Is real estate agent helpful when you buy with all cash

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Ran across this blog and thought I would share it.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1955084/we-don-t-need-an-agent-we-re-paying-ca-h

For those that don't want to follow the link, I'll summarize the blog. The author, a Realtor, believes that they can add value regardless of how a property might be purchased. I would certainly not disagree outright with that assumption.

She illustrates a situation though were she helped a cash buyer purchase a home for less than they might otherwise have spent. The Realtor believed a listing was already listed at good value and the cash buyer was thinking to offer 10K less than list. She suggested an offer 25K less than list. She then talks about having saved this client 25K.

So my first thought is, did this Realtor actually help this buyer much? Certainly the savings wasn't 25K, but rather 15K. The implication in the blog was that the her negotiating skills allowed the buyer to save more money than they would have on their own. Perhaps that was true in this situation because this buyer sounds like they lack knowledge and experience.

I can't help but think that the buyer could have done better. I also can't help but wonder if the agent was considering the highest offer that could be made that still looks like she was adding value.

While, I believe that real estate agents can add value sometimes even a lot of value, I also believe that buyers especially investors must educate themselves on their market area so that they can insure the best deal. I also believe that investors need to learn how to negotiate on their own regardless of whether they use an agent or not. An agent can be very useful but their motivation is not 100% aligned with a buyer. They are at least going to be tempted to suggest a higher offer price simply because their commission is based on that price.