I've purchased two condos and one house in the Seattle area. My first condo I bought remotely and my agent toured a couple of places for me. Agent was very valuable in this case as I was in medical school trying to buy a place for residency.
Second condo I found myself and my agent merely facilitated the transaction. She hired a home inspector who missed a couple things. Not saying I would've caught them with my own inspector, but when your agent is chummy with an inspector, you can't really call them out on their mistakes.
When it came to looking for houses, I saw a few with my agent, but the one I ended up buying I found myself on Redfin. I went to an open house myself and just told my agent I wanted to make an offer.
Of note, my agent got paid the least for the first condo (because it was the cheapest), but she was most valuable in that transaction. The other two transactions just required the agent to fill out the paperwork, yet they got paid much more. There has to be some relationship between the amount of work done and the cost of the buyer's agent, not just a percentage of the sale price.
Second condo I found myself and my agent merely facilitated the transaction. She hired a home inspector who missed a couple things. Not saying I would've caught them with my own inspector, but when your agent is chummy with an inspector, you can't really call them out on their mistakes.
When it came to looking for houses, I saw a few with my agent, but the one I ended up buying I found myself on Redfin. I went to an open house myself and just told my agent I wanted to make an offer.
Of note, my agent got paid the least for the first condo (because it was the cheapest), but she was most valuable in that transaction. The other two transactions just required the agent to fill out the paperwork, yet they got paid much more. There has to be some relationship between the amount of work done and the cost of the buyer's agent, not just a percentage of the sale price.