Evidence That Traditional Agents Can Have Home Showing Biases

Some people don’t believe me when I tell them that “buyer agents” at traditional firms tend to push their own listings over others…due to perhaps getting in-house spiffs…. Remember - as a home buyer, when you hire an Exclusive Buyer Agent to represent you - that agent and their company never list property for sale - and so there is no biased home showing or dual agency conflicts of interest situations.

This is evidence….

“Besides camaraderie, @properties uses other techniques to encourage sales, including rewarding the two brokers who sell the most properties listed in-house with overseas trips. One quarter last year, the winners went to Italy. Another time, to Paris. And any broker who sells $10 million worth of real estate, in any type of transaction, is offered the choice of a Rolex or a Cartier watch.”

Obviously – when an agent pushes their in-house listings or worse yet - their own listings - the buyer experiences biased home showings - and can experience dual agency conflicts of interest with the buyer being equally represented with the seller. The buyer doesn't have someone fully on their side in that case – and doesn't have all the information available to get a good buy on a property that they would have had - had their agent not declared "dual agency" on them.