In Real Estate Pre-Licensing and Post-Licensing courses in North Carolina, it is drilled into real estate agents that we MUST know who we work for. In our state, agents work either FOR the seller or the buyer, with clear fiduciary responsibilities of confidentiality to either the Seller or the Buyer. Period. 
Occasionally, we can work as a Dual Agent but only with the permission of both buyer and seller, we are still bound by fiduciary responsibility of confidentiality to both parties. “Just between us” when said by one agent to another in relationship to a real estate transaction, whether early in the game of a simple showing or during negotiations is generally the precursor to either the Seller or the Buyer’s confidentiality about to be shattered.
“Just between us” said the Listing Agent. “I told the seller he was over-priced. He hardly gets any showings and now he‘s desperate for an offer”. If you advised your seller to price the property one way and they elected to price it higher, those are legal instructions to you. If you felt that the price far exceeded fair market value and would put an undue burden on you then you should have severed your relationship at that point. If you accepted an over-priced property to market, then live with it. Your issue is between you and the seller, not you and the Buyer’s agent.
“Just between us” said the Buyer’s Agent. “The buyer is qualified for far more than she offered. Get the seller to counter.” It is the Listing Agent and Seller’s right to know if a buyer is pre-qualified when considering their property. It is none of their business what the upper limit of your client’s credit approval is. The Buyer Agent’s job is to assist the Buyer to purchase the property that best suits their needs at the best deal possible. If you feel your Buyer is either wasting your time because they aren’t serious and just “tire kicking” then cut them loose. Or, if you feel they are sincere but in danger of losing the house they really want because of too low an offer, counsel them that they risk not getting a counter offer at all. Your issue is between the you and the buyer, not you and the Listing Agent.
“Just between us” indicates that the agent on the other side of the transaction is sharing a “secret” with you. It doesn’t work that way. If the Listing Agent says to me “Just between us”, I am not going to admonish them and say they are violating their client’s right to privacy. Nope. That’s not my job. I don’t work for the Listing Agent or Seller in this case, I work for the Buyer. By law, my job is to inform the Buyer of what I just learned.
What do I think of agents who break their client’s confidentiality? On the one hand it doesn’t matter, it can be a gift dropped into my lap and a benefit to my client…I’ll be using it. “Just between us” to me suggests that if I was given to sharing secrets it would never be with this person.
Just between us? Agents should never undermine their Client’s trust or position.
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