[fosco]

I purchased a house last July without a buyers or sellers agent. I was very happy to work through lawyers (normal and mandatory in New York) and aside from my first purchase with agents in Virginia I do not plan to recommend an agent ever again. their biggest value is getting you a key to do a walk through and see if you like the pictures of a house previously found on line.

just my two cents -- seems like others see more value than I do, but the knowledge that a buyers agent gave my in New York in an area I grew up in was flatly useless. I think they are a bad middleman whose interest is not yours, just theirs to collect a percentage of the sale.

on a side note, to sell my house i used Redfin after I moved out of state, my experience was very positive with their support for selling the house. I still personally believe that the agent really provided someone to answer some of my questions, had I been less lazy I could have answered the questions myself.

final notes: as house price goes up some agents stop collecting a percentage and do a 'flat fee' -- it may be worth searching for one of those.