Technical Stuff
You Need to Know
About New Mexico Real Estate Transactions
The Meaning of a “Transaction
Broker”
If you’re going to buy or sell real
estate in New Mexico, you should understand the term “transaction broker.”
New Mexico law defines a “transaction
broker” as a licensee who provides real estate services without entering
an agency relationship. The absence of agency confuses some investors familiar
with real estate deals elsewhere.
General agency law provides that an
agent can bind the principal. Restated, a buyer or seller who has an agency
relationship with a broker may have authorized the broker to act on behalf of
the buyer or seller. Not so a transaction broker. A transaction broker cannot legally
obligate a buyer, seller, lessor, or lessee in New Mexico .
Does the absence of an agency
relationship mean that “buyer beware” is alive and well in New Mexico?
No. New Mexico brokers must comply with mandatory
Broker Duties required by the New Mexico Real Estate Commission.
Before the first document in a
transaction is signed, New Mexico brokers are required to provide the customer
or client Broker Duties cover sheets related to the document. In fact, most commercial
brokers begin explaining Broker Duties as soon contact is made between a broker
and customer or client. Significantly, Broker Duties are owed to all -- repeat,
all -- participants in a transaction, not merely to the person the broker is
dealing with.
Want a sample of the New Mexico Broker
Duties? Ask and I’ll send you one.
