You Already Found the House. What Do You Need an Agent For?
You toured it at an open house. Or you found it on Zillow, or the builder walked you through the model, or you knew the owner. Either way, the search is over — and paying a full commission for a service that starts with home search feels wrong.
It is a fair instinct. But it is worth being precise about what remains, because the part you have finished is not the part that carries the risk.
What is already done
Search and showings are the most visible work an agent does, and often the most time-consuming. If you have identified the property and decided you want it, that work is behind you and you should not be paying for it.
What is still ahead
Everything from here is contractual, and mistakes are expensive in ways that are hard to reverse:
- Writing the purchase agreement so the terms are competitive and the protections are intact
- Setting contingency periods — the deadlines that decide whether you can walk away with your deposit
- Negotiating counteroffers, repair requests, and credits after inspection
- Reading the disclosures for what actually matters, and knowing what to ask about
- Keeping escrow, the lender, and title moving so you do not blow a deadline
The risk is concentrated at the end
A missed contingency deadline can cost you your deposit. An appraisal gap you did not plan for can force you to find cash you do not have. An inspection issue handled poorly can leave you owning a repair worth more than the commission you were trying to save.
This is the stretch where representation earns its money — and it is exactly the stretch that is identical whether you looked at one house or forty.
Paying for the part you use
The sensible conclusion is not to skip representation. It is to stop paying search-and-showing prices for offer-and-escrow work.
That is the entire premise behind our 1% structure: you did the finding, so the fee reflects the work that is actually left.
The bottom line
Finding the house is the fun part and, increasingly, the part buyers do themselves. Writing the contract and getting to closing without a costly mistake is the part worth paying for — just not at a rate that assumes you needed help with both.
General information for California home buyers, not legal or tax advice. Every transaction is different — consult an appropriate professional about your own situation.