RE/MAX AROUND ATLANTA
  • Home
  • RMAA HUB
  • Events
  • Local Service Providers
    • Attorney Partners
    • Lender Partners
    • Home Cleaning Services
    • Home Inspection Companies
    • Home Warranty Companies
    • Insurance Providers
    • Moving Company
    • Photography
    • Property Management
    • Repair Services
    • Residential Renovations
    • Security Systems
  • OUR TEAM
  • Online Payments
  • BROKER CORNER
  • Locations
  • MAXtech
  • Request Field Services

BROKER CORNER

Buying and Selling Agents Affiliated With the Same Agency

6/19/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Agents from the same brokerage often find themselves participating in the same transaction.  Different situations result in different relationships.

In the first situation, a RE/MAX Around Atlanta (RMAA) agent represents the seller of a property as a client.  Another RMAA agent represents the buyer as a customer. 
Question: What is the relationship of the buyer’s agent to the seller?
Answer: Both the buying agent and the selling agent are representing the client.

The agency section of the GAR Purchase and Sale Agreement was tweaked in 2023 to clarify exactly this situation. The Purchase and Sale Agreement clarifies that if the same brokerage firm is representing one party as a client and another party as a customer, then all of the agents in the transaction are technically representing the party with whom the brokerage firm has a client relationship. This is because agency relationships are determined by who the Broker is representing, rather than who the affiliated agent is working with. 

You’ve probably noted that the agency language in the GAR Purchase and Sale Agreement distinguishes between the two by stating that an agent “is working with” a customer and that an agent “is representing” a client.  A client of the Broker, RE/MAX Around Atlanta, is the client of every affiliated agent in RMAA.

The second situation is Designated Agency.  In a designated agency, both the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent work for the same agency and are both representing their parties as clients.  The designated agent for the buyer owes the same duties to the buyer as if the agent was acting only as a buyer’s agent. Similarly, the designated agent for the seller owes the same duties to the seller as if the agent was acting only as the seller’s agent. With designated agency, each designated agent is prohibited from disclosing to anyone other than his or her broker any information requested to be kept confidential by the client (unless the information is otherwise required to be disclosed by law). Therefore, designated agents may not disclose such confidential information to other agents in the company. The broker is also prohibited from revealing any confidential information he or she has received from one designated agent to the other designated agent, unless the information is otherwise required to be disclosed by law. Confidential information is defined as any information that could harm the client’s negotiating position which information the client has not consented to be disclosed. In Georgia, designated agency is defined by state statute not to be dual agency. 
The third situation is Dual Agency.  With Dual Agency, there is no 2nd agent from the same brokerage. Instead, a single agent (or team) is representing both the buyer and the seller as clients.  The RMAA agent would have agency agreements with both parties to represent them both as clients in the same transaction. We see this happening when an agent has a buyer client that has executed a Buyer Brokerage and that buyer wants to buy a listing in which the same agent represents the seller. In these situations, neither party is exclusively represented as in a designated real estate agency. 
Dual Agency Requires the Consent of Both Parties
Georgia law allows real estate brokers to act as dual agents if they first get the written consent of both parties. The written consent must contain the following: (1) a description of the types of transactions in which the licensee will serve as a dual agent; (2) a statement that as a dual agent, the licensee represents two clients whose interests could be different or even adverse; (3) a statement that the dual agent will disclose all adverse material facts regarding the transaction known to the dual agent to all parties to the transaction except for information that is made confidential by request of another client and that is not allowed or required by law to be disclosed; (4) a statement that the licensee will disclose to each client in the transaction the nature of any material relationship the licensee or his or her broker have with other clients in the transaction other than incidental to the transaction; (5) a statement that the client does not have to consent to the dual agency; and (6) a statement that the client’s consent has been given voluntarily and that the client has read and understood the brokerage engagement agreement. This special consent is required because of the potential for conflicts of interest in dual agency transactions. 
Dual Agency can be very tricky. RMAA does not offer Dual Agency unless an unavoidable  situation requires it.  If that happens, the situation must be discussed with an RMAA Broker for individual permission for the dual agency transaction and, of course, consent must be given, per the above paragraph, by each party.  

​
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RMAA

    Real Estate News, Brokers Blog & More

    Categories

    All
    Broker's Corner
    Mortgage Minute

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019

    RSS Feed

RE/MAX AROUND ATLANTA
Phone # 404-252-7500
RE/MAX Around Atlanta licensed in the State of Georgia

© COPYRIGHT 2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • RMAA HUB
  • Events
  • Local Service Providers
    • Attorney Partners
    • Lender Partners
    • Home Cleaning Services
    • Home Inspection Companies
    • Home Warranty Companies
    • Insurance Providers
    • Moving Company
    • Photography
    • Property Management
    • Repair Services
    • Residential Renovations
    • Security Systems
  • OUR TEAM
  • Online Payments
  • BROKER CORNER
  • Locations
  • MAXtech
  • Request Field Services