Your Minnesota Real Estate Agent May Not Be YOUR AGENT
Most home buyers have never bought a home before, and many others have not bought a home in a fair number of years. There are a few elements in the buying process that can make a huge difference in the degree of success in your buying experience.
At your first face to face meeting with a real estate agent, Minnesota Statute requires that you be presented with an agency relationship disclosure. It will define the different types and levels of ways real estate professionals will interact with you, and you will be asked to verify your receipt of the disclosure by signing a copy. This disclosure may seem boring, but it is important to understand just who does what for whom.
When you are shopping for a home, your relationship to the agent in front of you will be either as a customer, or a client. Thinking that they are your agent does not make them your agent. There are formal definitions set by Minnesota statute, and agents are required to perform differently in each relationship. If you are a customer, the agent can't lie to you and must use reasonable skill in the performance of any service rendered. The agent needs to be careful not to break stuff when the door is unlocked for you, and, if you want to buy something, the forms should have correct information like the address of the home and the price you're offering. That's about all the agent has to do to comply with the law with one exception. If the agent's broker has a written agreement to represent the seller of the home you want to buy, the agent then must do all possible to get you to pay the highest possible price and at the most favorable terms for the seller. It's very easy for an agent to work with a customer because the required level of performance is so low.
If you are a client, the agent has prepared and signed a written agreement to perform at a much higher level. By statute, the exclusive buyer broker agreement adds a much higher standard of performance. The agreement allows and requires the agent to work on your behalf and in your exclusive interest to assist you in finding the best properties, determining their value, and doing everything possible to negotiate the best price and terms of purchase for you. Throughout the entire process, your agent is required to work exclusively on your behalf.
Although it is much easier to work with customers to whom I have made no written commitment, my personal ethics preclude my participation in a transaction in which I do not make a formal pledge to the buyer. It would be much easier to work with people to whom I owe no loyalty, have no obligation to follow their lawful instructions, have only a standard of reasonable skill rather than responsibility to use my best efforts to protect client from foreseeable risks or harm. Yes, it would be much easier, but easier is almost never better.
If you're thinking about buying a home any time in the next year, it's time to start collecting information. Call or email with questions or to arrange a convenient time for a home buying orientation and strategy session. It's free and could save you a pile of cash. Call me now.
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