Last week I had a call from a person I know who ask for my opinion on the value of a home she was looking to buy.  She was not working with an agent and now needed help. 

Well, being the nice guy I am, I did a CMA and found the home was greatly over priced for the neighborhood.   Of course I had to ask why she 1) did not contact me to be her buyer's agent and 2) what made her think she could do this without an agent, even if it wasn't me?

Working the property desk here at the office we often get calls from people who are out looking and just call in to ask a question about a property but are not looking for the help of an agent.  This accents the fact that buyers are at a real disadvantage when not taking advantage of the advice and guidance of an agent.

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article on this very subject.

Home Buyers Go Hunting Alone

After years of trepidation, home buyers are finally beginning to wade back into the housing market. But as they do, many are making the surprising choice to hunt alone, rejecting the assistance of what's known in real estate as a buyer's agent.

For years, house-hunters have had the option to work with a real estate agent who shows them properties and may ultimately negotiate the price – a counterbalance to the agent who almost invariably represents the seller. But now fewer buyers are taking it. Of the buyers who purchased a property through a real estate agent, just 57% had buyer representation, according to a 2010 report by the National Association of Realtors. That's down from 62% in 2009 and 64% in 2006, before the housing bust. Also, fewer buyers are first learning about the home they purchase from real estate agents: just 37% are reporting real estate agents as their first source of information on the home they purchased, down from 50% a decade ago, according to NAR.