This section will deal with St George Real Estate 101 Agency. Confirmation of Agency Disclosure is the next piece of the REPC that we will explain. This part of the contract explains who is representing whom. The Sellers Agent is the real estate professional that is working on behalf of the person who is selling the house. The Sellers’s Brokerage is the brokerage that the Sellers Agent is currently working for. Every agent must have a license on file with a specific real estate brokerage to represent someone in a transaction. The listing is actually between the Listing Agents’ Brokerage and the person selling their home. Some people mistakenly believe that the listing is a contract between the home seller and the agent taking the listing. I would be happy to explain how Agency affects you in the St George real estate market.
Buyers Agent and Brokerage
The remainder of this section establishes who is representing the person buying the home. The Buyers agent is the St George real estate professional that is working on behalf of the person purchasing the home. The Buyers Brokerage is the company that the St George real estate agent representing the buyer works for. The person who is buying a home is actually under contract with the Broker of the agent, and not the Agent. The agent has what is known as a fiduciary responsibility to the client that he is working for. This means that the agent needs to look out for the financial well being of his client. I mentioned that the agent is from the St George real estate market area, but it is possible that an agent out side of the area may be helping a client with real estate in St George.
Limited Agency or Dual Agency
In some situations in a St George real estate transaction an agent may represent both parties in a transaction . This is known as Limited Agency or Dual Agency. The agent is limited to certain degree in what he can do for each side of the transaction, (buyer and seller). These types of transactions are legal as long as both parties understand the agency. There is a special form that needs to be signed by everyone involved in the sale declaring that they understand the agency, and agree to it. When an agent in our St George real estate market is working both sides of a deal and is a limited agent, diligence and open communications with all parties is critical.
Title and Title Insurance
Title Insurance in our St George real estate area and Southern Utah as a whole is a process that guarantees that a piece of property does not have any liens or encumbrances on it. This gives the home buyer piece of mind that he or she will not have any surprises down the road from someone showing up and declaring rights to the property. This could be important if a contractor completed some work on a house, was never paid, and subsequently placed a lien on the property. If this were not divulged at the time of the sale, the contractor may have a claim on the now owners. The best type of Title Policy is what is known as a Alta Title Policy.The Alta policy covers liens by contractors, commonly known as mechanics liens. There are a lot of quality Title Companies in the St George real estate area.
Title Company
Once the buyer and seller have entered a contract to sell and buy a piece of real estate the transaction is usually turned over to a title company in the St George real estate area. The title company coordinates the efforts of the lender, the seller, and the buyer. The title company will see that the terms of the REPC are administered, and the funds go the proper entities. It is important to understand that the title company does not write a contract, they only act as a neutral party to see that the contract is executed (signed) as written. In some cases sellers and buyers will have separate title companies. This is acceptable, and common in Southern Utah Real Estate Transactions.