You will find lots of information here, most of it universally applicable, but some of what you read will be U.S.A. biased.  

But, I may be blinded by owner's bias.

And another shout out to your agent, I think this gets over looked a lot (But then again, I'm biased!)

Now, I am bias a little bit as I have been with them here in AZ for over 20 years, and I am a vest partner (so full disclosure). 

I say that so you can recognize that I am giving a biased perspective :) **also, this wound up a little longer than expected so sorry in advance...hopefully it was helpful!

I am bias since I live in Baltimore and I also would like to provide you with a chart that one of Bigger Pocket colleagues providedhttps://bp-v-newproduction.s3.amazonaws.com/upload...

If gurus are so good... they'd be so rich doing what they preach they wouldn't have to make money off teaching lol :) I'm biased, I drank the BP Kool-aid because the BP kool-aid works.

Obviously my opinion is biased, so take that into consideration, but why not accept the free representation? 

Homes are sold "as is", but "as is" can be broad, if you are buying privately, get a good real estate lawyer to guide you through.I am also a realtor myself, and also a bit biased towards private sales where no prior relationship exists with the seller, tread very carefully.

I never can find a non-bias answer.