By Living Room Realty, July 13, 2018
I embarked on a home search with Melissa and Micah a few months ago. We looked at a handful of properties in Beaverton and SW Portland; most of them left much to be desired. Cute house adjacent to a busy street, junker on a nice street, or combination thereof; you know the drill. It so happened that one their parents owned a rental in the area that they were about ready to off-load. After seeing what was out there, purchasing the rental became a really appealing option.
Dual agency is legal in Oregon. That is where one real estate broker represents both buyer and seller in the same transaction. I think that it is not a good business practice in general and, in most situations, it is unethical. BUT in this instance, I knew that it would make the entire home sale process easier for all parties involved. By representing both parties (in this case the parents and the kids) I was able to give advice to the sellers when delivering transactional documents. The alternative would have been to send them legal documents with no context or explanation. That is how it goes in most FSBO sales: the sellers are on their own to negotiate terms and navigate the home sale transaction.
In this case both buyer and seller had fair representation and we ended up having a really smooth transaction that was truly a win-win for everyone!
