Seller education · Kamloops · Ashcroft · Cache Creek · Clinton · Lillooet
Should Your Listing Agent Be the One Showing Your Home to Buyers?
By Casie Schellenberg, Personal Real Estate Corporation · eXp Realty · October 2026
If I were selling my own home in a small town, the question I’d care about most isn’t “what will you list it for?” It’s “who is my agent really working for when a buyer calls?”
In communities with only a handful of local agents, it’s common for the same person to list a home, show it to every buyer who calls, and write the offer. It feels convenient. In practice, it can cost you money, put your sale at risk, and leave you exposed long after closing. This guide explains the rules that apply in British Columbia, what I’m seeing in our area, and the questions I’d ask any agent before signing a listing contract.
The short version
- Your listing agent owes loyalty to you. In BC, one agent can’t represent both the buyer and the seller in the same sale, except in truly remote, under-served locations.
- A listing agent can work with a buyer who has no agent, but only with limited help and no advice. That buyer is on their own when following the rules outlined by BCFSA.
- An unrepresented buyer rarely gains anything, and in rural properties the seller can end up carrying more risk if a problem surfaces later.
- Watch for clauses that cut the buyer’s agent’s pay to 50%, 25% or $500 if the listing agent “introduced” the buyer. Ask who that clause really benefits.
1. Your listing agent works for you. Only you.
When you sign a listing contract, your agent and their brokerage take on duties to you: loyalty, confidentiality, full disclosure, and avoiding conflicts of interest. Those duties come from the Real Estate Services Rules, enforced by the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA). If you remember the Real Estate Council of BC (RECBC), it became part of BCFSA on August 1, 2021, so older RECBC guidance now lives on BCFSA’s website.
Representing both the buyer and the seller in the same trade is called dual agency, and section 63 of the Rules prohibits it. Section 64 allows one narrow exception: the property must be in a remote location, that location must be under-served by licensees, and it must be impracticable for the parties to use different agents. All three must be true. Even then, the managing broker has to sign a written explanation, both clients sign a risk disclosure, and the brokerage files it with BCFSA.
Under dual agency, the agent can’t advise either side on price or terms. In other words, you lose the negotiating help you’re paying for.
2. Why your listing agent shouldn’t be the one guiding your buyer
Here’s the part many sellers don’t realize: a listing agent is allowed to sell their own listing to a buyer who has no agent. That’s often called “double-ending.” To do it properly, the agent must first give the buyer BCFSA’s Disclosure of Representation in Trading Services form, confirming the buyer is not their client, and the Disclosure of Risks to Unrepresented Parties form. After that, the agent can only offer limited help, such as providing standard forms, general information about the market and the property, and presenting offers. They can’t advise the buyer on price, terms, inspections or anything else, because their loyalty belongs to you.
Allowed doesn’t mean it’s in your best interest. Here’s why I don’t think a listing agent should be the one showing your home to buyers who don’t have their own agent:
- Divided attention. In a small town where everyone knows everyone, it’s hard for one person to stay strictly loyal to you while being friendly and helpful to the buyer standing in your kitchen.
- Implied agency. If the agent starts advising the buyer (“you could probably get it for less”), a court can find an implied agency relationship. The agent then owes the buyer duties too, and your loyalty is split. BCREA’s Legally Speaking has warned licensees about this for years, citing Siemens v. Howard, 2018 BCCA 197.
- Unqualified traffic. An agent eager to keep both sides of the commission may show your home to anyone who calls. You clean, stage, and move the kids and pets out for buyers who haven’t spoken to a lender.
- Unanswered questions. When a buyer walks away, a buyer’s agent can tell you why. With an unrepresented buyer, nobody is asking those questions on your behalf in a way you can use.
A better approach starts with the first inquiry. Your listing agent should ask whether the buyer has viewed other homes in the last three months, and with whom. If they have, the agent should explain why they should book viewings through that agent, and check that they aren’t already under a buyer agreement with them. If the buyer chooses not to work with that agent, your listing agent should present the required forms, explain the risks of viewing unrepresented, and take the time to explain the right way to go about house hunting.
