[Ladygolfer93]

I agree it is an individual decision. Personally, I have purchased a home three times from the owners rather than going through a realtor or real estate agent. I have also gone through an agent at a realtor office. None went poorly, but the one on one with the home owners were all far superior transactions. No middle people with a variety of agendas which may not align with your own, etc. made it so simple and straight forward. I did hire my own attorney every time. I found this very affordable compared to the number of "cuts" that come out of a deal through a realty office. Now of course those who work as agents will definitely disagree with me, some would even try to frighten people if they can, but after hiring an agent twice, I'd never do it any other way again after experiencing one to one transactions. Again I want to repeat, I did hire my OWN attorney and feel the reasonable cost was well worth it for the peace of mind. I also had an independent inspection, something I found in several states where I have lived, is a VERY difficult thing to find.... an "inspector" who is not in some way connected to local banks, or local agencies, or to a particular agent and does not have a vested interest in seeing that the deal DOES go through no matter what, is a hard individual to find....but well worth the trouble and research. Shop and long and hard for an "inspector" is what I learned. Finally someone put me in touch with a man who taught building trades at a local community college and had a very independent business doing inspections.... he was not connected to any real estate agency, agent, or bank. Took some time, but well worth it !