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What Is Different When A Buyer, Who Is Not Working With An Agent Or Is One Of Mitch's  Clients, Has Interest In Purchasing One Of Mitch's Own Listings...

Mitch will NOT Act As A Dual/Limited Agent Who Tries To Represent Both You and The Seller At The Same Time… This Concept, That Is Illegal In Many States Of One Agent Representing Both The Buyer And The Seller At The Same Time, Happens Everyday In Indiana With Most Agents!

Mitch Feels Dual/Limited Agency is Unethical. So, Mitch Will NOT Represent Both The Buyer And The Seller In The Same Transaction. Instead, Mitch Created Ways In Balanced Markets and Buyer's Markets To Help Buyers, On His Listings, Share In A Seller's Lower Sales Commissions.  And, In Seller's Markets And Multiple Offer Scenarios, Mitch's Options Create A Way That Mitch's Buyers Can Still Make Their Offers More Attractive To You as the Seller.

What is Your Current Greater Indy Place Worth

The first clue as to why Limited/Dual Agents are bad for you is that REALTORS refer to these transactions as "Me & Me" deals!

Dual or Limited Agency is when the same REALTOR tries to represent both Sellers and Buyers in the same transaction. Indiana is one of a few states that still allows Limited/Dual Agency. Indiana law requires Buyers & Sellers to acknowledge in writing that both parties are agreeing to Limited Agency. That document rarely explains any negatives associated with being in a limited Agency transaction.

With Keller Williams Realty Indianapolis Buyers and Sellers will be required to sign or acknowledge receiving several documents predominately focused on Limited or Dual Agency. Additionally you will see several other places that limited or dual agency is discussed including in a “check box” on every Metropolitan Board of REALTORs Purchase Agreement all there in an effort to eliminate lawsuits. In fact one of the most common reasons for lawsuits, related to the sale or purchase of a property, is that one party feels that the Limited or Dual Agent inappropriately advocated or represented the other party’s interests.


The conflicts of Interest with Limited or Dual Agency are numerous. For sellers their goal is obtain the best price and terms while the Buyer’s goals are typically to get the lowest price.  Usually the only person who “wins” in Dual/Limited agency is the REALTOR who receives the commission from both sides of the transaction. Since commission fees are most often paid by the Seller that means as a Seller you are paying comparable fees, as you typically would, but NOT getting all of the same representation you should and would usually receive. At the same time since commission fees are built in to the purchase price that means as a Buyer you are paying comparable fees, as you typically would, but NOT getting all of the same representation you should and would usually receive.

Click on the 'How You Lose' to learn why you might NOT want to have a Limited/Dual Agent & explore 'Four Options' to learn about the possible next steps & ways to proceed.

When You Spend Basically The Same Amount Buying A Property, As you Would Of If You Had Buyer's Agent Representing You, Or Worse You Spend More... And You Don't Get The Same Level Of Representation, Then You Lose! 

Limited / Dual Agents Can NOT do anything that would or even could be perceived as representing the interests of ONLY you as the Buyer. A few examples of things a Buyer's Agent Can’t Legally Do When They Are Acting as a Dual/Limited Agent include:

Suggest to a You how much the Buyer might pay for a property

Writing a Purchase Agreement or Inspection Response that favor’s your interests as the Seller.

Share any information with you about the Buyer that might interest you or reflect the Buyer is willing to pay more for your place or share information about the Buyer that might make you want to decline their offer.

Suggest how you should respond to a Buyer’s offer or counteroffer

Share with you that Inspection items, requested by the Buyer, that NOT be usual and customary repairs for you as a Seller to address.

Advise you which items within an Inspection Response you as the Seller should decline to address.

Click on 'What Is Dual/Limited Agency' to learn why Many States Won't Allow This Type of Agency & explore 'Four Options' to learn about the possible next steps & ways to proceed.

A Buyer Of Mitch's Wants To Submit An Offer On Your Place That Mitch Has Listed….

Because Mitch will not represent both a Buyer and a Seller, in the same transaction, he is happy to let either the buyer or the seller represent themselves. Plus Mitch gives you additional options.

