What about buying a home directly from a seller, with no broker (and consequently no brokerage fee) involved? Certainly it’s possible to do that, and there’s no reason not to explore “For-Sale-By-Owner” properties (or FSBO’s, referred to in the trade as fizz-bow’s). The primary advantage is that a seller who doesn’t have to pay a brokerage fee will typically reduce the price of his or her home — maybe not by the entire 6 or 7 percent that most brokers seem to charge, but often by enough
to make it worth your interest.
So by all means watch out for FSBO opportunities, but don’t let that prevent you from working with a broker. If you stumble across a FSBO on your own, you’re free to pursue it without any obligation to the broker, regardless of how many homes he or she has shown you or how much time you’ve spent together.