Buyer Agency on the North Fork of Long Island

October 6th, 2007 category: Buyers

To New York Realtors, I have a question:

If you are representing the buyer as a buyer broker, who writes the contract?

Buyer agency switches the FIDUCIARY incumbent upon the salesperson (Realtor or broker) from the seller to the buyer. It becomes the responsibility of the buyers agent to make certain that the transaction occurs with the best interest of the buyer in mind. From my standpoint, this would absolutely require that: a. the Realtor writes the contract (yes, you CAN do it with attorney review) or b. the BUYERS attorney performs the contract.

With a belief (please, correct me if I’m missing something- I’m all ears) that buyer agency will require a change in standard practices, how is it being handled out there in the trenches, to those of you that represent buyers?

For those outside of NY, know that the process in NY (at least in my area, and in Long Island)is as follows: the buyer views the property. The buyers agent writes what is called a “binder”. The binder, with terms that the buyer is in agreement with, is submitted to the listing agent. If accepted by the seller, the binder then goes to the seller’s attorney to be written up.

This is done AFTER the inspection- if the inspection doesn’t work out, the buyer is simply out the money and…the house is available to other lookers throughout the process of inspections. This is not a responsible move if fiduciary on the part of the buyers agent is understood- at least, not for my buyers.

A reminder about fiduciary; the buyers interests are your responsibility.
This current process for buyers is uncomfortable, to say the least. Shouldn’t the buyers attorney (in the spirit of representing their best interest, along with our own responsibility) be the instigator of that which the buyer understands to be the offer submitted? Having the sellers attorney write up the offer is rather like having the same divorce attorney- noooooot good.

Just curious about what position may be present in light of the representation. I’ve met many great Realtors out here that just don’t quite have a grip on the process that works best for the buyer. Then again, it could be that I’m operating from a position that is equally confounded. Until clarity is provided, this renegade will simply follow what the majority of the nation offers to both buyer and seller every day- an understanding of fiduciary.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 6th, 2007 at 7:18 pm and is filed under Buyers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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