You are wrong to use the seller’s agent. They have a a fiduciary obligation to the Seller by contract to work in the Seller’s best interests. If you have them write your offer, who do you think will get the better treatment? And the agent will receive all the commission that the Seller has agreed to pay the broker…usually 6% but it cannot be set by state law.

So, DO find a Buyer’s agent who has an ABR (nationally accredited buyers’ rep) designation, PLUS a CRS (certified residential specialist). If they have even more credentials than those, all the better. Fewer than 2% of the nation’s agents will have, and those are the pros.

Does a buyer’s agent do anything for you? Heck yes, from protecting you and guiding the transaction past a myriad of pratfalls, by being diliegent to ensure you get the right inspections and terms, and a lot more you wouldn’t understand.

From your point of view, and I can appreciate how you arrived at it, you could say that while YOU are not paying the Buyer’s commission (it is actually a share of the listing office’s commission), you could figure YOU paid the commission because you got a mortgage to cover the cost of the deal and the Seller is just passing on your mortgage money to his listing broker.

Hope you find the perfect house, but with your perspective, I fear nothing will satisfy you. Regretful.

A buyer’s agent is a critical part of the purchase process. Most buyers are no match in a transaction against an experienced Listing Agent. There are a thousand ways you can get screwed over in a Real Estate Purchase, and if you do not have serious real estate experience, you will lose. In fact, historically, the job of buyer’s agent did not always exist. It responded to the very need of lay people that did not have the knowledge required to deal on an equal footing with a professional negotiator on the seller’s side. Yes the commission comes out of the proceeds of the house BUT the fee is not added on to the market price of the house. The market comparables used to determine value of the home you’re buying already include the 5 to 6% commission in the sales figures.

The average agent sells 3/5 homes a YEAR. When you take out the broker split, and business expenses, they are lucky to get 50% of that 30k before-tax income. Assuming she sells all 1M dollar homes, and that the commisison is a high 3% your agent’s before-tax pay is between 45k and 75k/year. From the agent’s perspective this is $22.5 and $37.5 per hour. That’s peanuts.

I am a realtor and I specialize as a buyer’s agent. I give all of my clients a buyer’s incentive rebate upto 50% of any commission I earn assuming the buyer’s lender will approve. Not all real estate agents are shady. Some of them are, of course, as in any industry. I like to think I help my clients wade thru the typical bs and help them thru the contracts, counter offers, inspection, etc. For any buyer out there, it isn’t rocket science, but its nice to have someone in the business that can bring a solid background in the area you are looking to buy. If you do it on your own, ask the listing agent to cut the commission, which normally goes to the buyer’s agent, so you can use this money to pay for your closing costs, etc. There are limits on the amount of money you can make at closing, but its an excellent way to save money on the process of buying real estate and securing a mortgage. I do agree on one thing, the current real estate marketplace is fleecing both buyer’s and seller’s and pushes prices up 5-6% based on commissions.

While I agree that a buyer, with the help of a good real estate attorney), can successfully purchase a home without the use of a real estate agent, it’s not as easy and cheap as it looks. I am not in the real estate business by the way.

An additional tool: when you find a house you like a lot, use Google Maps (or a competitor) to find it, then use Satellite View to determine if there is anything on the other side of that line of trees that might bother you. Once we looked at a house on 5 acres that seemed a good buy, but from the satellite image saw a cluster of small-footprint housing about 100-150 yds. away through those trees. Turned out it was a bankrupt student housing townhouse complex. We figured there’s a good chance the squatters or ocupants might be tempted to do some midnight shopping at their neighbor’s well-stocked pantries.

The key is the MLS. Which you have no access to. The most comprehensive database of homes for sale. Also for comparisons of home prices. Remember. They are trying to get the highest home price they can. Because commissions are based on the sales price of the home. If you don’t think with all the underhanded sales tactics used. Like you see on the internet these days. Like buy now or miss out on a home. Prices are low. Slanted articles from people that represent the industry or who’s best interest is derived from advertising. What I am leading to is a jaked MLS where commissions rule. It is in there best interest to make sure home prices stay high. Either by those slanted news articles. Things that say the median price of a home is 172k a figure used over 4 years ago. If they are taking in the entire country in that figure which they are. It is not area specific. Another thing is the tax credit. Which they will never never tell a buyer that is is only a deduction off of the gross and not the net. That is there prime feeding market. The very naive first time home buyer. Because no one with any sense buys in a declining market. You could be in negative equity before a half year is up. You never see that information anywhere.