Virginia Brokerage Law Requires Clients’ Signatures before
Showing Homes.
New brokerage laws went into effect in Virginia July 1,
2012. This new law requires that a
brokerage relationship has to be established in order to perform brokerage
activities with a client. The main
change that the general public will notice is that they will be asked to sign a
“Buyer Broker Agreement” before a Realtor, or Real Estate Agent, can show them
a property.
There is great trepidation in the industry about this,
because some Realtors fear that buyers will resent being asked to sign a form
when all they want to do is see a house.
Realtors and real estate practitioners (yes, there is a difference. Realtors are members of the National
Association of Realtors; they usually work in the residential sales arena; they
adhere to a code of ethics and they can use the local multiple listing
service. Real Estate Agents are licensed
in Virginia to offer real estate services, but they do not belong to NAR. These are often commercial agents, or in
small brokerage companies, and they are not part of the multiple listing
services, but they are still subject to the laws of Virginia.) have been required to disclose who they
represent since the 1980s. This
disclosure was supposed to be made “at the first material discussion of a
specific property”. While some
practitioners, myself included, usually asked buyers to sign these forms at the
first meeting, the general practice had evolved to asking for this disclosure
to be signed upon writing a contract.
This was often done after showing the buyer multiple homes. Now the law will prevent this activity. Before an Agent can show you properties, they
will have to establish an agency relationship with you; that is you will sign
the Buyer Broker Agreement. Otherwise,
you will have to sign a form where you recognize that you are un-represented,
and that the agent represents the seller.
How will this affect you, the buyer?
At open houses, you will be asked to sign a form.
If you find a property on the internet which you like, you will be
asked to sign something when going to view that property.
What changes will this bring about?
It seems to me that Buyers will have to take a minute to think about
the financial and legal decisions they are making much earlier in the
process.
What do you think?
I will be very interested to see what you, the general public, think
about this disclosure. Do you think that
it will benefit you to know what role the agent is serving when they show you a
property?
Or, do you think that signing papers when you just want to see a house
is a hassle?
