What is that purpose?
The bar to get a real estate license is lower than getting most other professional licenses, though, so there are many more BAD agents than bad plumbers/accountants/mechanics. I think most real estate agents suck. Just like I think most lawyers suck. It doesn't mean that either shouldn't exist, though.
I've got to go to bed...I'll come back later.
Finding houses is easy, that's what MLS listings do. So that leaves the hidden "gotchas" in the actual sale process, For a buyers agent to get 3% of an $800,000 home is ridiculous. I'd rather pay a lawyer $500/hr to do the 10-20 hours of work closing a deal.
One of many lessons learned was that most the best properties never make it onto MLS.
Where does buying a house require 10 hours of paperwork? (It seems endless while you're doing it, but it's way less than 10 hours and almost all of the paperwork is canned.)
Do you really think that a lawyer has 10 hours of expertise that's relevant to buying the typical house? (How many houses have you bought?)
Granted, this might be rare, but the lesson for the real estate agents is that customer service can give them an edge in competitive environments.
And while that commission might look rather large, the last time I bought a house we looked at something like 20 houses, so you need to figure that into the agent's cost.
