Page 22 - Bulletin Vol 25 No 3 - Sept-Dec 2020 - Final

Guest Editorial

MISUNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF LISTING AGENTS

Here's a hypothetical question: In an ideal world, would you go to court and defend yourself without an
attorney? Obviously not, so why enter a lease negotiation without proper representation?
Listing agents have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients equal to that of an attorney. Their fiduciary
requirement is to maximize the returns for the landlord or seller, and it's critical to understand that
a listing agent must do everything possible to protect their client's best interests. Putting your interests on par
with their client’s would violate real estate law.

When a tenant speaks directly to a listing agent without representation, they are the customer of the listing
agent, not the client. That’s an important difference. However, a good listing agent can make you feel like a
client without violating their fiduciary responsibility to their true client, the landlord or seller. After all, they
spend their days fielding phone calls from prospective tenants and perfecting the art of selling a space.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

The listing agent has no loyalty to the customer, the prospective tenant or buyer. As noted above, a listing
agent can propose terms to a tenant that may seem to be factual, when in reality they’re simply opinions
which heavily favors the landlord. This doesn't inherently make the listing agent a bad person or unethical, it
just means they have a bias to favor their client, which in turn leads to a loss of money and concessions for
the tenant.

SACRIFICING (FREE) EXPERTISE

As a medical tenant or buyer, you can secure the services and expertise of an expert agent at no cost to you.
Because sellers and landlords pay commissions for both agents in commercial real estate transactions, a
tenant or buyer agent can represent you and your interests for free.

SO, WHAT DOES IT REALLY COST YOU TO BE UNREPRESENTED?

Maybe you love real estate and you're convinced you want to handle your next purchase or lease negotiation.
Do you have anything to lose by doing so? Below are a few reasons you should consider using an expert
agent to represent you.

Non-billable hours: Dozens of hours are spent on a typical deal, hours that would otherwise cost the
dentist and his or her staff. But it's not just the non-billable hours that are costly to a practice, it's the
distraction: hundreds of emails and phone calls, online research, physical evaluation of the market,
project file organization, communication records, financial evaluation of an offer and the coordination
and administration of vendor relationships.

Process and resource efficiency: You know the saying: to become an expert at anything requires
10,000+ hours of practice. With experience comes efficiency and nuance. What takes a healthcare
real estate expert a few hours might take a person representing themselves 3-4 times as long. The
process, technology, industry tools and resources allow agents to streamline the activity necessary to
complete any transaction and ensure critical issues are not overlooked.

22 | Nassau County Dental Society ⬧ www.nassaudental.org