Anec-data in support of your point; We bought a (US, Florida) house without a realtor. Saw a classified ad in the paper (2004, we still read physical papers), o

Anec-data in support of your point; We bought a (US, Florida) house without a realtor. Saw a classified ad in the paper (2004, we still read physical papers), owner had put it on the market, conducted his own open house. We saw it, loved it, offered, he accepted... and his lawyer and our lawyer made sure that all the money and other appropriate paperwork was handled properly. Realtors are a convenience, not a necessity. I probably wouldn't have been comfortable buying my first house without someone to walk me through the process, but we were very happy with the results of our realtor-less purchase. Funny story: our new next-door neighbor was a realtor, and she said he could've gotten another ~$20,000 on the sale price if he'd used a realtor... not noticing that that's about what the realtors in the deal would've taken as their share.