I went to see a property a few days ago. Now I am not sure which agent I will use myself, so I thought I would just call the selling agent and ask for a viewing from them.

Involve my agent if the property looked interesting I thought, maybe this was a mistake.

So I went to see the property.

The sellers agent told me that the commission he was earning was confidential, and at this point as he had shown me the property he was operating as a dual agent. I could get my agent involved if I wanted, but regardless of whether I did, the commission was all his.

I am new to the property market here in the US so I will accept that I probably made a mistake at the outset by not getting "my" agent to show me the place rather than the sellers.

That being said, was this realtor telling me the truth?

1) Is he the dual agent because I got him to do the viewing?

    The concept of being a dual agent seems to me to be unethical -would others agree with me or put me straight on this issue

2) Is the commission confidential?

    When it could be as much as 6% of the price it seems crazy to me that it should be kept a secret.

Thank you for any replies.

I think both sides actually need to agree to dual agency in order for it to be permissible on a transaction.

The 6% is the contract rate in the seller's listing agreement with the broker.

Bring your agent in and advise him/her of the situation beforehand.  You can theoretically do as many viewings as you like and there's no law that states just because your agent did not come with you on the first viewing, that s/he cannot share in the commission.

A few years ago I had started condo shopping.  I had already secured an agent and had started sifting through properties on the market.  It was early on a friday morning and I wanted to do a drive by at this one condo near my work.  Well I had NO idea how viewing a property worked.  So I contacted the sellers listing agent and she showed me the condo.  After she showed it to me she said [which I am sure was illegal] "I know the owner personally I can get you a really good price".  When I told her I would contact my agent she snapped back with "well why did you waste my time he could have showed this to you".

I find it hard to believe that the sellers agent has a dual stipulation on selling the property.  That would minimize traffic and exposure.  People want to use their own team, not other peoples agents.  My guess is he was trying to pull the wool over your eyes.  That's just my 2 cents.  If you need a good broker, let me know.  I had a pitbull of a lady, she was lovely to work with.