FWIW in America you can totally ask for a refund on agent commission when looking for an agent to buy with. Not all agents will do it but it is straightforward

FWIW in America you can totally ask for a refund on agent commission when looking for an agent to buy with. Not all agents will do it but it is straightforward for them to credit their commission against the closing costs. With online listings, agents today do so much less than they did when those commissions were set and home prices have obviously ballooned faster than inflation. The end-state of our startup, Open Listings, was basically a (magnificent) listings site + easy way to connect with vetted buyers agents who had pre-negotiated refunds (50% of their commission). For anecdata, I bought a home recently in a market our service never supported. We googled and quickly found a great agent who was happy to refund half their commission.