I think for buyers, agents make a lot of sense. Largely, because of how the system works, they're free to buyers, as the seller's pay the agent fees. Are they

I think for buyers, agents make a lot of sense. Largely, because of how the system works, they're free to buyers, as the seller's pay the agent fees. Are they really free for the buyer, though? Isn't some of the commission fee being built subconsciously into the price that the seller lists it at? Recent downtown aside, the general upward trend of house prices must at least be buoyed up a bit by those commissions. Surely not every seller just marks the cost up as a loss. Plus, I've never been quite convinced that any buyer's agent would work as hard as possible to negotiate the price down if their commission is going to be a fixed percent of that price. There's zero incentive to get a better price and very infrequent repeat business from the same customers.