In Dubbs v. Stribling, 96 NY2d 337, 752 NE2d 850, 728 NYS2d 413 (2001), the owners/sellers placed their apartment for sale on an "open listing," which meant that the sellers would pay a commission to the broker who located the buyer. The sellers confided to their real estate agent that, rather than selling the apartment, they would have preferred to keep it, purchase the adjacent apartment and combine the two into a single unit, but that their neighbor refused to sell. The real estate agent showed the apartment to several prospective buyers. Thereafter, she made an offer on the apartment herself, and the parties entered into a written contract for its sale. Prior to closing, the real estate agent contracted to buy the adjacent apartment without advising the sellers that it had been placed on the market. The sellers commenced an action against their real estate agent claiming that she had breached her fiduciary duty to them by failing to let them know that their neighbor's apartment was for sale. The Court observed that "[w]here a broker's interests or loyalties are divided due to a personal stake in the transaction or representation of multiple parties, the broker must disclose to the principal the nature and extent of the broker's interest in the transaction or the material facts illuminating the broker's divided loyalties" (Dubbs, 96 NY2d at 340, 752 NE2d 850, 728 NYS2d 413). The Court determined, however, that the broker/principal relationship and accompanying fiduciary duty was severed before the agent learned that the neighbor's apartment was on the market. Although Dubbs addressed the duty of a seller's agent, rather than a buyer's agent, our observation in Dubbs that "[w]here a broker's interests or loyalties are divided due to . . . the representation of multiple parties, the broker must disclose to the principal . . . the material facts illuminating the broker's divided loyalties" bears on agency relationships generally (Dubbs, 96 NY2d at 340, 752 NE2d 850, 728 NYS2d 413).