Inman News columnist and Realtor Teresa Boardman digs into the real estate dual agency issue in her column today, "Romancing the 'hogger' " (click here to read).
She explains that the "hogger" is the listing agent who ends up representing both sides of a real estate deal -- collecting the entire real estate commission (minus the listing broker's share).
She writes, "When I went to the classes that I needed to get my real estate license I remember the story the instructors told about the lucky agent who got the 'hogger,' or both sides of the deal. They painted a picture of the hogger being something to strive for because the agent gets the entire commission and does not have to split it with a buyer's agent."
Some states prevent agents from representing consumers on both sides of the deal (the practice of dual agency is sometimes referred to as "double dipping" or "double ending").
In some cases different agents from the same brokerage office will represent the buyer and the seller in a transaction.
A common argument by critics: "You wouldn't want your lawyer to represent the other side in a legal dispute."
Is dual agency ever a good thing for consumers? Are consumers still largely in the dark about dual agency and what it means? Will the practice of dual agency ever be wiped away completely from the real estate industry?
Flickr photo by Sheep purple.
