The Team Listing and the Unrepresented Buyer
You are a licensed agent on a four-person team. The team leader has just listed a 3/2 townhouse at $379,000. Your own buyer client, pre-approved to $400,000, wants to tour it. Team policy says every team listing is 'in-house' and that team members should 'keep both sides' when possible. Your state permits designated agency but requires written disclosure and client consent before the relationship changes; it does not permit undisclosed dual agency. The buyer has not signed a buyer-broker agreement. The seller is offering 2.25% cooperating compensation, while your buyer agency agreement (unsigned) would have set your fee at 2.75%.
1. Can you show the property and represent your buyer? What must happen before the showing?
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Not until agency status is disclosed and consented to in writing. Because the listing is held by your brokerage, showing it to your own buyer creates an in-house situation. Your state allows designated agency with informed written consent; it does not allow undisclosed dual agency.
Before substantive discussions with the buyer:
- Disclose the brokerage relationship in the required written form and explain who represents whom.
- Obtain the buyer's written consent to designated representation and, if required, the seller's consent to designated agency.
- If consent cannot be obtained, do not act as the buyer's agent on this property. Options include the buyer touring with a different brokerage, touring as a customer with limited services, or referring the buyer out.
- Do not share the buyer's pre-approval ceiling or motivation with the team leader or listing side. Use separate files and avoid team discussions about the buyer's position.
The team's 'keep both sides' slogan is not a legal relationship and cannot substitute for written disclosure and consent.
2. After the disclosure, the buyer says, 'I'll go to $400,000-don't tell the seller.' How does that instruction affect your conduct?
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Treat the $400,000 ceiling as confidential client information. You may not disclose it to the seller, the listing agent, or your team leader without the buyer's consent, and you may not use it to pressure the buyer or advantage the seller.
Practical implications:
- Prepare the offer at a price justified by the CMA, not automatically at the ceiling. The buyer's maximum is not the seller's starting point.
- If your team structure makes it impossible to keep the information separate-for example, the team leader expects a full briefing-disclose that conflict and obtain consent or refer the buyer.
- In a designated-agency state, maintain separate working files and do not let the listing side access the buyer's file.
- Remind the buyer that a lender pre-approval and a buyer's stated ceiling are different; do not reveal either without permission.
Confidentiality is not optional, and a team's internal culture does not override it.
3. The seller offers 2.25% cooperating compensation, but the buyer agreement would set your fee at 2.75%. What are the options, and what must be disclosed?
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Compensation is negotiable and not set by law. The 0.5% difference on $379,000 is $1,895. Before touring, put the buyer agreement in writing and explain how compensation works.
Options:
- Ask the seller to pay 2.75% in the offer. The seller may accept, counter, or refuse.
- The buyer pays the $1,895 difference at closing, if the agreement permits it.
- Renegotiate the fee or the service level with the buyer in writing.
- Reduce the buyer's exposure by negotiating a seller credit, subject to lender limits.
Required disclosures:
- Any cooperative compensation offered by the seller is negotiable and is not set by the brokerage.
- The buyer may be responsible for the difference between the cooperative offer and the agreed fee.
- You may not accept an undisclosed payment from the seller or listing broker.
Do not imply that the 2.25% offer automatically caps your fee or that the buyer has no obligation. Put the arithmetic and the chosen option in the agreement.