The sellers hired the agent to understand the market.  If the seller&#x27;s agent tells them &#x27;you can sell at this price&#x27; but buys the house themselves, and resells it at a profit, they clearly misled their customer about the optimal price that they could get for the house, for their own benefit. They&#x27;re in a conflict of interest.<p>This is not the first time I hear of real estate agents buying houses from their customers and profiting from them.  If my agent tried to pull that on me, I&#x27;d fire them, or if it was too costly to do so, I&#x27;d raise the price until they&#x27;re not willing to buy.  Then I know I would have reached a price closer to the real market price.