When it comes to buying or selling a home in Metro Vancouver and other parts of BC, it’s important to understand how a listing agent and selling agent are different.

This will help you understand how to work with a real estate agent when buying or selling, setting you up for success during your real estate process.

Right now, you may be asking yourself, what is a listing agent? As a seller, how will they help me?

Or as a buyer, how will the selling agent help me? Etc.

By the end of this article, we’ll have all those questions and more answered for you.

Table of Contents

Listing Agent vs Selling Agent

Firstly, when it comes to dealing with any real estate agent, they have an obligation and responsibility to act in the best interest of their clients throughout the entire transaction. Commonly known as a fiduciary duty.

What is a listing agent and their responsibilities?

Listing Agent: The listing agent is when the real estate agent represents the seller of a home. They will help the seller, price, market, and find a suitable buyer for the property. As well as helping with closing details.

What is a selling agent and their responsibilities?

Selling Agent: Also called the buying agent, is the real estate agent that will guide you along the process of searching, submitting offers, negotiations and finalising closing details.

How Listing Agents Help

Pricing the property correctly

Your local real estate market is constantly changing. Buyers markets or sellers markets can persist or change quickly.

Working with a listing agent will help you make the right decisions in terms of how to price the home to remain competitive among similar properties, and many other aspects.

This will help you avoid underpricing the home and leaving money on the table, or overpricing and letting the listing go stale on the open market.

A good listing agent will help you evaluate the price to list it using several different metrics, while also looking at the unique additions the home or property has.

Provide local real estate market insights and advice

If you’re selling and don’t have a new property lined up, an agent may suggest or help you find the right rental property until you’re ready to buy. Or even help facilitate a deal where you’re able to sell your current home and buy the next property immediately.

Market the property effectively

MLS® Listings

Listing agents will also make sure the property is live on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®), a selling system operated by real estate Boards and Associations in Canada.

Basically a large database of all the homes for sale across Canada, specifically listed by real estate agents. This gets your home in front of thousands of other real estate agents and is a huge benefit, that can help sell the home much quicker than if it was not listed.

Open Houses + Showings

Whether it’s a virtual or in-person open house, the listing agent will help set up and facilitate the listings open house. This sometimes includes staging the home to set it up for the dream buyers and then showing and touring the home. Providing all relevant information that buyers would need to purchase the property.

Their Own Network

Having a strong network of professionals to reach out to with new property listings is how many real estate agents bring in new buyers for a property. They may have worked with buyers in the past that would fit the property, or the listing agent will know a selling agent that has a buyer for the property. This networking effect will help sellers get more eyeballs and traffic to the property.

Online Presence

Both websites and social media play a major role in helping attract prospective buyers to a home. A good listing agent will have an online presence that they will use to help the seller find the right buyer, by meeting them where they are-online! This could be a great website that gets visitors or strong social media channels such as TikTok or Instagram.

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Develop, present and negotiate offers

Once all those people have seen the listing, the offers should be rolling in. A listing agent will present the offers to you and offer opinions and advice around what best to do for the next steps.

Closing Paperwork

When it comes to finally closing on a real estate deal, there are several closing steps that need to be followed by both the buyer and seller. Having a trusted real estate agent on your side will help guide you through the process of properly closing on the deal.

This helps sellers avoid the deal from falling through, or worse, facing a lawsuit from the buyers because of a potential deal collapse on closing details that didn’t follow through.

How Selling Agents / Buying Agents Help

Property search + discovery

Many property buyers have a specific wishlist for the home as they are searching. A buyer will also have a specific criteria on the type of property one can buy. This can be bound by budgets, location, accessibility, etc.

A great selling agent will help you find the right property at the right price. While fitting your needs as a first time buyer or active real estate investor.

The agent could even have insight on homes that haven’t even hit the market, yet. Allowing you to get the first chance to view it and make an offer before others can.

Coordinating viewings and showings

Selling agents offer so much value, as they are able to set up home viewings at times that work for you. This makes viewing potential properties to buy so much easier than coordinating those appointments yourself.

A great agent will incorporate any feedback the buyers give the selling agent. They’ll take that into consideration for all the next listings they will show you.

Recommendations for Financing

Many real estate agents have a network of professional mortgage brokers they work with. These are usually relationships built on credible trust, so your buying agent may be able to help you find the right mortgage broker that can facilitate financing for the purchase.

Make the right offer price

Just like a listing agent, a seller’s agent also is a local expert in the real estate market and can offer their professional advice on how to structure the offer on the property.

As the real estate markets fluctuate and change, it is important to get a professional opinion so buyers don’t lose out on securing that dream property that had everything on the wishlist.

Negotiations for the buyer

Again, the Listing Agent will help facilitate negotiations based on the best interest of their client, again acting in good faith and with a fiduciary capacity. They’ll help secure the best price based on the buyers budget.

Closing paperwork and subject removals

If the real estate market is positioned to be a buyers market, it’s much more common to have certain clauses and subjects in the offer letter that need to be removed before the property is sold.

A selling agent will help you during this process to ensure all your demands are met from the seller so you don’t get caught off-guard during the transaction.

Finally, closing paperwork, such as the Contract of Purchase and Sale, is coordinated with the lawyers and land title office, and the home transaction is finalized between both the buyer and seller.

Having the help of a trusted real estate agent will also make sure that as a buyer, you aren’t going to be sued or face penalties because of closing details that are not met.

Can a BC real estate agent represent both buyer and seller?

Technically, yes, a real estate agent can be both a listing agent and a selling agent. This is called dual agency, where the buyer and seller have the same agent for the transaction.

To act in the best interest of both parties, a dual agent cannot offer advice or opinions for the purchase price that should be offered by the buyer or accepted by the seller. Contract terms and specifics are also not allowed to be discussed with a dual agent. While protecting any information for either party in the process of the transaction.

The reality of Dual Agency in British Columbia

This appears to be supported by the Real Estate Council, as of June 15th, 2018, they have almost universally outlawed dual agency. Real estate professionals in BC are prohibited from engaging in dual agency unless all of the following conditions are satisfied, subject to the council’s discretion and approval:

  • The property is situated in a far-off area.
  • There aren’t enough real estate agents in the area.
  • The parties being represented by several real estate professionals is not practical (i.e. not possible).

To act in the best interest of both parties, a dual agent cannot offer advice or opinions for the purchase price that should be offered by the buyer or accepted by the seller. Contract terms and specifics are also not allowed to be discussed with a dual agent. While protecting any information for either party in the process of the transaction.

Before a real estate agent can offer dual agency services, all customers must consent to dual agency and be given the required paperwork describing the hazards of dual agency.

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