WHAT DOES AGENCY MEAN TO YOU?

Colorado leads the country in creating and enforcing laws to protect you when purchasing real estate.

After much investigation and consideration, the Colorado Division of Real Estate determined that the laws needed to be re-designed to be more equitably balanced. Now you can choose what kind of representation you want. This is the most important piece of knowledge you can have as a home buyer.

In Colorado, there are three types of Agency Relationships: buyer, seller and transaction. There is a tremendous advantage for a purchaser of real estate to having a buyer agency relationship with a broker.

A buyer’s agent has the ability to do important research on your behalf: to ask questions that can give you a distinct advantage in your decision making and negotiation processes; to give you critical advice that can potentially protect you from unseen risks and hazards and literally save you thousands of dollars.

Comparing a buyer’s agency to a transaction broker relationship is important. In many states, this is the only type of relationship available to you. At best, this means that an agent is neutral in a transaction, bringing together “a willing buyer and a willing seller.” However, this is often not the case. Because a listing relationship is generally more long-lasting and intimate by nature, it is difficult to not have a more personal, and sometimes more loyal, relationship with a seller. The majority of homes listed by agents in Colorado are listed under seller’s agency relationships with a possibility of switching to a transaction relationship if circumstances warrant it. A listing agent’s first allegiance is to their client, the home seller – not to you, a potential homebuyer.

I work with my buyers (and sellers) in a “single agency” capacity. This is the foundation for my relationship with my clients. You should be confident that I am dedicated and committed to serving your best interests in all negotiations. I represent my client’s best interest with other agents, title companies, contractors or builders in any of the required negotiations in a real estate transaction. The benefit for you is having the services of a buyer’s agent can be absolutely free since all commissions are generally paid by the seller. Ask me about the outstanding service you can expect from me as your dedicated agent. I look forward to being of service to you!

Agency Relationship According to Colorado Law

It is important for anyone who is intending to purchase or sell real property in the state of Colorado to understand the state laws regarding agency relationship. The following information is taken directly from the Colorado Division of Real Estate Department of Regulatory Agencies website at www.dora.state.co.us/real-estate/consumer/index.htm.

Definition of a Brokerage Relationship: A working relationship, between a licensed real estate broker and a buyer or seller, to engage the services of the licensed broker on behalf of the buyer of seller in acquiring or marketing real property. This relationship may be limited agency or non-agency according to the agreement of the parties. In the absence of a signed agreement regarding the brokerage relationship, the default position under Colorado License Law is "transaction-brokerage."

Prior to enactment of The Brokerage Relationships Act in January of 1994, every licensed real estate broker or salesperson in Colorado working to sell a listed property was assumed to be an agent of the seller. As agents of the seller, licensees working with a seller or a buyer owed the same duties of loyalty and fidelity to the seller. The current law recognizes and defines different types of relationships between licensees and buyers and sellers such as single agency (buyer agency or seller agency), and the transaction-broker relationship.

Colorado real estate licensees are required by law to disclose, in writing, the nature of the working relationship to buyers and sellers and the level of service they will provide. A buyer or seller has the right to choose what type of representation best meets their needs just as they have the right to choose a broker to represent them in a real estate transaction.