An Intermediary Agent represents the "best interests" of both the seller and the buyer. In fact, an intermediary agent has a fiduciary duty to both the seller and the buyer at the same time.
So, examining this paradox, you find that the seller's best interest is to sell the house for the most money and the buyer's best interest is to buy the house for the least amount of money and an intermediary real estate agent represents both interests at the same time.
Who do you think will win out? Well, how does the agent get paid? From the sale of the house. The more money it sells for, the more money the seller makes.
So it no surprise that I have now encountered multiple intermediary agent cases where the buyer purchased a home WITHOUT ANY SELLERS' DISCLOSURE NOTICE. The very Sellers' Disclosure Notice that the intermediary agents is supposed to have his other client, the seller, prepare.
Or even less surprising is when the buyers purchase the house without inspections. Ordinarily, there real estate agent pushes what I consider to be a fairly useless inspection, but when the agent is working both sides...err, I mean working "for" both sides, there is no inspection.
Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said that "There is a sucker in every deal. You have to figure out who it is." If you are working with an intermediary agent and buying a house, then the sucker is you.