[T_D_K]

Having a real estate agent as a buyer can be extremely useful. Time savings: they'll actively search out properties that fit your needs, handle negotiations, schedule inspections and work with the city or county, etc. They're also experienced with all of the legal aspects, and work with mortgage and insurance companies.

"Tech Bros" have a stereotype of thinking they can do everything themselves. Sometimes they should maybe step back and acknowledge that someone's profession is a bit more than what they can pick up in the course of reading blogs for a few weeks.

Now, it's understandable that there's plenty of bad real estate agents -- finding a good one can be difficult. And I'm not saying that the industry is perfect, there's certainly room for improvement. I just think that it's unfair to say they don't have value.

[koolba]

> Having a real estate agent as a buyer can be extremely useful. ... handle negotiations ...

I'll never understand how anyone can think someone who get's paid only if you agree to a deal could have their best interests in mind.

Even the seller's agent generally have perverse incentives as pushing to close a deal for $N,000 more only get's them $N,000 x %C vs. losing 100% of it if the deal does not close.

[sl1ck731]

If you are working with some random real estate agent then sure. They are just going to push crap on you and hope you sign.

You should build a rapport with one you trust. Then they don't get paid until you are happy, since you aren't going to buy something you aren't happy with and they know that. It took 2 or 3 to find one that I felt was working for me. Dragged him to all 20 properties I wanted to see in a day and told him no on everything and that was that, until the one I wanted popped up. Then I let him argue with the seller about things that I wouldn't have any idea how to approach.

[T_D_K]

I understand all that, which is why I said the industry has room for improvement. What I'm arguing is that they have value -- they save you from taking on what is essentially a part time job that you're going to be bad at, and that they have potentially years of experience in. Whether the way in which they're compensated is fair or not is a different argument.

[freewilly1040]

The tech bros are right about searching out and notifying you about properties, computers do just fine at that. As far as title, legal, etc, certainly something best left to a professional. But it should be fee based, not 6% of the value of the asset.

[DennisP]

Even with an agent you separately hire a fee-based lawyer, title search, appraisal, and house inspection. The agent helps coordinate things but that's not really a specialized skill.

[everdrive]

> "Tech Bros" have a stereotype

Calling a group of people "tech bros" is itself a stereotype.