Aside from being an observer of my parents' various house moves over the years (many moves in few years), my experience is limited to buying/selling one cottage property, buying our current property, and knowing a handful of real estate agents socially (known to me or my parents).

The simplest transaction was the purchase of our house, for which we had no representation. Our only post-purchase source of aggravation was that we were lied to about when the last time the roof was re-done, but if this wasn't even debunkable by the house inspection company I doubt very much it would've been debunkable by a real estate agent. Had the facts been known we could've pushed for a greater abatement just as easily as the agent could have.

Basically, I find real residential estate agents to often (certainly not always, but often) to be extraneous. Their most tangible service seems to be to hold people's hands while they agonize over making a Big Decision -- which, to my mind, isn't worth thousands of dollars.

Now that MLS listings can be browsed by civilians and now that house inspections can be arranged as easily as ordering a pizza, why pay a middle-man? If they save your ass on something, great -- reward them. Otherwise...

I do have a hate-on for the agent trying to sell our cottage. I think she sucks because it's a hot market now but our cottage isn't moving. Being diplomatically challenged my father-in-law accused her of being a liar, which may have dampened her enthusiasm for working hard for us. At any rate she's sooooo fired when her contract expires in two weeks.

Maybe I'll have a rosier view of the profession if the new agent gets us what we want.


I am from a small, unknown country in the north called Ca-na-da. We are a simple, grease-loving people who enjoy le weekend de ski.
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