Definition of "Dual listing"

Danny  Skelly  real estate agent

Written by

Danny Skelly elite badge icon

Orson Hill Realty

When you sign a Listing Agreement with a real estate broker or agent, he or she has a fiduciary responsibility to represent your interests exclusively. However, should another client of the real estate broker or agent want to make an offer on your house, the agent/broker would then find himself in a Dual Listing.

But how can he do his/her job of representing my interests exclusively if the home buyer is also his/her client? you ask.

Well, he can’t. Only if you (and the home buyer) agree so. A dual listing occurring without the knowledge of both the home seller and the home buyer violates the principal fiduciary relationship and therefore is illegal. So, whenever an agent/broker notices this conflict of interests happening, the first thing he/she needs to do is warn both clients. If both of them aren’t bothered by that… then game on!

Real Estate Secrets:

Dual Listing is yet another Listing Agreement ramification. Check out others like Net Listings, Open Listings, Option Listing and much more in our Glossary terms.

If that feels too advanced for you, go back to basics and try our Listings 101: What you need to know when you hire a Real Estate Agent or a Broker blog post.

Want no such thing? We’ll give you the TL;DR version: find a real estate agent and let him/her do all the heavy lifting.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

Financial intermediaries who invest in deeds of trust and mortgages, and hold them in their own portfolio. Large financial firm that uses depositors' money to lend to borrowers. ...

The Exclusive Agency Listing is regularly confused with the Exclusive Right to Sell Listing, but they are not the same. True: on both Listings, only 1 Broker or Agent has the right to sell ...

Freestanding residential housing constructed on its own building lot. Detached housing is the typical type of housing found in suburban developments. ...

A projecting window located above the first floor that is supported by brackets. ...

Reconsideration of the value of real property. An example is getting property appraised each year to determine its current value for tax or purposes of determining whether to sell ...

Drawing for the entire structure or part of it that is detailed and in scale so that engineers and construction workers may readily follow it. ...

Typically, the legal term attachment refers to seizing a person’s property, being charged with debt, and giving it to the wronged creditor until the process is in motion. Attachment ...

The term acknowledgement refers to an act, deed, declaration, or an expression of appreciation, but it also refers to accepting or recognizing something. The definition of acknowledgement, ...

To obtain the right through authorization to act as a legal representative and agent for another. ...

Popular Real Estate Questions