According to Omuojine. E.O (2009) Selling or buying a house can be an exciting as well as a stressful situation because it is a serious life changing decision for both parties (seller / buyer). Because once agreed upon and contracts are signed, both parties participating in this trade cannot easily change their mind as it is not easy as returning products you may have purchased at a departmental store. Wanting to ensure that the right decisions are being made and that the best outcomes are achieved both for the seller and the purchaser, we have to be aware of, and also be better informed about the common unethical behaviors of a real estate agent.
According to George (2010), Real estate agents are there to serve as a middleman during the property selling and purchasing process, and vast majority of estate agents are reputable companies serving their local communities as best as they can. However, unfortunately, there are some agents that make the sales process a nightmare experience for their clients by often going against the originally agreed plan with the vendor. To avoid being ensnared by an unethical real estate agent, you need to perform due diligence, and also ensure that you are working with a real estate agent with good references and a proven track record. (Omuojine. E.O (2009)
However, the common unethical behaviors of a real estate agent include but are not limited to the followings:
Agents asking for large commission and payment before selling: All businesses would love to be paid in advance, but this is not the case for types of businesses which usually get paid on commission basis, since real estate agents usually get paid on commission basis, when an agent asks for large amounts of commissions before even agreeing on the sales process, simply stop dealing with them. Because having already collected money from you, they may walk away with something whether or not the sale goes well. In the case that the sale does not go as planned, the real estate agent still leaves with your money when clearly they didn’t deserve it. (George (2019)
Collecting two payments on a single Sale: According to Olufemi A.O. (2013). Many real estate agents are only concerned with getting the best possible results for their clients, whether their client is the property seller who wants to get the highest possible price for their property, or whether the estate agent’s client is the buyer who is looking to find a bargain. Ethical real estate agents will perform their duties as best as possible for either case.
Some agents on the other hand, may do the double dipping, meaning, they will quote you less than the market value of your property (in case you are a seller) while already have agreed with the buyer or developer to get higher commissions from them for finding cheaper quoted piece of real estate. The buyer in the scenario is either their friends or the agent having some sort of business interests with these types of buyers Olufemi A.O. (2013).
Offering a lower price to many buyers: Some unethical estate agents will try almost anything to get interested buyers for the sale of your home. One strategy is to make an offer to many different interested buyers, but do so significantly less than what you as the seller wanted for your home. Since you are usually absent during these discussions real estate agents have with potential buyers, the realtor can easily convince the buyer that you as the seller might drop the price. This practice has a tendency of creating a pool of interested buyers for your home. To carry out the sale quickly, the real estate agent may dishonestly reassure you that there is a good reason for all these lower priced offers and will try to convince you to get the sale closed with a lesser value than originally agreed upon. (Trevino and Nelson, (2011),
