As a Brit I don't get the agent thing for buying and selling houses in the U.S. As I understand it's basically required for the buyer and seller to have an agen

As a Brit I don't get the agent thing for buying and selling houses in the U.S. As I understand it's basically required for the buyer and seller to have an agent. Here you can sell a house privately, and the only fees you need to pay are the solicitor for conceyancing - the fees are around the same when buying or selling, between £500 - £2000. They will just do the paperwork, check there aren't any issues with the deeds, and do minor contract negotiations, and register the sale. The purpose of an agent here is really just to have a shop where they can advertise your sale, take clients and guide them around a house (but TBH I'd rather just look myself without an agent as they don't add any value in my experience), and do a bit of management between the buyer and seller. For this they'll usually charge 0.5% - 3% (to the seller), but if you want to do it yourself you can just advertise on sites such as Zoopla.