I don't know about your experience, but I've bought two houses and sold one. In each case, having a real estate agent to act as my "agent" when negotiating wit

I don't know about your experience, but I've bought two houses and sold one. In each case, having a real estate agent to act as my "agent" when negotiating with the buyer/seller proved to be valuable. He/she understands real home values and selling trends through experience, not through algorithms. He/she also can spot warning signs for a property, usually has plenty of good vendor contacts, and can guide a buyer or seller through fairly complicated process. I would absolutely recommend hiring an agent for a first-time home buyer or seller. However when it comes to just "finding" property to show you; I agree agents and the MLS are becoming obsolete. In fact the second house we bought we had picked out before hiring our agent. So I'm all for open listing and open data.