One of the things that bothers me is the number of buyers and sellers that really don't know what to expect from real estate sales people. The first thing is the difference between a sales person and a REALTOR®. A sales person is someone who is licensed by the State to help people buy and sell real estate, period. A REALTOR® is also a licensed sales person, but also a member of the National Association or REALTORS®. They are not only bound by licensing laws but also a voluntary code of ethics to help guide their moral principles. Most larger companies only have REALTOR® members because they, as a company, belong to the NAR..While this is an important distinction between licensees, that is not what I want to talk about today.
Quite often, when I meet a buyer for the first time, they are very surprised when I show them certain documents and ask them to acknowledge their receipt. The Maryland Real Estate Commission requires licensees to present every unrepresented person with a disclosure form entitled "Understanding Whom Real Estate Agents Represent".This explains the various ways that a purchaser or seller can be either represented or not represented.The buyer or seller will be asked to sign it at the first meeting. If they refuse to sign, that's ok because we will simply sign that we presented it and the parties either would not or could not sign it. That sounds simple enough but here's the rub, Once you have seen the form and either signed it or not, you must choose how you want to work with the agent that you just met. You can have them work FOR you, which, by law requires a signed contract., or you can allow them to work for the other party and you will be unrepresented. If you don't sign anything else, you are unrepresented, which means that agent is working FOR the opposing party. That means that if you give the agent any financial information, or your motivation to buy, or how much you can spend, none of it is confidential. That's right, there is no confidentiality between you and an agent that is not working FOR you with a written agreement. So, why wouldn't you agree to be represented? Well, first off, too many agents tell the buyers about this,even though it's the law. They don't take the time to explain their services ans value to the prospect. Why Again/? The agreement may be an exclusive agreement that bids you to that agent for a particular length of time. If there has been no value shown,why would you want to tie your home search up to one person that you just met?It's all about value. It's what I describe as the Cost/Value Relationship. Simply stated the value has to be equal to or greater than the cost for the service. That's why you should insist that an agent show you their program and put it in writing. There are several more duties that are required by an agent that is working for you. Here is a link to my presentation