Quote:
Originally Posted by syracusa
If someone is looking for a house, it is hard to believe they don't know what they want and where they want the house to be located.
Do they need an agent to take them by the hand, kindergarden style, and show them a house they would want...when everything is out in the open, on the Internet, and the buyer could simply contact the seller directly for a viewing when the owner is at home?
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I disagree completely.
When we were house hunting, we had a vague idea of what we wanted and where we wanted to be, but the agent we worked with was a tremendous help in helping us evaluate different neighborhoods, driving us around to all of the houses we saw (much easier since he knew his way around and we didn't), showing the homes (as Brokemofo pointed out, they generally have a lock box - you can't just walk in) and guiding us through the whole buying process.
As for contacting the seller directly, that's a bad idea. You don't want to see a home when the owner is present. You want to see a home when it is empty and you can be comfortable going through all the rooms, checking closets and basements and crawl spaces and opening and closing windows and doors and flushing toilets and running showers and doing all the other things that could be a little awkward with the owner looking over your shoulder. And you want to be able to speak freely with your spouse about what you are seeing without being concerned that you might be offending the owner. Also, not all homes for sale are occupied. Some are vacant because the owner has already moved. You need an agent to get you in to those homes.
Others have already stated lots of other benefits to working with a good agent when buying a home. It is a complicated process and having a trained professional with you every step of the way can make it go much more smoothly.