PRAEDIUM Real Estate Services is a “Dual Agent Free” Zone.
We are Metro Pittsburgh’s ONLY Exclusive Buyer Agency. Our OFFICE AGENCY policy is simple. We DO NOT engage in Dual Agency by ever representing a buyer and a seller in the same transaction ! Period ! Our clients ALWAYS know on whose side we are.
How other area real estate agencies are legally able to interact with buyers can seem complicated. Pennsylvania Consumer Notice
As a buyer deals with the maze of confusion, it is best to always keep this in mind:
Conflicts Of Interest create DUAL AGENCY !!
In the residential real estate business, the potential for dual agency is HIGH. It can actually take 2 ( TWO ) forms. One form can occur at the individual agent level. The other can occur at the entire agency level. Let’s liken this to hiring a lawyer/law firm.
Most people would not want the same lawyer to represent the opposite parties. That is just plain common sense. Yet, taken one step further, common sense ALSO dictates that no TWO clients would EVER want TWO lawyers from the SAME law firm to represent opposite sides; even in a “friendly” transaction where one client is selling a business and another client is buying it. Two lawyers in the same law firm, representing opposing parties, ALSO presents a CONFLICT of INTEREST.
The logical presumption is that it is practically impossible for 2 lawyers IN THE SAME LAW FIRM to either A) keep secrets of opposing clients from one another an/or FULLY represent the TOTAL interests of OPPOSING clients within the same law firm. Even if it is a 500 member law firm with 5 offices.
Lawyers are primarily PROHIBITED and significantly DISCOURAGED from engaging in the practice of representing opposite sides at the same time. One does not have to be well versed in the Bible to know that “No one can serve TWO masters.” The same goes for Law Firms/Companies.
WHY ?
One of the reasons someone hires and ADVOCATE is to have the comfort of knowing that the entire advocate’s TEAM is on the client’s side. “Dual Agency” simply is anathema to the legal profession.
Yet, this is, essentially the set up that traditional real estate companies all across the US, including Pennsylvania. utilize, albeit “legally” on a daily basis, as their office policy. It is simply called “DUAL/DESIGNATED AGENCY”. It sounds better.
Yet, think about it. How can 1 agent FULLY represent (re: Advise) opposing sides in the same transaction ? A home seller and a home buyer have COMPETING goals. Simply stated, a Seller wants the highest PRICE. The Buyer want the lowest price.
Read what the New York Department of Sate, General Counsel has to say about “Dual Agency”.
Dual Agency Warning From New York Department of State
ALSO, keep in mind that a buyer does not simply hire the AGENT. Nooooo. A buyer also is hiring ALL of the agents in that company. Why ? Because all real estate licensees work FOR one Broker of record. Even if there are 500 agents and 5 offices.
How does a traditional Real Estate company deal with a Conflict of interest at the Broker / company level ? By DESIGNATING 2 different agents WITHIN the SAME Company to somehow “equally” and “fully” represent a seller and a buyer in the same transaction.
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PRAEDIUM believes that buyers deserve to know what side their Buyer Agency is on 100% of the time. We will not engage in Dual or Designated Agency. We will NOT play both sides against the middle. Our ENTIRE company provides our clients with a DUAL AGENT FREE ZONE.
Look at this another way. Our office AGENCY policy provides a VACCINE for the disease we have come to call “Dualagentitis”. This disease occurs when a buyer ( and , actually a seller ) find themselves in the unenviable position of having his/her “agent/agency” now in the “middle” of the transaction. The agent ( and agency ) that the buyer hired, in the first place, is now on BOTH sides.