Agents double-ending: ethical?

[Loc R.]

A strategy that I have used, & others have advocated is to approach a listing agent & offering to allow him/her to represent me as the buyer.

By doing so, the agent gets both the buyer's & the seller's agent commissions, & my offer magically seems to move to the front of the line or gets "sold" a little more to the seller.

Now, my question is, if I was the seller, would this still be in my best interest?

Taking it to another level, if the seller was a bank/REO asset manager, does it change your opinion as to whether it's still in the seller's best interest?