Purchasing a home without a Realtor / Real Estate Agent

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A friend of mine is considering developing a portal that will help home buyers navigate the journey of completing their first home purchase.

Since buying a home is a huge investment and can be daunting for first timers, I'm curious to know what people's pain points have been in the past from the time of viewing a property for the first time until the day of closing. Is there any information that you wish you had known before (ex. historical data)? What made you decide to use a realtor (Ex. you knew them personally, you trusted their expertise)? Were there any costs you didn't anticipate and had to budget for (Ex. land transfer tax, lawyer fees, title insurance, etc.)? How was the negotiation process?

And if you could repeat the whole process again, what information would be essential to help you complete a purchase without using a realtor / real-estate agent?

Opening the floor to everyone ...