Is a Buyers Agent needed?

We have been looking for a house for the past few months. Mostly on our own, from newsday and open houses. We dont offically have an agent, although we have met a few and gave our information to them. My question is, if we find a house on our own, what is the disadvantage of not having our own Agent? Do we wind up paying the sellers agent double the commision?

Thanks!

The seller's agent gets a comission based upon their agreement with the seller when they first took the listing, prior to you making an offer. As far as I know, you shouldn't have to pay a double comission to a seller's agent.

You really don't need a buyer's agent - in fact, the less people involved, the better. Too many agents just mean too many middle men, and it gets so frustrating and confusing sometimes! As long as you have an attorney to represent your interests, you should be okay.

I'm a realtor. You DO NOT pay commission when you buy a house!!! If you don't use an agent and the seller's agent asks for something, DO NOT pay it!!!! Those are the people who give us a bad name!

An agent will help you negotiate price, deal with all of the paper work for you, make sure there are no loose ends and communicate with both attorneys and the seller's agent for you.

I posted this info on Buyers Brokers a while back:

FYI - If you use a buyer's broker who tells you that the seller will pay their commission, then they are only showing you houses that have a buyer's broker commission.

For Multiple Listing houses there is a listing agent commission and a selling agent commission. Selling agents strictly work for the seller. Sometimes the listing agency will also offer a buyer's agent commission in addition to a selling agent commission. (In this case, the buyers agent will get the selling commission, although they work for the buyer. They will be paid by the seller.) Listing agents do not always offer a buyer's agent commission. (I have seen plenty of listings like this.) Also, if a house is an Exclusive, and your buyer's agent/broker does not work for the agency that has that exclusive listing - they will not be paid by the seller.

Buyer's agents/brokers are terrific b/c they look out for the buyer's best interest. But they do not always get paid by the seller.