basically: why would someone need a realtor to BUY a house?
i understand that to buy a house, you (buyer) give some money to the owner (seller) in the form of a down payment and essentially get a loan from the bank (mortgage), and then pay that loan back to the bank over the course of years (decades).
for selling a house, i get that you’d want someone to put up the listing and pull connections to get the word out to buyers.
but for buying a home, where do the realtors come in and why does everyone say you need to get one to be a serious buyer?
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It’s the difference between having a travel agent and planning your trip yourself. Depending on what you are after and where you are going, you might want them and you might not. Also, if you are looking at a house on Zillow, most of them have been listed by a realtor. That’s a realtor who is working for the seller. Their goal is to get the most money they can from you on behalf of their client. It’s like going into a negotiation with someone who has a lawyer and you don’t. They can be very helpful to have on your side. Like lawyers, though, there are some shitty ones out there. Some can be great, though. My mother did it for a number of years but quit because it was a lot of work. Showing houses nights and weekends, visiting every property so that you know where they are (before GPS), interviewing home owners to learn details about the homes, etc. People will ask all kinds of questions about homes when viewing them. She had to try to know when a remodel has been done, how old the plumbing was, etc. Sure the homeowner could answer those questions themselves, but most don’t want to give up their evenings and weekends for months giving tours of their house and answering a hundred questions.
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