When I sell my own listing I have a seller who thinks I'm the "greatest agent in the world" - LOL! In fact, I've had appointments with expired listings where the sellers were upset that their listing agent never showed the property once. They can't believe it!

I agree with Mike that most sellers expect us to market and try to sell their listing. I'm not crazy about being a dual agent and would rather not be one but my job is to get the listing sold.

And how about being able to brag to the neighbors that you sold the home yourself. That makes the listing agent look really good.

This mandatory disclosure is built into our contracts and is very easy to read and understand and no one has ever chosen not to allow dual agency. If I ever felt completely uncomfortable I would be willing to step back and refer the buyer out and IMO it would be to an agent in a different brokerage so there wouldn't be any misunderstanding (and we don't offer subagency anymore in IL).

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Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S.

I believe that most sellers don't care who is representing the buyer, they assume that if the listing agent is representing both them and the buyer that the listing agent WON'T be disclosing confidential information that puts them at a disatvantage because they hired the listing agent first.
BUT... What I have found, and I am not suggesting that you do this, is most listing agents who double end an unusually high percentage of their listings are either putting roadblocks up for the cooperating agents or they have no competition in their market segment. I believe that the industry average for double ending transactions is between 10 to 15%...

Here are the typical examples of roadblocks that I see in my area:

1. No photos in the MLS
2. Listing agent Does Not partisipate in IDX agreement
3. The Listing agent Offers very low buyers agent commissions (note to sellers - have your listing agent show you what the coop commission was for every home that has sold in your subdivision over the last 6 months.)
4. Listing agent encourages the sellers to not install a lockbox.
5. Listing office is a major PIA when dealing with outside agencies, doesn't call back, won't cooperate with listing appointments, or has a reputation of being a Jerk to other agents.

That might be true in your area but we have over 26,000 agents in this county and our listings are also posted in several other MLS areas- LA County, Orange County, and Riverside County - thus over 75,000 agents can view any Sandicor listing.
I specifically ask the Sellers if they know anyone who doesn't know someone who is a real estate agent (there are over 500,000 in California and 100,000 Brokers)... Then I tell them that in all likelyhood their home will be bought by someone who is being represented by a buyers agent that they are either related to, married to, or have known for a while, and that I will probably be the reason they found the home in the first place due to our marketing efforts.

I'm betting you dominate a segment of your market... Manufactured homes???

--- A side note on buyers ---

One very annoying type of buyer I have encountered a lot over the last several years is the buyers who only wants to deal with the Listing agent. In other words they are completely clueless that the 20,000 listings on my site are not all mine, but think they know enough about real estate that they don't need a professional real estate agent working for them?!?

Most are under the misconception that if they are only dealing with one agent that the sellers will only be paying their listing agent 1/2 of the commission (and that they will be able to get a better deal on the home because the seller will only be paying 1/2 of the commission).

This misconception is probably being caused by listing agents who promiss these buyers that they can get them the home at a lower price because they will be working with both the buyer and seller and then also offering to rebate X% of their commission back to the buyer...

Who knows.

If the listing agent is ethical and if the seller doesn't tell them anything that they don't want disclosed then having the listing agent handle the entire transaction does have it's advantages.

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If you are looking for San Diego Real Estate or you want to view San Diego MLS listings (or at least that portion of the data feed that SANDICOR allows us to display on our websites) go to a local San Diego County real estate Agent's Site.

P.S. We Love Referrals!

I read about "non-cooperating" brokerages a lot and can't imagine how they can sell their own listings in a timely manner in today's market. Goodness, I feel we need all the help we can get! In fact, I just took a listing in an active townhouse complex where everyone else is offering 2%-2.5% and convinced my seller to offer 3%. This complex is full of townhomes up for sale right now and I want as many agents to show my listing as possible.

I've also dealt with a couple buyers who only work with the listing agents. One buyer went from my listing to another listing in the same subdivision last year & I spoke to the other agent. She said he made a super lowball offer, as if her commssion was $50,000 or more (on a $350,000 listing). Yeah, he thought he could save the commission - LOL! Wonder how many lowball tries it took him to make him realize his plan was not working.

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Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S.

One piece of advice I give any potential seller is to call up the listing agents they are considering utilizing in the morning, afternoon, evening, and on weekends to see how long it takes them to actually return a potental buyers call.

Buyers actually inquire about listings all hours of the day and night. Does the agent you are considering utilizing actually answer their phone? If your call goes to voice mail how many hours does it take for them to return your call.

If there is a lot of inventory on the market and your listing agent takes a day or longer(?!?) to return a potential buyers call then forget about selling your home quickly.

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If you are looking for San Diego Real Estate or you want to view San Diego MLS listings (or at least that portion of the data feed that SANDICOR allows us to display on our websites) go to a local San Diego County real estate Agent's Site.

P.S. We Love Referrals!

I would consent to the dual agency.

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Dwell Atlanta
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I live and breathe Atlanta Real Estate with a specilization in Buckhead Real Estate
and Atlanta Condos. Your referrals will be treated with the utmost care and consideration and are always greatly appreciated.