For a first time buying it can be daunting. I even used a 'good' agent in the past. But, what made her good was that her and her husband were also contractors a

For a first time buying it can be daunting. I even used a 'good' agent in the past. But, what made her good was that her and her husband were also contractors and together they were effectively real-time home inspectors with any house we looked at. Since then I've bought a house without an agent and am about to sell another. All you really need is a lawyer and the internet. Then there are services you can pay to get on MLS. IMO, RE agents hosed themselves by not self scaling down their commission percentages as prices went up. Even people who do want their help will balk at paying someone 20k-30k+.