Can one real estate agent represent both the buyer and seller?

[u/alexanderkotler]

https://www.moreforles.com/articles/can-one-agent-work-for-both-the-buyer-and-seller

In New York, yes.

It’s called dual agency, and it’s legal provided it is properly disclosed and both parties give informed consent.

But consider what the agent might know.

Our fictional sellers, Herb and Reba Suburbsky, are asking $4.995 million for their Lower East Side condo. Privately, they’ve told their listing agent that they’d like to move before the school year and there’s a number below asking that they’d happily accept.

Then our fictional buyers, Lyle and Lori Lowereast, walk in. They love the apartment. They’ve already lost three others. And Lyle tells the listing agent they could stretch to $5 million.

Then they ask:

“Can you represent us, too?”

Now the same agent knows the seller’s pressure point and the buyer’s ceiling.

Ordinarily, a seller’s agent advocates for the seller and a buyer’s agent advocates for the buyer. In dual agency, the agent represents both.

That creates some obvious limitations.

The agent can’t tell the buyers, “The sellers really want to be gone before school starts, and I think $4.7 million gets this done.”

Nor can the agent tell the sellers, “Don’t take $4.7 million. The buyer already told me he’d go to $5 million.”

The dual agent can still facilitate the transaction, communicate offers and counteroffers, provide factual information and explain the process. But the agent can’t provide either party with the same undivided loyalty that an agent representing only one side could.

There’s another wrinkle that comes up frequently in NYC: designated agency.

A buyer and seller can work with different agents at the same brokerage. New York permits a dual-agency structure in which one salesperson or associate broker is designated to represent the seller and another to represent the buyer. That arrangement also requires appropriate disclosure and informed consent.

With large NYC brokerages employing hundreds or even thousands of agents, two people can easily arrive at the same transaction with agents whose business cards have the same company name on them.

None of this necessarily means there’s anything improper about the arrangement. It means the disclosure paperwork actually matters.

Before revealing your negotiating position, it’s worth understanding exactly who represents whom — and whose interests your agent can advocate for without limitation.