What you should
know about Buyer Representation
Connecticut law
requires that a Realtor furnish you with a written
agreement setting forth all the terms and conditions of
the representation between you and the Realtor. The
Realtor must furnish you with this agreement prior to
physically showing you a property that is not listed
with the Realtor's firm.
You may also be
unrepresented should you wish to do so, however, you
then are not entitled to the Realtor's confidentiality,
loyalty, opinions or advice. Generally, you will not be
represented if you are shown property listed with the
Realtor's firm.
If you wish to be an Unrepresented
Buyer the Realtor will ask to confirm your understanding
and agreement to this by asking you to sign an
"Unrepresented Buyer Disclosure" form. Also the Realtor
will be limited to showing you only those properties
which are listed with their Real Estate Firm
There are three
basic types of Buyer Representation Agreements:
Exclusive Right To
Represent
With this
representation, you are giving the real estate firm the
exclusive right to represent you. There is no need to
look at properties on your own and it may be to your
disadvantage to do so. A Realtor exclusively
representing a buyer must make a diligent effort to find
a property for that buyer and has a
Fiduciary responsibility
to the client.
Open Right To
Represent
Under this type of
agreement, you are free to look at properties with other
Realtors and directly with sellers. You are not
committed to use that particular real estate firm and
that real estate firm is not committed to you as a
buyer. However, keep in mind that a Realtor under this
type of agreement may have a legal obligation to bring
new listings and other properties to the attention of
those buyers they represent exclusively before they
bring such information to buyers under an open
agreement.
Exclusive Agency
Right to Represent
This type of agreement
is a hybrid of the two previously mentioned types. Under
this form of agreement, you are free to look at
properties offered directly for sale by owners, but you
agree to work only with the real estate firm to which
you have given exclusive agency buyer representation
agreement if a property is listed with another real
estate firm.
Dual Agency
On occasion, your real
estate firm may have a property listed that you are
interested in buying. If this situation should occur,
your real estate firm would become a dual agent, as it
would represent both seller and the buyer, and you will
then be given a dual agency consent agreement for your
review and signature. This dual agency consent agreement
lays out the "Rules of the Road" of the dual agency
relationship.
Designated Agency
Furthermore, the firm may offer you, the
buyer, the option of having another agent from the firm
negotiate for you. An agent designated on your behalf
will be able to advise you on all aspects of the
transaction, including providing you with price
information and advice as to the amount of offers, list
prices, etc.