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What are Your Favorite Bills in this Year’s General Assembly?

in dual agency General Real Estate Politics on

These are the bills I’m tracking on Richmond Sunlight – bill ranging from real estate licensing to the castle doctrine to eminent domain – and quite a few more.

The Charlottesville real estate market has gotten busier since the General Assembly’s session started so my time has been more limited (and this highlights why the only ones able to really influence legislation are the ones paid to do so).

As a consumer, agreeing to Single-Agent Dual Agency would take an awful lot of consideration and trust …

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Difference Between Clients and Customers

in Buyers Buyers. Stupid Real Estate Questions - AKA: What are the questions you think you should know but have never asked? on

Question: What’s the difference between a real estate client and a real estate customer?

Answer: Quite a bit.

I was with a a customer a few weeks ago and and we had an interesting conversation about the differences between a customer and a client.

Some basic definitions from the Code of Virginia:

“Customer” means a person who has not entered into a brokerage relationship with a licensee but for whom a licensee performs ministerial acts in a real estate transaction. Unless a licensee enters into a brokerage relationship with such person, it shall be presumed that such person is a customer of the licensee rather than a client.

“Client” means a person who has entered into a brokerage relationship with a licensee.

“Licensee” means real estate brokers and salespersons as defined in Article 1 (§ 54.1-2100 et seq.) of Chapter 21 of this title.

“Ministerial acts” means those routine acts which a licensee can perform for a person which do not involve discretion or the exercise of the licensee’s own judgment. (bolding mine)

If I meet you at one of my listings, I will explain to you that I don’t do single agent dual agency. (Guess who benefits from single agent dual agency?)

 

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Why Use a Buyer-Broker Agreement?

in Buyers Stupid Real Estate Questions - AKA: What are the questions you think you should know but have never asked? on

I tend to use buyer broker agreements with all of my buyer clients fairly early on in our buyer client realtor relationships and this reason is this: first and foremost it lays out my fiduciary duties to my buyer clients. … I approach it as something that I will be asking for, but the first couple of meetings is sort of a time of dating of us feeling each other out and seeing if we are good matches, if we want to work with each other. Buyers and Realtors tend to spend a lot of time with each other, anywhere from six to 1,000 hours together looking for houses and home inspections and just time in the car and meeting the kids. … So pretty much if you need a page to explain the perils of why dual agency is bad, really, you might want to get rid of it altogether, but I write in all my buyer broker agreements that I will not do single agent dual agency.

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Five Years of Real Estate Blogging

in Blogging RE Blogs Shameless Self Promotion on

For my readers and clients (and potential clients) – please contact me anytime with questions about the Charlottesville regional real estate market, story suggestions, tips, I worked hard on last year’s “blog-iversary” post where I looked back at four years of blogging about the Charlottesville real estate market , so I won’t do the same this year. … I and we at Nest will just continue doing what we think is right for our clients; ” Dual Agency is not in the client’s best interest — it’s only in the agent’s best interest “.

…Tools don’t make you good at what you do – in my case, representing clients. – My archives are getting full. – I’m trying to stick with my roots – writing about the Charlottesville real estate market, growth, politics, etc. .

…I serve on the Charlottesville Realtor Association Board of Directors , a committee or workgroup here or there, just finished my fairly fruitless term on the Virginia Association of Realtors’ Public Policy Group, will be beginning service on a VAR Group tasked with evaluating Virginia’s Agency laws (because, since the early ’90’s “much has changed in real estate with the advent of new technologies, business practices and consumer expectations.”) and will continue to serve on National Association of Realtors Groups and Committees whenever I am asked.

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It’s All Confidential

in Blogging RE Blogs on

Every email, instant message, phone call, text … basically any conversation that comes about because of this blog is considered by me – the owner and operator – to be confidential. The range of questions that I receive is broad and varied, ranging from home inspection process questions to questions about specific neighborhoods to “how much should I offer …” to questions about agency – and dual agency.

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Challenging the Status Quo

in General Real Estate Politics on

If you’re an agent practicing Dual Agency and get sued, how long do you think it’ll take an attorney to pull up these documents and the large number of posts warning against Dual Agency? … ~ Lem Marshall, VAR Legal Counsel “Commonwealth Magazine 2004″ In all honesty, I’d like an explanation here in public rather than in a hallway or a meeting or behind my back – Why is courage to examine the status quo so lacking?

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