By giving buyers without an agent a short list of agents serving the area, you can be confident that when they do view your home, they’ve been pre-screened. That’s much harder to be sure of when your listing agent simply shows the home to them.
3. Going unrepresented rarely helps a buyer, and it can come back on you
For a buyer, there is very little upside to going without an agent. In most cases, the seller is still paying the same commission. However, the buyer gets no advice on price, no help choosing subjects, no one checking their financing timeline, and no one explaining what the inspection report means. For the seller, an unrepresented buyer can look attractive in the moment because there is less pushback in negotiation. But that short-term advantage can turn into long-term liability if a problem is discovered after closing.
A buyer who later feels they weren’t told something, or didn’t understand what they were buying, may pursue both the agent and the seller. Sellers in BC have a common law duty to disclose material latent defects, which BCFSA describes as defects that can’t be found through a reasonable inspection and that make a property dangerous, unfit to live in, or unfit for the buyer’s stated purpose. Your agent has an even broader duty to disclose.
Why rural properties raise the stakes
Many buyers in our area come from Kamloops, the Lower Mainland, the Sea to Sky Corridor, the Northern Interior and beyond. They may never have owned a property with a septic system or a well. Without their own agent, they may not know what to ask, and the questions surface later, when they’re harder and more expensive to fix.
| Issue | Why it matters with an unrepresented buyer |
|---|---|
| Environmental hazards | Old underground oil tanks, fuel spills or contamination appear on BCFSA’s list of examples of latent defects. A buyer’s agent would recommend the right searches and inspections. |
| Septic systems | Age, permits, capacity and condition affect value, financing and insurance. Buyers unfamiliar with septic often skip the inspection. |
| Wells and water quality | Flow rate and water quality testing matter for lenders and for daily life. Drinking water quality or quantity problems are on BCFSA’s list of latent defects. |
| Water licensing | Under BC’s Water Sustainability Act, household (domestic) well use doesn’t need a licence, but non-domestic groundwater use, such as irrigation or commercial use, does. Hobby farms and acreages can fall into this. |
| Wood stoves and WETT | Insurers often want a WETT inspection. A buyer who doesn’t know this can be surprised at the insurance stage. |
| Non-conforming suites and setbacks | An unauthorized suite can affect financing, insurance and use. A building that doesn’t meet current setbacks may need a survey and a clear explanation. |
| Poly-B plumbing | Polybutylene plumbing can affect insurability. |
| Pricing | Rural comparables are thin and vary widely. An unrepresented buyer has no one checking whether the price fits the market. |
When the buyer has their own agent, these issues are far more likely to be raised, inspected and agreed on before the deal firms up. That protects the buyer, and it protects you.
4. The clause to watch: “commission reduced if introduced by the listing agent”
Some listing contracts and MLS® listing remarks include a clause like this:
“Buyer’s agent commission reduced to 50%, 25% or $500 if the buyer was first introduced by the listing agent.”
It sounds like fine print. It quietly decides who will represent your buyer. Here’s how it plays out:
- The buyer contacts the listing agent first. An open house, a sign call, a Facebook message or a REALTOR.ca request to view.
- They become interested and try to hire their own agent. That agent may now be paid as little as $500 for the same work they would do with full compensation. That work often includes hundreds of kilometres of driving for viewings before an offer is written, being on site for inspections and closing day, and hours of research and contract writing.
- The buyer has to decide. Pay their agent out of pocket through a fee agreement, which must be negotiated before an offer is written, or go it alone. Again, the seller is often still paying the same commission they would have paid if the buyer had come with their own agent from the start.
So where does the “saved” commission go? Ask:
- Does the reduction go to you, the seller, or does it stay with your listing agent’s brokerage?
- Does it reward your agent for skipping buyer qualification and referrals to other agents?
