BRRETA practice question 22 of 31 · Confidential information

Can a listing agent tell a buyer the seller will take less?

A seller tells their listing agent, "Keep our bottom line between us." At the open house, an unrepresented buyer asks whether the sellers would accept less than the asking price. The agent knows they would.

Facts checked against the current PSI Candidate Information Bulletin and GREC sources.

What should the listing agent do?

ATell the buyer, because a customer is owed honest answers
BDecline to share it, because the seller asked for it to stay confidential
CShare it only after the buyer signs a buyer brokerage agreement
DShare it, because price flexibility is a material fact

Pick an answer before you read on.

Answer: B

Decline to share it, because the seller asked for it to stay confidential. A seller's broker must promote the seller's interests and keep confidential any information the seller makes confidential by express request. The seller did exactly that. The duty to disclose to buyers covers actually known adverse facts about the property's physical condition and nearby conditions, not the seller's negotiating position.

Why each choice is right or wrong

A. Tell the buyer, because a customer is owed honest answers
Honesty does not require revealing protected negotiating information. The agent can decline to answer without giving the buyer false information.
B. Decline to share it, because the seller asked for it to stay confidentialCorrect answer
The seller expressly requested confidentiality, and no required disclosure overrides it here. The agent should keep the bottom line private.
C. Share it only after the buyer signs a buyer brokerage agreement
A buyer engagement would not erase the seller's existing confidentiality protection. Changing representation is no shortcut to sharing the seller's secret.
D. Share it, because price flexibility is a material fact
The duty owed to a buyer customer does not make the seller's acceptable price a required property disclosure. It is negotiating information, expressly protected here.

The trap

Honesty does not mean answering every question. The agent can decline to discuss the seller's position. What the agent cannot do is lie, for example by saying the sellers will not take a dollar less.

The Rule

Declining to answer is honest. Inventing an answer is not.

What would change the answer

If the seller never asked for confidentiality, the price flexibility is not confidential under § 10-6A-5, but sharing it would still work against the seller's interests, which the broker must promote.
If the buyer asks about a hidden defect the agent knows of, the answer flips. Actually known adverse physical defects must be disclosed.

Where the rule comes from

O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-5, Duties and responsibilities of broker engaged by seller. A seller's broker must perform the engagement, promote the seller's interests (including timely presenting all offers to and from the seller even when the property is under contract, though it need not seek more offers then unless the engagement says so), exercise reasonable skill and care, obey the law, keep requested confidences, and disclose to all parties actually known adverse material facts about the property's physical condition and conditions within one mile that a diligent inspection would not reveal.

This is an original teaching question written from the statute. It is not a PSI exam item, and it is not copied or reconstructed from one. On the exam, BRRETA sits inside the Georgia agency and listing content. The BRRETA guide covers the client and customer table and the dual and designated agency rules in one place.