I have had something in my craw for some time and it has to do with people that are both Realtor and Loan Officer. I don't know about other states, but in Oregon it is perfectly legal to represent the client as both the Realtor and Loan Officer. If you throw in both listing and selling Realtor, they you really have an interesting mix.

I have read posts from Realtors that are concerned about the appearance of conflict of interest when representing the buyer on their own listing and can't begin to understand how they can not be concerned about, at least, the appearance of conflict if they represent the buyer as their loan officer too. Maybe it is just me, but how can this be a good situation?

I used to work for a captive mortgage broker (one owned by the Real Estate Company), and there were additional disclosures that had to be made because of the fiscal relationship. However, the individual Realtor did not derive any re-numeration from the relationship, so it was pretty much an "arm's length"transaction. Also, the Realtor didn't gain knowledge of the customer's finances and credit. This is not the case of a Realtor/Loan Officer. They gain direct re-numeration from both sides of the transaction. They have insight as to what will make things work to their advantage. Where is the protection for the consumer?

I could be totally wrong in my feelings/thoughts/concerns.But I would like to hear other people in the industry's take on this. If you are a listing Realtor, how do you feel about having the selling Realtor also be the loan officer? If you are a loan officer, how do you feel about this situation? Also, have you lost deals to Realtor/loan officers that your "pre-approved" clients have hooked up with?

What are your experiences in this matter? Am I wrong? Should the customer be concerned? I really would like a heated discussion on this matter. Thanks for reading.