarasota Buyer’s Agents are never transactional agents. We work exclusively for you. We will perform all due diligence, from giving you the mandated inspection reports and test results, to keeping you informed every step of the way. From the first inspection to the final walk through, our Sarasota Buyer’s Agents will take care of all the details for you.

Historically, Florida real estate agents represented the seller. Prior to 1989 before Buyer’s Broker of Southwest Florida opened, there were no Sarasota Exclusive Buyer’s Agents. Every agent – even the agent helping you house hunt – had a fiduciary responsibility to the seller.

After a series of lawsuits, state legislatures passed laws to remedy this. The FTC, Ralph Nader, Money Magazine, AARP, the Consumer Federation of America, and the national media in general were advocating that real estate buyers should seek out and work with Exclusive Buyer’s Agents. By the early 1990s, 80 percent of states required real estate brokers to disclose, in writing, whom they represented – buyers or sellers.

But the real estate industry managed to find a way around this. Brokers circumvented the spirit of disclosure with the practice of “disclosed dual agency.” Dual agency was as blatant as when the same agent acted as both the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent in the same transaction, or as subtle as when any agent who claimed to represent buyers was working for a firm that also listed properties (and therefore favored those properties). Consumers got the worse of both worlds, accountability without loyalty, while brokers continued to collect both sides of the commission.

In Florida, Realtors may no longer operate as dual agents, disclosed or undisclosed. Florida is one of two dozen other states to have a “presumption of transactional brokerage” clause. That means the agent is a facilitator of the transaction and does not represent either party. What’s worse, in 2008, Florida dropped the requirement that agents disclose their transaction broker relationship to the customer. It is now just “presumed” the agent has no loyalty to anyone. The agent you think is on your side does not have to disclose that he or she is not. Presuming that every Florida real estate buyer or seller should know their agent is not working for them is simply nuts.

A true Exclusive Buyer’s Broker, like Buyer’s Broker of Southwest Florida, is your only guarantee that someone is on your side. In fact, by Florida law Exclusive Buyer’s Brokers and Agents are the only ones who must disclose to the buyer that they work for the buyer. In addition, the agreement states the Exclusive Agent owes the client the following: Dealing honestly and fairly; loyalty; confidentiality; obedience; full disclosure; accounting for all funds; skill, care and diligence in the transaction; presenting of offers and counteroffers in a timely manner; and disclosing all known facts that materially affect the value of residential real property and are not readily observable.