“Buyers are liars and sellers are, too” is an old saying in the real estate industry. “All Buyers Are Liars” was cited in print in 1965; “Buyers are liars and sellers are thieves” was cited in print in 1986. The saying was popularized as the title of the book Buyers Are Liars & Sellers Are Too!: A lighthearted look at the truth about buying and selling your home (1992) by Richard Courtney.
 
The saying means that both buyers and sellers hide things from a real estate broker, or are at the very least slightly deceptive and not fully revealing in their intentions and actions.
 
 
5 April 1965, The Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI), pg. A8, col. 1 ad:
“All Buyers Are Liars”
(...)
MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE OF FOX VALLEY, Inc.
In the Service of the
APPLETON BOARD OF REALTORS
 
8 September 1972, Abilene (TX) Reporter-News, “Page One” by Leo J. Rynders, pg. 1, col. 1:
Back in the Dark Ages, when I started in the real estate business, I attended a school for a week conducted by the Texas Real Estate Association. The intriguing title of one of the lectures was “All Buyers Are Liars.”
 
27 July 1986, Miami (FL) Herald, “To fin the right house, get the right agent,” Home & Design, pg. 11H:
There’s an old saying in the real estate business, “Buyers are liars and sellers are thieves.”
 
11 September1983, Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette, “Do homeowrk before choosinga real estate agent” by Jan Mathew, pg. 1D, col. 1:
“We find truth in the saying ‘buyers are liars’,” notes Hanson.
 
6 December 1987, Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, “The agents strike back: Brokers complain about buyers, too” by Frank Cook (UPI), pg. 4F, col. 1:
One of the first things new agents learn in real estate school is “Buyers are Liars.”
 
18 May 1991, The Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica), “From contract to closing: A breeze or a nightmare?” by G. Anthony Levy, pg. 22, cols. 3-4:
In the industry it is commonly said that “Buyers are liars and Sellers are thieves.”
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Buyers are liars & sellers are too! : a lighthearted look at the truth about buying and selling your home
Author: Richard Courtney
Publisher: Nashville, Tenn. : Eggman Pub., ©1992
Edition/Format: Book : English
 
Google Books
111 Ways to Justify Your Commission:
Value-Adding Strategies for Real Estate Agents and Brokers
By Michael Soon Lee
New York, NY: Kaplan
2007
Pg. 59:
There’s an old saying in real estate: “Buyers are liars and sellers are worse.”
 
Google Books
Financing Real Estate Investments For Dummies
By Ralph R. Roberts, Chip Cummings and Joe Kraynak
Hoboken, NJ: WIley Publishing, Inc.
2009
Pg. 234:
The real estate community has a saying: “Buyers are liars, and sellers are worse.” When you’re thinking about buying a property, don’t take anything the seller tells you at face value.