BUYER AGENCY

I was one of the "pioneers" in this movement in the early 1980s. Or to use another analogy, I was one of the rebels in this revolution, back when all agents represented all sellers and the buyers had no legal allies. We lived in interesting times.

Declaration of Equal Service
Bill of Rights for Buyers and Sellers
These two documents were part of the history of buyer agency - statements of principles of the Single Agency Realty Association, one of the first national buyer agency groups in the early 1980s.   I drafted the documents and eventually there were signatures from agents from all over the country.  

This is  history  now, since almost all agents work as buyers' agents when they are with buyers, but it's interesting (especially for agents who haven't been in real estate for a long, long time) to realize that there was a time when agents who were open about being on the buyer's side in many parts of the country couldn't use the lockboxes, couldn't count on commission sharing, and were otherwise discriminated against.    Agency disclosure to buyers and sellers and property condition disclosures were other parts of this movement.   As with the other equal rights movement, much of what we take for granted was not always that way.  

The practice is growing rapidly but still not universally done.   It works for the benefit of both buyers and sellers, and in addition to quite possibly saving buyers a lot of time and hassle, it makes possible for agents to do the common-sense thing - give their best to the people they are working with while being honest and fair with the "other side"  

I have been representing buyers for over twenty years as buyers' agent and was one of the founders of the Single Agency Realty Association, the earliest national association of buyers' agents.   I have been an Accredited Buyer Representative (Designation of the Real Estate Buyer Agent Council) for many years.  There are now over            agents who have earned this designation, and REBAC has continued the education and advocacy  that SARA worked so hard for. 

This is, however, only one side of my practice.   I became interested in buyer agency many years ago because it seemed to me that each party should have an advocate who had no conflict of interest,  no divided loyalty.   Sellers should have the same loyalty, and I am conscientious about giving it.   I market properties creatively and energetically, and while I am fair to buyers who are interested in my listings, I do not try to represent both sides at the same time.   Ask me about this.    Loyalty is the key, tempered by the obligation to be honest and fair to both sides.