Seller's (Listing) Agents work for the Seller. When you see an agent’s name on a listing, this name is typically the Listing (or Seller’s) Agent. This Agent has listed the property and has agreed to get the Seller the highest price and best terms possible for the listed property. The Listing (Seller’s) Agent's obligation is to defend the Seller's price. The Listing (Seller’s) Agent is seldom empowered to negotiate price directly and is required to tell the Seller anything a potential buyer says that may benefit the Seller. As a Buyer, when talking with a Listing (Seller’s) Agent, you should pretend that the Seller is sitting on the Agent's shoulder. Don’t say anything you would not want the Seller to know! For example, if you are a Buyer and you tell the Listing (Seller’s) Agent that you want to offer $300,000 but will pay $325,000, that is exactly what the Listing (Seller’s) Agent is required to tell the Seller - not a good negotiating strategy for you!

Buyer's Agents, however, work for the Buyer. It is the Buyer’s (Sales) Agent's job to help negotiate the best deal for the Buyer and to help the Buyer through the complicated purchase process. From our previous example, if you are a Buyer and tell your Buyer's Agent that you want to offer $300,000 but will pay $325,000, your Buyer's Agent will only reveal to the Seller or the Seller's Agent that you are offering $300,000.

Dual Agents. In North Carolina, it is possible for a Company or an individual Agent to legally act for both sides of the transaction, both the Listing and the Sale sides, if this Dual Agency is disclosed to the clients involved in the transaction. Often a Buyer's Agent from Blowing Rock Realty will sell a Blowing Rock Realty listing, listed by another Blowing Rock Realty agent. In that case, the Company, Blowing Rock Realty, is the Dual Agent in the transaction.

It is our company policy, however, that a single Agent NOT act as a Dual Agent. We do not want a single Agent to try to wear both hats or split loyalties. If Agent A has been working with you as a Buyer's Agent, but you find that one of his (or her) listings is the most suitable property for you, he (or she) will offer you the opportunity to work with another Blowing Rock Realty Agent as a (Designated) Buyer's Agent for you to help negotiate on your behalf. We do this all the time and have worked out a friendly and cooperative system to handle the process. If you end up buying his (or her) listing, he will receive both the Listing (Seller’s) Agent portion of the commission and a small Referral Fee from the Sale (Buyer’s) Agent side of the commission (for having worked with you and then having turned you over to another agent). After this transaction, if you like, you would once again be considered his client for future transactions, unless you preferred to continue with your new Blowing Rock Realty Agent. No hard feelings!

According to our information, Blowing Rock Realty is very unusual in having such a friendly Designated Agent arrangement. In most companies, Agents only earn a commission if they produce the contract. We feel that the Client's interests come first. Blowing Rock Realty's Seller's interests should be fully protected throughout the transaction process, but Buyers should also have the opportunity to have the full benefit of Buyer Agency representation if they want it.

Very soon after you make contact with a Blowing Rock Realty agent, that agent will discuss these agency issues with you and will give you a form published by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission that is called Working with Real Estate Agents. You will be asked to sign that you have received this brochure. If you have any questions, please don't be shy about asking them!

Questions? Comments? Contact us HERE!