Open House, Two Clients, One Brokerage
Priya, a cash buyer relocating for a July 1 job start, walks into an open house at 1420 Sabal Palm Drive, listed at $415,000 by broker Linda of Coastline Realty. The open house is hosted by Linda's sales associate, Tom. Priya tells Tom she must close by June 20 and has $450,000 in cash available; she would pay list price or more to be certain of the timeline. She also mentions she is divorcing and needs discretion. That evening Priya emails Tom: 'I want you to represent me as a single agent, and I want Linda to keep representing the seller.' The listing expires in 45 days. The seller has told Linda privately that $400,000 is acceptable.
1. What brokerage relationship exists between Coastline and Priya as of the open house, and what happens to the information she volunteered about her budget and her divorce?
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Default is transaction broker. Florida presumes a transaction broker relationship unless a written agreement establishes single agency, so at the open house Tom and Coastline are transaction brokers for Priya (and for the seller, absent a single-agent listing).
Transaction broker duties: honesty and fairness, disclosure of known material facts, accounting for funds, reasonable care and skill, and limited confidentiality. Limited confidentiality protects precisely what Priya volunteered, that she will pay more than the asking price and her motivation/timing. Tom may not relay her $450,000 ceiling or her urgency to the seller or to Linda.
Two limits: limited confidentiality does not shield known material defects that must be disclosed, and it can be waived in writing. Her divorce is personal information with no legitimate transaction purpose; even where the statutory duty is 'limited,' repeating it is unfair dealing and a supervision problem.
Brokerage relationships must be disclosed in writing before the buyer signs an offer or a representation agreement, and should be explained at first substantive contact.
2. Priya wants Tom to be her single agent while Linda keeps representing the seller. What does Florida permit, and what must Linda do?
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Dual agency is abolished in Florida. A brokerage cannot act as single agent for both buyer and seller in the same transaction. Options:
- Transaction broker for both (the default). The brokerage assists both sides without advocating for either.
- Designated sales associates. The broker designates one sales associate as single agent for the buyer and a different sales associate as single agent for the seller, with both parties' written consent. Confidential information stays with each designated associate and is not shared with the other.
- One party goes unrepresented (no brokerage relationship) or retains a different brokerage.
In practice the broker stays neutral and supervises the designation rather than personally advocating for one side. Linda must obtain the written consent/disclosure before any agreement is signed, and must be clear that Coastline's confidentiality obligation to the seller does not travel to Tom.
If Priya insists on single agency and the seller will not permit designation, the brokerage must refer her to another brokerage.
3. Priya offers $415,000 while the seller would accept $400,000. How must Coastline handle the two confidential price positions?
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Each licensee holds different protected information, and neither may trade it away.
- Tom must not tell Priya the seller will take $400,000. That is the seller's protected price information.
- Linda must not tell the seller that Priya will pay $450,000.
- Both offers/positions must be presented promptly and objectively. The brokerage cannot use one side's confidential ceiling to lever the other side upward or downward; that is exactly what limited confidentiality prohibits.
As a transaction broker, the licensees may not advise either party to accept or reject, and may not advocate for one side over the other; they explain options and let the principals decide. If designated associates are used, Tom owes loyalty and confidentiality to Priya within the limits of information he actually holds, while the seller's designated associate advocates for the seller.
Any waiver of limited confidentiality must be in writing and signed by the party waiving it.