- SellForSure University Home Page
- Module 1: Introduction
- Module 2: Sell By Owner, or With Agent?
- Why You Should Use a Real Estate Agent to Sell Your House
- Drawbacks to Using an Agent
- Real Estate Agent Designations
- How to Choose a Real Estate Agent
- How NOT to Choose a Real Estate Agent
- How to Interview a Real Estate Agent
- Questions to Ask your Real Estate Agent
- Check an Agent's Work
- Communicating with your Real Estate Agent
- How a Real Estate Agent gets Paid
- Discount and Flat Fee Brokers
- Real Estate Listing Agreements
- Your Real Estate Agent's Job in a Nutshell
- Module 4: Valuing and Pricing your Home
- Today's Real Estate Buyers are Savvy and Empowered
- Real Estate Values and Pricing
- What Matters and What Doesn't in Pricing your Home
- Every Home is Unique
- Three Major Factors affecting Real Estate Values
- Online Real Estate Price Evaluations
- Real Estate CMA or Comparative Market Analysis
- Real Estate Appraisal
- Realtor Property Report (RPR)
- Which Real Estate Valuation should I Trust
- The Real Estate Auction Sales Model
- Overpricing Your Home for Sale
- How to Maximize your Home Sale Price
- The Virtue of Underpricing your Home
- Selling your home with little or no equity
- Module 5: Preparing Your Home for Sale
- Inspecting your Home Prior to Selling It
- Preparing a Full Disclosure Package for Home Buyers
- Contents of a Real Estate Disclosure Package
- Making Repairs to your Home prior to Selling It
- Required Retrofits of your Home
- As-Is Real Estate Sales
- Selling as a Certified Pre-Owned Home
- Preparing your Home for Sale
- Enhance your Home's Curb Appeal
- Home Staging
- The Cost of Preparing your Home for Sale
- Module 6: On the Market
- When to List your Home for Sale
- Living in a Home vs. Selling One
- Getting the Word out about your Home
- Showings and Open Houses
- When Buyers are In the House
- Make your home Available, but make Yourself Scarce for Showings
- Offers and Negotiations
- Selling a Home that is Tenant Occupied
- Selling your Home in a Tough Market
- Recognizing the Wrong Price for your Home
- Real Estate Price Adjustment Strategy
- How to Sell a Home and then Buy Another
- Moving after Selling your Home
- Module 7: Negotiating and Closing the Sale
- The Residential Purchase Agreement
- What Happens when you get an Offer on your Home
- Negotiating the Sale of your Home
- Top Negotiation Tactics to use when Selling your Home
- The Buyer's Due Diligence
- The Real Estate Closing Timeline
- Delays in the Home Sale Process
- The Buyer's Appraisal in the Purchase Process
- Real Estate Tax Information for Home Sellers
- 1031 Tax-Deferred Exchange
- How much it Costs to Sell a Home
- Module 8: SellForSure System Walkthrough
- Goals of the SellForSure System
- The SellForSure Home Sale System Guarantees
- Traditional Real Estate Marketing Methods
- Active Real Estate Marketing
- Free Home Inspection and Termite Inspection
- SellForSure Pre-Sale Services
- The SellForSure Web Portal Status System
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 1
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 2
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 3
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 4
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 5
- Launching your Home on the Market
- SellForSure System Listing Syndication
- How to Manage Showings on your Home
- Real Estate Open House Events
- The Perfect Home Sale Schedule
- While your Home is on the Market
- The Two Week Review Cycle
- What to Expect Once your Home is Under Contract
- Closing the Sale of your Home
- Module 9: The Realty World Advantage


Dual Agency in a real estate transaction happens when an agent or broker represents both the buyer and the seller in the transaction. In California, this is perfectly legal, and many people wonder just why that is. After all, a lawyer cannot represent both sides in court, so why can a real estate agent represent both parties in the sale of real estate?
The answer is simple: in a court room, there’s going to be a winner and a loser, it is by definition an adversarial relationship between plaintiff and defendant. A real estate transaction however is completely different: both parties are looking for the same result (the sale of the property from one to the other) and are looking for a win-win outcome.
While perfectly legal, dual agency is not without its problems – so much so that many agents in fact will not represent both parties, and will refer one of the parties to another agent. What makes it difficult is that with dual agency, the agent or broker cannot favor one party over the other, and must represent both parties equally. They must be fair and honest, and they have a fiduciary responsibility to look out for each client’s best interests.
Also, they must not disclose any confidential information from one party to another. For example, the agent may not share how low an offer the seller would accept, nor the highest price that the buyer would pay.
While representing both parties in a real estate transaction can get complicated, it doesn’t have to be if the agent is trusted by both sides. The agent must give his best advice to both parties without disclosing any confidential information, and the parties are then free to make their own decisions based on that advice.
Of course, when an agent represents both parties in the transaction, he typically is paid the full commission. In a case like this, some agents may agree to accept a lower commission, to entice the buyer and/or seller to agree not to use another representative. This is legal too, but if a listing agent will agree to do this, it should be written into the listing agreement and noted on the MLS.