Buyers, sellers have cause to distrust agents

Re: 'Real estate: the least trusted profession' (March 19)

Dear Editor:

Thanks to Marc Davison for finally telling it like it is and admitting that for the most part, there are valid reasons why real estate agents are among the most distrusted professions.

However, one of the reasons he didn't mention was perhaps the most significant: the U.S. real estate system is flawed and therefore broken at the most fundamental level. So long as we rely on our "clients" for our own paychecks, there will always be an irresolvable conflict of interest. It's that simple.

How can an agent possible act as a reliable fiduciary to a buyer or seller when giving the right advice can leave you with no food on your table? In most countries, real estate agents are salaried professionals, not independent "hired guns" that rely on their wits to survive.

We might be able to kid ourselves that our two weeks in the classroom puts us up there with doctors and lawyers -- but as the polls show, no one else is buying it.

Marcus Burke

CondoMetropolis.com

Orlando, Fla.

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