Buying without an agent

[Chuck Knight]

I expected this to be a popular question, but I've looked around and at least on google almost all answers look like they were written by the brokerage marketing departments. So I figured I should try here: I live in Massachusetts and would like to buy a property without making use of buyer's agent services. Can this be done (legally), and are there any real caveats?

I am looking to buy a condo in Boston. Posed the same question locally. The answers I've heard so far were ... naive at best: 
i) buyer's agent is free ... clearly there's only one source of funds in this whole transaction - me, so no.
ii) you won't be able to evaluate the property ... all broker-assisted transactions in the past involved hiring an inspector; market analysis is trivial these days in big markets.
iii) you won't be able to negotiate price / make an offer ... in MA it's a standard form, and I have good understanding of the standard options. In MA you have to hire an attorney for the paperwork, so the forms would be filled out by the attorney anyhow.
iv) you have to be (legally) represented by the broker ... as far as I can tell, there's no rule like that in MA.
v) sellers agent is less likely to work with your offer if you're not being represented by the broker ... I don't know if that's true, but I don't see any reason for this to be the case.

Now, I understand how in many situations/markets buyer's broker can be a huge help in identifying and pre-screening the properties to view, to cover broad markets efficiently. In my case, the geographic area is quite limited and purchase is not urgent. Over the past year, there's only been a few apartments that fit the criteria, and I notice all these listings online with no effort. So I find myself in a situation where it's easier to identify and view the property of interest myself, and then between the real estate attorney who fills out the forms and the inspector who examines the property, the role of the broker appears to be limited to passing the handful of messages back and forth during offer negotiations. And the 3% fee would be over $30k considering local prices. Short of the broker being my friend, I just can't see this as being reasonable.

As far as I can tell, there's no legal way to negotiate a lower rate with the buyers broker (unlike seller's). So I intend to simply submit the offers without one, and let the seller's broker figure things out (a proper broker, I imagine would leave the 3% that was meant for the buyer's broker to the seller). 

Appreciate any advice/info/opinions on this. Thanks!

[Mark Allen Kenny]

I'm sure there are a lot of people who would disagree with me but I find I have a higher likelihood of my offer being accepted when I don't work with an agent.  I believe this is because the listing agent is interested in the higher fee and so do their best to make sure my offer is accepted.

That said, I have an excellent team of inspectors, contractors, attorneys, etc that help with due diligence after that offer is accepted.