Real estate agent

An agent finds properties, estimates what they’re worth, writes your offer and negotiates. You buy bank-owned homes and short sales through an agent. At an auction you bid yourself, but an agent can still help you price the property before and sell or rent it after.

When you need one

How to find one

Questions to ask

What an agent does: A real estate agent helps you find a property, write and negotiate the offer, and get to closing. A buyer’s agent is supposed to work for you, not the seller. How much an agent helps depends on the person. A careful agent checks facts, spots red flags, and pushes you to compare lenders and get inspections. A careless one passes along whatever the seller’s side says.

Dual agency: Watch who the agent really works for. Sometimes one brokerage, or even one person, represents both the buyer and the seller. The permitted arrangement and duties differ by state; Texas does not permit dual agency. In Nevada, the agent has to give each party a duties-owed form and get their written consent before acting for more than one party. In California, a brokerage may act as a dual agent only with both parties’ consent after full disclosure. In Utah, an agent for both sides (a “limited agent”) must first get both parties’ informed consent in writing. In Texas, a broker can work for both sides only as an “intermediary,” with each party’s written consent that says who pays the broker (Occupations Code 1101.559).

Written agreement: Since August 17, 2024, agents who belong to a Realtor-run MLS must sign a written agreement with a buyer before touring a home, even a virtual tour. That agreement sets the agent’s pay. In California, state law also requires a written buyer agreement no later than your offer. In California, that agreement with an individual buyer can last at most three months and can’t renew automatically. In Texas, state law requires a written agreement before an agent shows you a home of one to four units, or presents your offer if there’s no showing. It must state the agent’s pay and say that pay is negotiable (Occupations Code 1101.563).

Auction buyers: Many forced-sale purchases, like county tax sales and trustee’s sales at the courthouse, happen without an agent at all. Agents matter most for bank-owned (REO) and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac homes listed on the MLS. There, offers usually go through a licensed agent.

How they’re paid

Check before you hire

Real stories

Listing agent’s phone call stopped a fake land sale (2023)

A buyer’s cash offer on a vacant lot of just over an acre, listed for $250,000, was accepted. But the “seller”, who had hired the listing agent online, was an impostor. The agent found a different phone number for the real owner and called it. A different voice was on the voicemail, so the agent stopped the sale. The station reported the buyers would have lost about $200,000.

Lesson: A careful agent who checks for themselves who really owns the property can save a buyer from wiring money to a thief.

Agent insisted she compare several lenders (2025)

Her agent refused to send her to just one loan officer. Instead, the agent gave her several to choose from. She almost skipped the extra applications. But the last lender offered 5.25%, when the others offered 6% to 7%. She closed in October 2025.

Lesson: A good agent steers you to compare lenders, not just to the agent’s favorite referral.

Agent sold her own home, acted for both sides, then tried to change the deal (2016)

A licensee wrote a contract to sell her own home. She listed herself as agent for both seller and buyer, without the required duties-owed form or written consent. She then tried to remove the buyer’s 3% closing-cost credit and threatened to relist the home. The buyer cancelled when HOA resale packages never arrived. In 2019 the Nevada Real Estate Commission downgraded her license and fined her $11,616.64 including costs.

Lesson: Be careful when the “agent” is also the seller or represents both sides. Insist on the written disclosures your state requires.

Marketed as 15,000 sq ft; public records said about 9,400 (2016)

The listing salesperson marketed the home as about 15,000 square feet of living area. But the assessor’s record and building permit showed far less. Another agent at the same brokerage represented the buyer. The buyer bought without checking and later found the gap. In 2016 the California Supreme Court held that the seller’s salesperson owed the buyer the same fiduciary duty as the dual-agent brokerage.

Lesson: When the brokerage works with both parties, check size and condition in public records yourself. Know the agent’s duties to you before you rely on their numbers.