True Gotham

Urban Digs has a couple of interesting posts regarding Agency Disclosure and the "buyer beware" policy that New Yorkers are all too tired of hearing about.  It's often difficult to determine exactly for whom a real estate agent is working.  Disclosing their fiduciary responsibility prior to working with a prospective customer should be a legal requirement in my opinion and not such a gray area.  A few observations:

• Agency Disclosure only applies in New York to 1-4 family residences thereby omitting the majority of NYC housing stock.  So forget about any agency disclosure if you're buying a condo or co-op.
• In theory this "disclosure" is supposed to protect buyers but since it doesn't apply to most New York City buyers, where is the protection?
• Why can't the Department of State make this disclosure applicable to all property that changes hands?  Doesn't seem that difficult to me.

Doug,

I called the DOS division of licensing services and spoke with June Liu for about 25 minutes about this to verify and confirm that NO agency disclosure form is needed for bldgs of more than 4 units. She did.

I also asked if this will change and she said that as of now, there are no talks about this policy changing for NY. So, while I agree with you, it doesn;t look like any change is on the horizon.

Luckily for buyers, the internet is making the job of pre-qualifying buyer brokers more transparent as they SHOULD, and I stress SHOULD, use a buyer broker to represent them in what could be their biggest investment of their lives.

However, I can already hear the buyers argue, "..but cant I get a better price if I dont work with a buyer broker?"..

What they need to realize is that most sellers have a bottom price in mind and will always try for the highest price possible, regardless of its a co-broke or direct deal. However, a tiered commission structure agreement by the listing broker may unlevel the playing field a bit if the seller gets to pay less in commission for a direct deal.

Something agents do NOT like to discuss on such open forums such as blogs; but I threw that thinking out the window 19 months ago when I started talking on urbandigs.

Thanks for the additional info Noah. Love your post. I was just talking to "one of the good ones" in our industry about buyers thinking they will get a better deal if they are not working with anyone. This couldn't be further from the truth for multiple reasons and I'm sure that you agree. The most annoying aspect of this philosophy is the buyer who makes a ridiculous offer and suggests that because they aren't working with anyone that their offer is more attractive. I know a large percentage of the buying public thinks that we are greedy, sleaze but I and many of my colleagues maek it our primary mission to get our seller the very best price regardless of who the buyer is or isn't working with.