[jhrozek]

Your comment reads as you don’t need a realtor as a buyer — and I agree to an extent. I always thought that the service was provided for the seller

Things our agent did I would not have done or not done properly on top of the paperwork and legal advice:

- got us in touch with home stylist and a photographer who were great

- had a phone book of prospective customers looking for a place like ours

- followed up with people who were interested and arranged a second showing

About the commissions, either it is very regional or we were lucky but we agreed on a flat fee plus some percent if and only if the price goes above some target.

[fatnoah]

I will also add the VERY, VERY, VERY important step of being a layer of communication between you and the buyer. With that relay, no statements made by you about the state or condition of your home would ever be directly seen by the buyer. That's probably why realtors have those discussions with sellers and their agents via telephone as well.