One agent representing two buyers who are bidding on the same house

[Valerie C]

I've been lucky and have only had this happen to me once. I was representing 2 buyers, both looking for the same type of property (investment buyers). I showed both parties many of the same listings, and because I was acting as a Buyer's Agent to both (as opposed to a Facilitator who only opens doors and does not have a confidentiality clause) I felt it was my duty to be completely honest with both Buyers. They were both ok with this, I think because I was up front with them right from the start.

When both parties wanted to make an offer on the same property, it became a bit uncomfortable. Buyer Agency demands confidentiality, so as I explained to both parties, I could not discuss any detail about each other's offer. I wrote both offers, I wrote the highest and best for both parties. There were other offers involved as well, and as I explained to both clients, we had no way of knowing what those other offers were. If I had been able to find out, I could have told them what the offer was, just not any details about the offers that I had written for each of them.

Note: if I had been under contract as a Buyer's Agent to one, and a mere facilitator to the other, I could have (and by law, would have been required to have) revealed to my CLIENT what the CUSTOMER'S offer was. Many people are confused by the different ways a real estate agent can serve clients and customers, and hopefully the Mandatory Disclosure Form is explained in detail every time somebody meets a new real estate agent but I doubt it... I can't tell you how many times a new customer will tell me that they've never seen this form before, even through they'd been out looking at homes with various agents...

[WoodyWW]

Originally Posted by opossum

She did say that we should make our "best and final"--which actually went for three rounds. I just wish she had been up front with us. And I know in some states agents are legally obligated to do so.

Things get a little odder because our agent told the other couple about us, and told them what house we ended up buying. We were both at a block party and the other couple approached us as if we had known about the situation. Needless to say we feel betrayed.

I think you deserve to feel betrayed. IMO this whole thing just stinks. It seems like an ethical agent would have told you about having another client of their's bidding, regardless of the legality. And worse, they told their other client, but not you? Was there any other kind of favoritism going on? If not, why the secrecy?

FWIW, I always hated the "secret bid" system of "bidding wars", where only the agents know what the bids are, & not the buyers. In most other kinds of auctions, on feebay, or at auction houses ranging from a little local auction, up to sotheby's, the other bids are transparent, minute by minute. In the RE "bidding war" system, the bidders are bidding against......not only themselves, but the bids they imagine the other bidders are making.....