What to expect from your Chico CA Realtor.
December 5th, 2007categories: Chico CA Real Estate News
A Chico CA Realtor (or any Realtor, for that matter) owes specific duties to his or client, as well as other parties that may be involved in a Chico CA real estate transaction.
If you are a buyer or seller, it’s important that you know what you are entitled to from your Realtor. After all, your relationship is going to be a very important one, considering that a home is probably the largest investment you will ever make in your lifetime!
Your Realtor will be your “fiduciary.” A fiduciary is a person who holds a special position of trust and confidence, and one who is held by law to high standards of conduct. It is the job of your Realtor to work with your best interests in mind.
Specifically, your Chico Realtor owes you these fiduciary duties:
1. Reasonable care and skill
2. Obedience and utmost good faith
3. Accounting
4. Loyalty
5. Disclosure of material facts
What does all this mean in a Chico CA real estate transaction?
1. Reasonable care and skill. If a broker or salesperson causes his client harm due to carelessness or incompetence, the broker will be held liable to that client. A Realtor should not overstep his experience or ability at the expense his client.
2. Obedience and utmost good faith. A Realtor must follow the instructions of his client, in accordance with the intent of the clients wishes. (Just for the record… please don’t ask THIS Chico Realtor to do anything illegal or immoral on your behalf- we would have to investigate terminating our relationship!)
3. Accounting. A Realtor needs to account for any funds that he receives on behalf of his client, and avoid mixing them with his own money. That good faith deposit check does NOT belong in the Realtor’s checkbook! It should be deposited into escrow according to the broker’s standards.
4. Loyalty. A real estate agency relationship is based on confidence that the Realtor will remain loyal to the client. The Realtor needs to keep his clients interests first and foremost. Most commonly we see this violated when a Realtor reveals confidential information to a third party, such as how low of an offer a seller might be willing to accept on his home.
5. Disclosure of material facts. A Realtor needs to inform his client of any facts that might influence the clients decisions. Communication is a BIG factor here, particularly with a seller. The agent must present ALL offers, inform the seller of the TRUE value of the property, disclose any relationship between the agent and the buyer, and reveal a dual agency, should it exist.
In addition, your Chico CA Real estate professional owes the OTHER party a duty of reasonable care and skill, a duty of good faith and fair dealing, and a duty to inspect the property!
Although it sort of sounds like a conflict of interest of their fiduciary duty, your Realtor is also held responsible if his negligence of incompetence harms the buyer or seller on the other side of the deal. A Realtor must disclose all known material facts about a property, and avoid mistakes in their presentation of facts. Lastly, the Realtor must perform a reasonably competent visual inspection of the property and disclose his findings to the buyer.
Looking forward to more posts like this?
Chico CA home buyers NEED to know this, thanks Sandi. Buyer Agency is a complicated subject, your post outlines Buyer Agent responsibility’s clearly and succinctly. You really are the chick Chico real estate expert! Terry McDonald
Sandi,
The real estate market in Chico, CA. is very fortunate to have an expert Realtor that knows and understands the importance of “Fiduciary” duties that we as real estate agents should perform. Buyer’s and Seller’s should know what they can expect form their Realtor.
Chad
Sandi- I’ve tried to summarize our code of ethics before and just couldn’t make it so you didn’t need a law degree to read it. I failed where you thrived!
Great post. You did an excellent job of describing our job in a clear and concise manner. Most people don’t realize that obedience and good faith has a lot to do with fair housing laws. And most people don’t know how strict they can be.
This Chico CA Realtor has high standards and spells out “Fiduciary Duty” loud and clear!
Many clients just don’t realize the extent of the rules and ethics that we as Realtors must abide by. It is great to educate your Chico real estate clients as to these details. Thanks for a great educational post.