When I represent the seller of a property, I owe him or her the utmost loyalty, honesty, and skill.

But I also have a fiduciary duty to you, the buyer.  What does that mean, “fiduciary duty from me, the listing agent, to you, the buyer?”

I believe in the Golden Rule, remember that one?  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I believe in honesty and fair dealing with you.

I will disclose to you all facts in my knowledge that affect the material value of the property.

I will not lie to my client, or for my client.  I will not lie to you.

But I will not disclose how much the seller is willing to take, his “bottom line.”  Don’t ask.

And I will not disclose confidential, financial, or personal information about my seller that is not relevant to the transaction.

When I was a rookie agent, my Broker, Sue Thompson, taught me a certain way of thinking about real estate transactions.  She said, “What’s good for the buyer is good for the seller.  What’s good for the seller is good for the buyer.”  Does that sound counter-intuitive or contradictory to you?  Only if you look at real estate transactions as competitions where one party takes every possible advantage of the other.  I don’t think about transactions that way, and I don’t conduct my business that way.  Buyers and sellers both have goals, dreams, agendas they are trying to achieve.  My job is to help everybody move forward.  It’s a good transaction when everybody is smiling at the end, when everybody is a winner.  That’s how I think.

Remember?  Think Bob.