Dual Agency in Maryland - what else to watch out besides price

[Remi Nguyen]

I requested to tour a house with my buyer agent and liked it (i.e. the event of choosing the house was not initiated by the agent). After my agent discussed it with the listing agent, we decided to make an official offer at a number I feel comfortable with. Turns out they are in the same broker firm (I realize it when signing the offer letter). So I stopped and asked my agent about any potential conflict of interest, they said they never met the listing agent - the firm is big they each of them operate very independently without seeing each other.

The seller already signed consent of dual agency months ago when they listed the house. 

If I already felt that the price was reasonable - not worrying the agent would convince me to go with a higher than the market price, what else should I watch out for if I wanted to proceed with a dual agency? 

Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

[Justin Lanciault]

Quote from @Remi Nguyen:

I requested to tour a house with my buyer agent and liked it (i.e. the event of choosing the house was not initiated by the agent). After my agent discussed it with the listing agent, we decided to make an official offer at a number I feel comfortable with. Turns out they are in the same broker firm (I realize it when signing the offer letter). So I stopped and asked my agent about any potential conflict of interest, they said they never met the listing agent - the firm is big they each of them operate very independently without seeing each other.

The seller already signed consent of dual agency months ago when they listed the house. 

If I already felt that the price was reasonable - not worrying the agent would convince me to go with a higher than the market price, what else should I watch out for if I wanted to proceed with a dual agency? 

Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

Dual agency in Maryland is very different from the rest of the country. In DC or VA I could represent the seller and buyer as an agent, but only the broker can be a dual agent in MD. So 3 licensed people are involved - the broker, the seller's agent, and the buyer's agent; as long as the seller consents there is no issue. I am not sure what you would need to watch out for that is different then in a transaction not involving dual agency - i.e. get an inspection, get an appraisal; make a competitive offer that you like.

I have participated in dual agency in MD and there were no issues with that (there were issues with a sucky lender and title company lol but those were not related to agency).

Also, assuming you are represented by the buyer agent you should have already consented to dual agency when you signed representation paperwork.