First, as noted by lotsofpulp, this isn't accurate: seller agents were always perfectly happy to deal with lone buyers because there's no other agent to share t

First, as noted by lotsofpulp, this isn't accurate: seller agents were always perfectly happy to deal with lone buyers because there's no other agent to share the commission with. Second, to the extent there is monopolistic behavior that gets in the way (and there definitely is), that's not what I'm talking about. The market that year was completely insane because of the interest rates, and there is no way we could have navigated it ourselves, real estate agent monopoly or no monopoly. I'm very glad that they've been forced to allow competition, and most real estate agents are horrible and should be avoided. All I'm saying is that in some markets a good real estate agent is absolutely worth their commission.