Broker, Agent or Sales Representative: Who Does That Person Actually Work For?

Four roles you will meet

Contract in front of you, and you cannot say which side handed it over? → Let Yixing map the parties before you read the clauses

• Licensed real estate broker — a regulated professional capacity carrying corresponding responsibility; see checking a licence.
• Salespersons working under a broker, who handle most viewings; their authority derives from the broker and firm.
• Developer sales representatives, paid by and acting for the project.
• Property managers, who take over after the sale; see property management services.

These distinctions are statutory rather than customary. Under the Real Estate Service Act (Republic Act No. 9646), brokers are regulated professionals, while salespersons must be accredited under a licensed broker before acting, so the two derive their responsibility from different sources.

Three clues to whom they work for

Money: the paying side is the represented side; see who pays the commission. Breadth of listings: someone who only ever presents one project usually belongs to it. Names on documents: whoever appears on the contract, receipt and authorisation tells you more than an introduction does.

All three point the same way: warmth is not position, and signature is responsibility.

Who can sign and who can only relay

Concessions on price and terms usually require authority from the seller or developer side; "I will request it" and "I approve it" are different sentences. Contract execution depends on the signing party and its authority, not on who handed you the paper. Payments depend on the named payee and an official receipt, not on who asked.

So put every material concession into the document, or at minimum obtain written confirmation. A promise that cannot be written down usually did not exist.

When one person handles both sides

Common enough, and not automatically disqualifying, but two things must be explicit: which parties pay them in this transaction, and how conflicts will be handled. Safer still is to keep an independent review channel, sending title verification and contract review to someone answerable to you; see whether to engage a lawyer.

Three opening questions

Are you the licensed broker or working under one? Which side do you represent here and who pays you? Who is the signing party on the final contract and which account receives payment?

The full selection criteria are in how to choose a property agent, and for new projects add verifying the licence to sell.

Yixing (SEC CS202009551 · BI CA-202624381-1) states its own role and scope before starting, so you know who is responsible at each step.