Representing a seller or a buyer: offers, price, and confidential information

Represent the client; deal honestly with both sides

In California, a seller's agent owes fiduciary care, integrity, honesty, and loyalty to the seller; a buyer's agent owes those duties to the buyer. Both owe reasonable skill and care, honest and fair dealing, and disclosure of known facts materially affecting property value or desirability that the parties do not know and would not discover through diligent attention and observation. Loyalty never authorizes deception.

Offers and prices

Promptly communicate offers and material terms to the client, consistent with lawful instructions. Explain price, financing, contingencies, and timing. The client decides whether to accept, reject, or counter. Do not suppress an offer because you dislike its price or prefer another commission arrangement. A lower cash offer may be more attractive than a higher offer with uncertain financing.

Distinguish the listing price, the amount specified in the listing, from the offering price, the amount in the buyer's offer. Neither necessarily reveals a private negotiating limit: the seller's lowest acceptable price or the buyer's maximum budget.

Two channels for information

California permits dual agency with both parties' knowledge and consent. A dual agent owes fiduciary duties to both. Without the respective party's express permission, the agent may not disclose confidential financial position, motivations, bargaining position, or personal information affecting price. Agreement to dual agency is not permission to disclose those confidences.

If a seller privately says an urgent move would justify a lower price, a dual agent cannot pass that information to the buyer without the seller's express permission. Likewise, the buyer's private maximum is not a message to the seller. But a known concealed roof leak is a material property fact to disclose, not a negotiating secret to protect.

Confirm the role

California's agency disclosure explains duties; agency confirmation identifies the actual relationship in the transaction. Seller-paid compensation does not by itself turn a buyer's agent into a seller's agent. Identify the client, communicate offers, protect confidences, and disclose material property facts. Refer legal or tax advice to a qualified professional.