IT ALL STARTED WITH SUB-AGENCY. SUB-AGENCY required a schizophrenic personality. My experience with agency matters started many years before the Edina Dual Agency litigation that shook real estate practices in the U.S. with about a 8.7 Richter Scale force.
I still experience a churning stomach when I recall a conversation with a sweet young first time home buyer couple. This was back in the late 1980s. I helped them find a wonderful home in Hyattsville, MD in a quiet little community called Buck Lodge. It was a wonderful starter home, but at that time the house was already about 35 years old and, while it had been meticulously maintained, property condition can often be a problem with any home and this was no exception. Although this was at a time before home inspections were routine, I have always recommended them for older homes with basements. I was also always careful to arrange lots of time for the buyer’s final pre-settlement walk-through. In fact, I gave the buyers a “Walk-Through Guide” to
help them test the systems and verify that the repairs pursuant to the Home Inspection Report had been completed.
THEN IT HAPPENED. While driving to the pre-settlement walk-through, the wife asked me if I was going to help them test everything. “No, Kelly, I can’t.” I had provided these buyers with the required agency disclosure stating that I represented the seller. They had signed it. I had provided them with publicly available instructions for how to conduct a pre-settlement walk-through. I also knew that I, as a sub-agent of the seller, could not conduct or even participate in a pre-settlement walk-through by testing anything.
“But, Lenn, I thought you were our agent”.Nothing that I could say at that point was going to change the perception on the part of this young couple to make them comfortable. We got through the walk-through which went fine, went through settlement and they lived for several years in their first home and I later helped them by a new home. However, seven years later, when they purchased their next home, I represented them as their buyer’s agent. They knew the difference. It isn’t about what you say. It isn’t about the documents they sign. It isn’t about the statutory disclosure.
It’s about how your stomach churns when you try to walk that tight rope known as Dual Agency.
