Types of Real Estate Agents

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Consumer demands and industry changes have led the real estate industry to break out of its traditional mold of only representing the seller in a transaction and into more of a flexible way of doing business. There are traditional agents, dual agents, transaction facilitators and buyer’s agents – a category further segmented into “designated buyer agent” and “buyer agent” working for a traditional company – with the last three comprising the “new” type of agent today.

Here’s a breakdown on the various types of real estate agents working in your local market right now. Keep in mind that some real estate agents perform a mix of services for both home buyers and sellers. Because their roles tend to cross over, agents are required to disclose their roles via an agency relationship disclosure statement which you will probably be asked to sign before they start working for you.

Traditional Real Estate Agent

This agent represents the seller all of the time and and does not represent buyers. Most agents have broken out of this mold since the opportunities to represent buyers are usually more abundant and because the listing is usually considered the ‘holy grail’ of the industry since it is common knowledge that listings basically ‘sell themselves’ while buyers need attention and a multitude of services in order to get a sale closed.

Dual Agent

This type of agent represents both the seller and the buyer at the same time and is legally required to disclose that dual relationship to both parties since a conflict of interest could occur. The general consensus is that it’s difficult for a dual agent to advance the interests of both the buyer and the seller so you might want to avoid that situation. The dual agent owes each party the same duties yet buyers and sellers can prohibit dual agents from divulging certain confidential information about them to the other party.

Transaction Facilitator

This agent represents neither the buyer nor the seller and typically handles the paperwork and filing necessary to see the transaction through to a close.

Buyer’s Agents

Such agents sometimes represent the seller and sometimes the buyer. They are traditional agents who have embraced the fact that buyers also need representation yet they do not limit themselves to only working with buyers. If your agent is a designated buyer agent then that person can represent buyer or seller in a specific transaction.

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