- Has your agent explained their referral process, and why they use it?
A clause like this is legal when it’s in the contract and disclosed. Each time an offer is presented, your agent must give you BCFSA’s Disclosure to Sellers of Expected Remuneration, showing what your listing brokerage keeps and what goes to the buyer’s brokerage. Read it carefully. Undisclosed side arrangements are another matter: in Ocean City Realty Ltd. v. A & M Holdings Ltd., the BC Court of Appeal ruled a brokerage lost its entire commission after a licensee secretly rebated part of it to the buyer. And if your agent receives a referral fee for sending a buyer to another agent, that must also be disclosed to you in writing.
There’s a wider effect, too. When buyer’s agents can’t cover their costs, agents who would drive from Kamloops to Lillooet or Clinton may stop serving the area. Fewer represented buyers means fewer prepared buyers for every seller in town.
5. “We’re too small for two agents”? Probably not.
BCFSA’s guidance asks agents to check, case by case, whether other agents are available locally or in nearby communities, whether the property is truly hard to reach (boat, plane, seasonal road closures), and whether there’s real urgency rather than convenience. Two recent decisions show how narrow the exemption is:
- Applicant 108 (Re), July 2026, Lasqueti Island. An island with fewer than 500 residents, reached only by foot-passenger ferry, with no power grid, still didn’t qualify. Six other brokerages had listings on the island, and no one had checked whether another agent could act. The managing broker who approved the dual agency was penalized.
- Mason (Re), 2025 BCSRE 3, Cranbrook. A managing broker who represented both the buyers and the sellers was given a $5,000 penalty. Cranbrook had 45 licensees and nearby Creston had 27. The hearing officer also found that the agent’s low commission, and other agents’ unwillingness to work for it, did not make the area “under-served.”
Kamloops, Ashcroft, Cache Creek, Clinton and Lillooet sit on public highways, with many agents within reach. If an island reached by foot ferry didn’t qualify, a typical home sale in our towns is very unlikely to.
6. When the managing broker is also the busiest listing agent
In many small towns, the local brokerage is a two- or three-person office, and the managing broker is also its top producer. That isn’t improper, but it concentrates roles that are supposed to check each other. BCFSA’s FAQ on Issues for Small Brokerages is clear on a few points:
- An office with only a managing broker and one agent can’t represent both buyer and seller through designated agency. That takes a managing broker plus at least two other licensees, unless the remote exemption applies.
- A managing broker can’t be one side’s agent while also acting as managing broker on that same deal, including supervising the other side’s agent. Either another licensee takes that client, or the managing broker’s duties for that deal are handed to someone else.
- Any office using designated agency must keep each client’s information walled off. Related agents on opposite sides must disclose that conflict to their own clients.
What you should see: who represents whom, in writing; the name of whoever supervises the deal when the broker is on it; any conflict disclosed, with the choice to use another agent; and every step documented.
7. A better way: two roles, one goal
In a small town, the strongest outcome often comes from splitting the roles. A listing specialist brings targeted marketing, a following of buyers and agents who watch what they list, professional connections, honest pricing and loyalty to you alone. Local buyer’s agents live the area, reach local buyers quickly and give them the confidence to write. They often promote a community better than an agent driving in from out of town.
“I’ve seen deals die the moment buyers arrive and realize only the house was showcased, not the neighbourhood.”
If you want a buyer to drive to a rural property, the listing has to show the whole setting: the road in, the land, the views, the neighbours and the town.
What if your agent is a friend?
Compare their marketing and experience fairly with a strong listing specialist. Negotiations, honest feedback and price conversations can strain a friendship. A local friend may serve you even better on the buyer side, bringing their buyers to your home fully represented, with no marketing costs to carry. Don’t feel obligated to hire a friend or colleague. Do what’s in your best interest.
The questions to ask every listing agent
Bring this list to every interview, write the answers down, and compare them side by side before you sign.
