In the past week I’ve met a handful of buyers who are trying to buy homes without an agent to represent them. Their reasons for doing so vary from “I know what I want so I don’t need an agent” to “If I don’t have an agent the listing agent will cut his or her commission and I’ll pay less” to “I had an agent but he/she wasn’t giving me good advice and/or I was doing all the legwork” to “I’m looking on my own and my friend who is an agent will put an offer in for me for free when I find the right home”.

When I analyzed the various reasons, they boiled down to two things: either they hadn’t found the right agent or they thought they were going to save money. People, trust me, a good agent is worth his or her weight in gold. If you think your agent isn’t adding value, you just haven’t found the right agent yet because I could refer you to fantastic agents who will blow your socks off. And if you think you’re guaranteed to save money if you represent yourself, think again. The listing agent works for the sellers, not for you. If anyone is going to profit from the fact that you don’t have your own agent, it’s more likely to be the sellers or the listing agent than you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at the details of a sale and wondered who bought the property that no one wanted or who paid such a high price, only to note that the buyer did not have his or her own agent.

Have you ever heard the expression “a doctor is his or her own worst patient”? There’s a reason it’s an expression. It’s true, just like all the sayings your grandmother used to tell you. This concept applies to real estate, too. If you’re acting as you’re own agent, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice.

A good agent will listen to what you want and translate that into a description of the options that are available to you. There’s no way for you to know all the options because you don’t see nearly as many homes as your agent. You may know what you like and don’t like, but your agent will be able to point things out to you that you would never think of because your agent has been listening to other buyers and sellers for years and thereby learns how the market values properties. This is very important to know when it comes time to sell your home because it’s an investment as well as a place to live. When it comes to estimating the fair market value of a home, do you think you can do as good a job as someone who has looked at thousands of homes? What about negotiating and strategizing at offer time? How often do you do this compared to a good agent?

I’m not saying that you can’t do it on your own. Some buyers can, but they’re far and few between. This applies to me, too. Even I hired a local agent to buy an out of town property because I didn’t feel I had the necessary expertise to do so on my own and I didn’t ask for or expect a reduction in commission.  The agent added value and deserved to be compensated for her efforts and expert advice.

Be smart. Find yourself the right agent. If you don’t find one right away, keep looking until you do. The amount of money you might (and I stress the word “might”) save by representing yourself will be more than made up for by the good advice your agent gives you to make sure you buy the right home at the right price.