Selecting a Land Park Agent as a Dual Agent

When a Sacramento home buyer says she wants only to talk to the listing agent, that is generally not good news. I often ask: Why? Is the house on fire? Because I’m telling you, if the house is not on fire, telling the listing agent that one wants to deal only with her is absolutely insulting. It’s insulting, it’s irritating and it’s idiotic. There, you have three I-words to describe that kind of thinking. It’s implying that the listing agent is unethical at best and establishes an adversarial relationship at worst.

True story — some years ago, my neighbor decided to buy a home in Land Park. Because I am a Land Park agent who lives in Land Park, she asked me to show her homes in Land Park. We worked together for several months. She said her reason for selecting me was due to the fact that Lyon Real Estate is the market leader in Land Park. She figured our buyers hear about new listings first, they get an edge, and they do. Then, all of a sudden, her enthusiasm vanished. She said she no longer wanted to buy a new home. I guess she figured I would never find out what she did, but there are no secrets in real estate. Certainly not in Land Park real estate.

Despite the fact that she had signed a buyer’s broker agreement with me, she went directly to the listing agent at a competing brokerage and bought a home. When I asked her why, she became very sheepish and apologetic. She said she asked that Land Park agent to represent her because she believed if she did not, she would not have been the lucky buyer to buy the home. There were multiple offers at that time. She truly felt that she had to make sure the listing agent would be paid both the listing commission and the selling commission in order for her to have a shot at home ownership. In other words, she wanted an agent who would throw her grandmother under the bus. She evidently found one of those.

There are Land Park agents in Sacramento and elsewhere who will give priority to their own buyers with their own listings, I’m sorry to say. That kind of practice is unethical, but they do it anyway. Who’s to prove it? That’s the nasty underbelly side of real estate. Everybody suspects it exists but nobody talks about it.

The implication when home buyers want to buy only from a listing agent is that the listing agent will do whatever it takes to put the deal together. It’s saying we agents are motivated solely by greed. It’s saying maybe we will push the seller and persuade the seller to take a buyer’s lowball offer because we’ll get paid more money for a lowball offer than we would to suggest the seller take a higher offer from a buyer represented by a different agent. I know very few agents like that. But buyers seem to think these kinds of agents are a dime a dozen. A few bad apples give all of us a bad name.

This particular buyer called me again many years later. She noted that I am a prominent listing agent now, having worked my way up the ranks. I am a top producer. I list more than a 100 homes a year. She asked me to work with her. She is still working with a Land Park agent but asked for first shot at my listings, too. Now, she wants to buy investments.

I don’t throw my sellers under the bus. I don’t play favorites. I don’t give priority to anybody but to the seller whom I directly represent. That investor is barking up the wrong tree. If I personally represent a home buyer, my agency and duty is to that buyer. If I personally represent a home seller, my agency and duty is to that seller. I don’t want to mix the two through direct dual representation. It makes people uncomfortable, and it makes me uncomfortable. That’s not to say if a Team Member represents a buyer it won’t show up as dual agency at closing, but I prefer a little more arm’s length.

I never want to feel conflicted about fiduciary. Without saying, ethics is important. That’s one of the secrets to my longevity in real estate and why I’ve lasted more than 35 years in this business.