It's important that you choose an experienced agent who is there for you. Your agent should be actively finding you potential homes, keeping you informed of the entire process, negotiating furiously on your behalf, and answering all of your questions with competence and speed.

Also, when you use a Real Estate agent, you will see more properties. Not only are they plugged into their Multiple Listing Service, but also they are actively finding homes that are listed as FSBO, or homes that sellers are thinking about listing.