Buyer agency
Buyer agency is the brokerage relationship in which a real estate licensee represents a buyer as a client under a written brokerage agreement. In Virginia the licensee must enter that agreement before showing the buyer any property, then seeks property of a type, price and terms acceptable to the buyer.
The agreement comes before the first showing, not after
Buyer agency begins on paper, before a single property is shown. Virginia's buyer-side statute puts that step first on its list of what a buyer's licensee must do.
A. A licensee engaged by a buyer shall: 1. Enter into a brokerage agreement with the prospective buyer prior to showing property to such prospective buyer
Va. Code 54.1-2132 A 1
Showing property reaches further than walking a buyer across a field. Virginia defines it to include taking a prospective buyer to a property and through it, and entering a property to provide a live, virtual tour to a prospective buyer who is not physically present. A licensee who walks onto a tract streaming live video for a buyer in another state is showing property under that definition, and a buyer's licensee does that only after the agreement exists.
Until there is an agreement, the Code presumes the buyer a customer rather than a client, and what a buyer who has signed with nobody is owed is set out in who represents you if you buy land without a buyer's agent.
Finding ground on the buyer's terms, and telling the buyer what is known
Once engaged, a buyer's licensee promotes the buyer's interests, and the statute names what that means in plain terms.
- Seeking the right property. The licensee seeks a property of a type acceptable to the buyer, at a price and on terms acceptable to the buyer.
- Not bound to keep looking once under contract. The licensee is not obligated to seek or show other properties while the buyer is a party to a contract to purchase, unless that was agreed to as part of the brokerage relationship.
- Disclosing what is known. The licensee discloses to the buyer material facts related to the property or concerning the transaction of which the licensee has actual knowledge.
The first of those duties is measured against the buyer's own price and terms. A tract that sat outside a buyer's price last month can come inside it after the seller lowers the asking figure, and from the seller's side, whether that reduction works against the listing is weighed in whether a price drop hurts a listing.
In a residential real estate transaction, a licensee representing a client in an agency relationship does so either as a standard agent or as a limited service agent, whose written agreement lists the standard duties it will not provide. Which of those applies is settled in the brokerage agreement itself.
Honest with the seller, and plain about whose side the licensee is on
Representing the buyer does not free the licensee from duties to the person selling.
Licensees shall treat all prospective sellers honestly and shall not knowingly give them false information.
Va. Code 54.1-2132
In a residential transaction there is a disclosure duty as well. A licensee who has a substantive discussion about a specific property with a buyer or seller who is not the licensee's client and has no licensee of their own must disclose any brokerage relationship with another party, and the Real Estate Board's regulation 18VAC135-20-220 A says the licensee discloses whom the licensee represents. In a residential sale, then, an owner selling without an agent who has that kind of discussion with a buyer's licensee is told whom the licensee represents; when that disclosure is due is covered from the buyer's side in the answer on buying without a buyer's agent.
The picture changes when the same licensee also has a brokerage relationship with the seller. That is a dual agent, and the consent it takes is set out under dual agency. Who pays a buyer's licensee is not a matter this page can state; the fee terms are written into the brokerage agreement.
Looking for land and want a licensee working on the buyer's side?
Tell Lowell what kind of tract you are after and he will explain the buyer brokerage agreement that comes before any showing, and what it would ask of both of you. No cost, no obligation.
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Questions about this term
Does a buyer's agent have to tell me what they know about a property?
Material facts, yes, to the extent the licensee actually knows them. Under Va. Code 54.1-2132, a licensee engaged by a buyer must disclose to the buyer material facts related to the property or concerning the transaction of which the licensee has actual knowledge. The statute frames that duty around what the licensee actually knows; where the lines run is a surveyor's work, and the title is an attorney's.
Does a buyer's agent owe anything to the seller?
Yes, honesty. Virginia's buyer-side statute, Va. Code 54.1-2132, says licensees shall treat all prospective sellers honestly and shall not knowingly give them false information. In a residential transaction, a buyer's licensee who has a substantive discussion about a specific property with a seller who has no licensee of their own must also disclose any brokerage relationship with another party, which means telling that seller whom the licensee represents.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 54.1-2132, Licensees engaged by buyers Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 54.1-2130, Definitions Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 54.1-2138, Disclosure of brokerage relationship in residential real estate transactions Code of Virginia
- 18VAC135-20-220 A, Disclosure of brokerage relationships Virginia Real Estate Board
- Va. Code 58.1-3230, Special classifications of real estate established and defined Code of Virginia