Usual and customary Listing Brokerage Commission fees are 7% for houses and condos that sell for $300,000 or less and 6% for houses and condos that sell for more than $300,000.  (Ask Mitch about commission fees for houses and condos that sell for more than $800,000)

 

When Mitch is your Listing Agent, and Mitch's Buyers have interest in writing an offer on the property then Mitch provides the seller, and the buyers, options that can lower the Seller’s selling commission fees. Most Buyers understand, in a balanced market the most Sellers will share the savings you receive as the Seller’s from these lower fees. This usually creates a “win-win” situation where buyers can purchase the property for a lower amount than usual and you as the sellers still actually net more at closing than you typically would net when two agents are usually involved even after “sharing” some of your savings with the Buyer. In Seller's Markets Even though the Buyers may not share in your savings, because of the reduced Seller's fees, the buyer's offer is more attractive than equal or perhaps even greater offers. So this still creates a Win-Win for the Buyers and you as the Sellers.

 

The four most common scenarios are listed below:

  • You As The Sellers Decide You Are Willing To Represent Yourselves With Lower Fees, & Mitch Will Represent The Buyers
    When Mitch is your listing agent and some of Mitch's clients are also wanting to write an offer on your property then the first option Mitch gives is to you as the Seller. Mitch offers to stop representing you as the Seller for negotiations with the Buyer. In this scenario Mitch will represent ONLY the Buyers.  To be honest this is not the 1st choice for most Sellers! Most Sellers have busy schedules and understand the importance of having a strong experienced negotiator like Mitch that understands the current market and knows how to get the best sales price and terms for the Seller. Frankly, Mitch never recommends this option but he understands that for many sellers self-representation may be what they actually would prefer.

    In this scenario, because Mitch will NOT be representing you as the Seller, and Mitch will be working without the benefit of another agent on the other side of the transaction, it means that Mitch will be doing some clerical tasks for you that a Seller's agent typically would handle to help insure that we get the sale closed.

    For example Mitch will help facilitate preparing counter offers, inspection responses and similar documents that reflect your desires as the Seller. Mitch does NOT advise you as to what your counter offers or responses should include. But, Mitch will only prepare the documents based on your direction for for you to review, accept and sign before submitting these documents to the Buyer(s) for them so that they can review and respond.

    After acceptance of the purchase agreement Mitch will also follow-up with you to insure the lender pay off information is provided to the title company along with obtaining any Homeowner Association documents that must be provided to the buyer etc. Once the Buyers submit any inspection responses then Mitch will also prepare an inspection response for the Sellers based on the Sellers direction but again Mitch will not advise or represent you as the seller beyond typing up the paperwork and asking you if it's what you intended.

    Because Mitch will be doing more work than he would otherwise be doing, when there is an experienced REALTOR representing the other side of the transaction, the reduction in fees are not quite half of what they would typically be. In this option if the home is selling for less than $300,000 the seller’s total commission will be only 5.65% versus the usual and customary 7%. If the Sellers home is selling for more than $300,000 than the Seller’s total commission will be only 4.88% versus the usual and customary 6%. Regardless of the Home’s sales price this option can reduce the sales commissions by thousands of dollars.

    If you choose this path, and your home is worth more than 300K, then you as the Sellers and I will execute FSBO Realtor Commission for homes Greater than 300K or  FSBO Realtor Commission for homes less than 300K.  This document is limited to this particular client and only this client. Should this Buyer purchase your home then you are agreeing to pay a brokerage fee to Keller Williams Realty Indianapolis. Should this Buyer NOT purchase your home then This Agreement shall be void and the terms of the Listing Agreement will continue. 

    You and the Buyers will also sign a No Agency Doc when Mitch Represents Buyer Only that confirms that the you as the Sellers understand that I will ONLY be representing the Buyer in this transaction and that you as the Seller, have declined to have your own representation.

  • The Buyers Can Represent Themselves With Lower Fees, & Mitch Represents You The Sellers
    Mitch will continue to fully represent you as the seller but will give the Buyers the option to represent themselves.  Again this may not be viewed as a viable option for many buyers and especially for 1st time buyers! While, Mitch never recommends this approach he does understand that for many experienced buyers self-representation may be what they actually would also prefer. 

    In this scenario, because Mitch will be representing you as the Seller, but not the Buyers. Again, that means there won’t be another agent on the other side of the transaction. So, Mitch will be facilitating things that a buyer’s agent typically would handle to help insure that we get the sale closed.

