Asking for a different agent inside the same brokerage instead of dual agency can move price

Picture a side by side duplex, both units leased, listed in the high $200ks. The listing agent, who also handles a lot of small multifamily in that submarket, offers to represent both sides on a showing call. Declining and asking the broker to assign a different agent from the same office is designated agency, two agents from the same firm, one on each side, allowed in many states with written consent from both parties. It can take a couple of days and a direct conversation with the managing broker, who may ask why, and the honest answer is not wanting the person who knows the seller's floor to be the one advising on the offer. The payoff shows up in the comps. A newer agent with no history with the seller pulling six closed sales within a mile, several coming in well under the list price for similar unit mixes, supports offering meaningfully under ask. A negotiation that settles closer to the low comps than the list price, plus an inspection credit for something like a shared sewer lateral with root intrusion, can bring the effective price down further still. A real risk in this setup is a missed contingency deadline. Keeping an independent calendar of every contract date, regardless of who is representing the buyer, is the safeguard that catches an agent's error before it costs contract protection. What's worth taking from this: ask the broker directly rather than the agent, since the agent has an obvious reason to say no, and keep an independent date calendar no matter how good the representation seems. Whether a real firewall exists between two agents at the same firm is not always knowable from the outside, so a buyer who gets comps that land suspiciously close to the eventual sale price should treat that as ambiguous rather than reassuring.