from the GLOSSARY of the 1997 CognaBooks publication BOUGHT, NOT SOLD by Ray Wilson exclusive buyer agency: 1. A real estate agency employing only buyers' agents and never engaging in agency for sellers. 2. Fiduciary obligation and service to buyers, independent of all obligations and inducements to adverse interests (eg., sellers, other agents, service providers). exclusive buyers' agent: an agent who represents only buyers and neither accepts listings nor works in an agency which represents sellers or accepts listings, and who functions in conformance with definition #2 of exclusive buyer agency.

The purpose of this page is to identify and validate documents of the real estate industry -- particularly in the years prior to 1997 -- which establish that the above definitions accurately describe what was accepted and universally relied upon terminology. The listing of these source documents follows these background explanatory paragraphs. To go directly to that list, click here. The reason for this document listing is that certain powerful business entities now find it in their financial and political interests to promote the illusion that such clearly accepted terminology never existed. The above definitions from Bought, Not Sold were the result of careful research performed mostly in 1996. They were not the creation of the author, but a straightforward reporting of what research revealed as industry-wide accepted terminology. In the 1980s and early 1990s, buyer agency was not seen by the mainstream industry as a profitable way to do business, and Exclusive Buyer Agency -- with no listings anywhere in the firm to attract buyers -- was seen as the most hopelessly unprofitable business model of all. The mainstream industry believed, and its trade association -- The National Association of Realtors (NAR) -- proudly proclaimed and preached the virtue of the Common Law axiom that real estate firms must work either as agents of sellers or of buyers, but never both. Only the two business models were ethically and legally permissible, and only one of the two was profitable, so virtually every agent and agency in this country was a seller's agent, all admittedly in the sales trade and their association -- NAR -- was (and arguably still is) a sales trade association. When buyer agents first emerged in the 1980s, they were seen largely as a joke by mainstream sales agents.When they started being successful, traditional agents started viewing them as threats and many EBAs ran into plainly hostile resistance (described in Bought, Not Sold ). Inevitably, buyer agency was recognized as something buyers wanted -- and buyers, after all, have the money. Thus, buyer "agents" started appearing in seller agencies despite the Common Law they had touted for almost a century. Some simply broke the law. In one state they actually tried to outlaw agency so the new game would be legal. They did not get away with that one, but with large and powerful lobbies armed with PAC money they did actually abbrogate the Common Law in some states, and create new definitions of new forms of "agency" which actually meet no standard whatsoever of agency performance for clients. Predictably, while they have decreased or eliminated agency service for their consumers, they still charge full agency fees. They get away with it under the cover of smoke screens of new words and language and verbal acrobatics all rationalizing how they can now do what was not possible or ethical before -- i.e., combining buyer agency and seller agency in the same firm. It is all about preventing the arrival of their worst enemies -- not EBAs, but informed consumers. The term "Exclusive Buyer Agency" provides too clear an opportunity for informed consumer choice. Any consumer with any reservations whatsoever about a firm playing both sides of the street can simply avoid the whole issue by just going to an Exclusive Buyer Agency (or even an "Exclusive Seller Agency" if they are selling). So it becomes imperative to "murky up" that expression. What better way for a listing firm to say it now has an "Exclusive Buyer Agent" on staff, claiming the expression only means this particular "agent" personally works exclusively with buyers. What the expression always meant before it became profitable to mean something else is evidenced in the documents provided on this site. It is heavily relied upon by professionals who've built business upon the principle of providing consumers with clearly informed choice. The term being co-opted by listing agencies is not just a smart competitive business move. It flat out robs consumers of their opportunity to make informed choices in what is usualy the most expensive purchases of their lives.

Click the envelope to email us about documents you know of with references to "EBA" with implied or express indications of what the term meant at the time. These can range from published works, to authoritative directives and memos, to simple correspondence between people, including yourself. If you're not sure about the validity or value of the item, tell us anyway. We'll check it out.