- How did you arrive at my price? Show me the comparables.Look for sold, active and expired listings, with adjustments for acreage, outbuildings, septic, well and condition explained.
- Show me your list price, sale price and CDOM for the last 2 years.See the note on DOM vs CDOM below.
- How many of your sales involved another agent’s buyer?It shows whether other agents bring buyers to their listings, or whether they mostly keep both sides.
- Is there a reduced-commission clause in my contract? Who benefits?Ask whether the reduction goes to you or stays with the brokerage.
- What is your marketing plan, and what do you spend on it?Every agent runs their own business and budget. The brokerage sign doesn’t market your home.
- Who answers my calls, shows my home and handles offers?Know who you’ll actually be working with.
- How do you screen buyers before they walk through my home?Pre-approval or proof of funds before private showings protects your time and your family’s routine.
- Will you use professional photos, video and floor plans?Your home deserves to be presented professionally, not through quick phone video.
- How will you handle Poly-B, unauthorized suites, non-conforming setbacks, septic, well and wood stoves?These are the issues that sink rural deals late. A prepared agent identifies them before listing.
- What are my options if I’m unhappy with your service?Ask how the listing contract can be ended or amended, and get the answer in writing.
- What information will be on file for other agents about my home?Disclosures, permits, septic and well records, survey: ready for every agent who asks.
- What do you prepare before listing so buyers don’t ask the same questions over and over?Answers up front mean fewer delays, fewer surprises and more confident offers.
- If I’m listed over 60 days, how often will you review my price?Look for a set schedule, with fresh sold and active comparables each time.
Also ask: “If a buyer calls you directly about my home, what happens? Who do you refer them to?” and “Who is your managing broker, and who supervises the deal when you’re on it?”
DOM vs CDOM: why it matters
DOM (days on market) can restart when a home is cancelled and relisted, which can make an agent’s track record look faster than it was. CDOM (cumulative days on market) carries the full history across relistings. Ask for CDOM. Exactly when CDOM resets after a home comes off the market depends on the local MLS® system, so ask the agent how theirs works.
Does the brokerage matter?
Less than most people think. Every brokerage in BC follows the same Act and Rules. What differs is the individual agent: their experience, marketing budget, systems, relationships with other agents and lenders, and how they treat you. Hire the person, then make sure their brokerage supports them.
Want to know more about your town’s market?
If you want to know more about the market conditions in your town and how my services differ from others, reach out anytime. I promise full transparency, honest conversations and accurate pricing.
Casie Schellenberg, Personal Real Estate Corporation
eXp Realty
778-209-0305 · casie@interiorrealestate.com
BcSouthInteriorProperties.com
Sources and further reading
- BCFSA, Use of Dual Agency Exemption (guideline; Real Estate Services Rules ss. 63–65)
- BCFSA, Applicant 108 (Re), July 6, 2026 (Lasqueti Island)
- BCFSA, Mason (Re), 2025 BCSRE 3 (Cranbrook)
- BCFSA, FAQ on Issues for Small Brokerages
- BCFSA, Managing Broker Responsibilities Guidelines
- BCFSA, Agency Information (designated agency)
- BCFSA, Remuneration Information (Disclosure to Sellers of Expected Remuneration)
- BCFSA, Material Latent Defects (for sellers)
- BCFSA, History (RECBC integration, August 1, 2021)
- BCREA Legally Speaking #536, Working with Unrepresented Parties
- BCREA Legally Speaking #503, Implied Agency (Siemens v. Howard, 2018 BCCA 197)
- BCREA Legally Speaking #600, Commission Splits and Disclosure (Ocean City Realty v. A & M Holdings; referral fees)
- Government of BC, Requirements for Groundwater Users (Water Sustainability Act)
This article is general information for BC sellers and is not legal advice. Rules and guidance can change; check the sources above or speak with a lawyer about your specific situation. Casie Schellenberg, Personal Real Estate Corporation, eXp Realty.