    For example Mitch will prepare the Buyer's offers, counter offers, inspection responses and similar documents that reflect their desires as the Buyer. Mitch does NOT advise the Buyers in this role as to what the offers, counter offers or responses should be or include etc. Mitch will only prepare the documents based on the Buyer's direction for the Buyer to review, accept and sign before submitting these documents to you as the Seller(s) to review and respond to.

    After acceptance of the purchase agreement Mitch will also follow up with the Buyer’s and the Buyer's lender to insure loan application and insurance confirmation have occurred.  Once the inspection has occurred Mitch will prepare a response based on the Buyer's direction again without offering any input, guidance or advice.

    Because Mitch will be doing more work than he would otherwise be doing, when there is an experienced REALTOR representing the other side of the transaction, the reduction in fees are again not half of what they would typically be. In this option if the home is selling for less than $300,000 the Seller’s total commission will be 5.65% versus the usual and customary 7%. If the home is selling for more than $300,000 than the Seller’s total commission will be only 4.22% versus the usual and customary 6%. Regardless of the Home’s sales price this option can reduce the sales commissions by thousands of dollars.

    You and the Buyers will also sign a No Agency Doc when Mitch Represents Seller Only that confirms that you as the Seller, and the Buyer, understand that I will ONLY be representing the seller in this transaction and that the Buyer(s) have declined to have their own representation.

  • Mitch Refers The Buyer, To A Fellow Great REALTOR, & The Seller's Fees Are Less
    When Mitch refers a Buyer to a fellow Keller Williams Realty Indianapolis REALTOR, then the Buyers come back to Mitch if the fellow Agent is not able to help them get your home under contract. So, the Agent has an incentive to get a deal done on your particular place! At the same time, because the Agent won’t be investing the usual amount of time showing the buyer multiple places and the agent did not have the usual marketing costs or time investment to acquire the Buyers, they are willing to receive lower commission than they normally would. The other REALTOR pays Mitch a referral fee and Mitch uses that fee to lower the total commission fees for you as the Sellers pay as part of closing. The Buyers understand, in a balanced market, most Sellers will let the Buyers share in these commission savings.

    In this option if the home is selling for less than $300,000 the Seller’s total commission will be 6.00% versus the usual and customary 7%. If the home is selling for more than $300,000 than the Seller’s total commission will be only 4.88% versus the usual and customary 6%. Regardless of the Home’s sales price this option can reduce the sales commissions by thousands of dollars.

  • The Buyers Select Another REALTOR To Represent Them, Without Any Savings In Brokerage Fees
    The Buyer(s) always have the option to interview and negotiate with REALTORS who they may already know, so that those agents can represent the Buyer(s) as a Buyer's Agent.

    However most Buyers understand that there are no savings associated with selecting their own Agent and also know that if they are not successful in getting this property under contract, and they did work with another REALTOR, that it would be unlikely Mitch would continue to help them find another place.  While it’s always the Buyer’s decision… this is actually the least selected option of those listed above.

Click on 'What Is Dual/Limited Agency' to learn why Many States Won't Allow This Type of Agency and explore 'How You Lose' to learn why you might NOT want to have a Limited/Dual Agent.

Real Clients, Real Results, Real Reviews...

I always felt relaxed and like his only client...

It is without hesitation that we recommend Mitch Rolsky as a real estate agent for both the buy and sell side.

We have worked with Mitch twice in the purchase of a downtown Indy home and then with the subsequent sale of the same house just over 2 years later. Mitch's guidance allowed us to purchase the home in a desirable location at a price level that was at the lower end of the market range at that time. During the sale of the home, Mitch paid no attention to what the home was sold for earlier but focused on what the market would bear. Mitch focused on selling the value of the home and the location as opposed to price. He knows the market extensively and set a selling price and sales strategy that worked perfectly in a softening seller's market.

We moved because of a career change which forced us to move away during the sales process. Mitch took care of everything from there....in essence, we left our entire belongings in the care of Mitch. Friendly, detailed, trustworthy, knowledgeable and professional are but a few of the attributes of Mitch. Thanks Mitch....

ANNIQUE & MARTY G.

Recent Sales
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USE THESE RESOURCES AND TOOLS WHEN SELLING YOUR PLACE, TO HELP YOU MAKE THE RIGHT MOVE, IN THE GREATER INDIANAPOLIS AREA