Who’s the agent on that internet listing?

You’ve decided it’s time to find a home to purchase and like many people the first place turn is the internet. Let’s say you even saw that house on “Main Street”, so you decide to start your search specifically for that property…

BOOM, instantly pages of links show up for that listing. As many do, you click the first link in the list and up pops a beautiful page with pictures, room sizes, maps and more information than you an shake a stick. Since they’re first in the search, you figure they must be the listing agent and click the link for “request a showing”. After all, you’re just looking right now anyway, right?

After a quick contact with the agent on the other end of the request, and meeting the agent quickly at the house (even that day, perhaps), you discover through conversation that they are in fact, NOT the listing agent. You’re confused. How could they be the first listing and not the listing agent? It’s called “broker reciprocity.”

Here’s the definition:

A business program where brokers grant each other permission to display their listings on each others’ web sites. Brokers who participate in the program can display all active listings of all participating members of the program. If a broker chooses not to participate, no other broker will be permitted to display that brokers listings. A broker can include their listings in the IDX / Broker Reciprocity database without having a web site of their own.

This site, and members of The Kim Wood Team, as well as most agents in the area, participate in this program because it gives listings broader exposure and the chance to be sold. As a seller, I can’t see why you want your broker to opt-out of this program. As a service, we have a home search on our site for buyers who may be looking for homes, as our agent system does not have a public facing search site. Yes, admittedly, we do get buyers who decide to work with us after using our search product. We do think it works pretty well. One of the benefits of the technology we use is search performance. We rank highly for listings in our area and take pride in our service. Because we’re required to by PA law, we make sure to inform potential buyer’s of our relationship for a listing request. We like to use the required document that explains it, called the PA Consumer Notice. It’s not a contract, but explains how the real estate agent/consumer relationships work in PA and your rights as a consumer.

On the buyer side, how can you tell who the listing broker is? See the picture below.

That is just one example of how it may look, depending on the system used by the agent, but it is required to be shown as a disclosure to you the non-agent on all listings. Also, if you do have a working relationship with an agent already, may we suggest forwarding the MLS# or address to that agent so they can schedule the appointment. It lessons any confusion about who’s working with whom among agents, also. As agents, our sites should also have an indication of our broker name, as well.

We work for RE/MAX Main Line, and if you’re not working with an agent, and you’re interested in viewing homes from our search, we would be happy help you. Feel free to contact us via phone (610-692-6823) or email (TheTeam (at) TheKimWoodTeam.com).

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