Buying without a buyer's agent is legal and increasingly common since the 2024 NAR settlement. Here is the step-by-step process, what changes, and where licensed professionals still fit.
You do not need a buyer's agent to buy a home. That has always been true, but until recently the system quietly assumed one: the seller offered a buyer-agent commission, the agent appeared, and few buyers questioned it. The 2024 NAR settlement changed the mechanics. Buyers now generally sign a written agreement before working with an agent, buyer-side compensation is negotiated explicitly, and a growing number of buyers are asking what they actually get for it.
Here is how buying without a buyer's agent works in practice, and where licensed professionals still do the parts that genuinely require a license.
Two things matter for buyers:
Once the cost became visible, the natural question followed: what if the money a seller might set aside for the buyer's side could work for the buyer instead?
1. Get pre-approved. Talk to lenders early. Pre-approval defines your budget and signals to sellers that your offer is real. You can use any licensed lender.
2. Search like the professionals do. The MLS syndicates to the major search sites, so the inventory an agent sees is substantially the inventory you see. Set alerts, study comparable sales, and learn your target neighborhoods.
3. Tour homes. This is the part people assume requires "having an agent." It requires access, not representation. On VroomBrick, independent showing agents meet you at any listed property; you book the tour through the dashboard.
4. Make your offer. You decide price, contingencies, and timing. On VroomBrick, offers go through the dashboard, and a licensed closing attorney is available to review the contract before you sign, so the legal review is done by someone whose license is on the line, while the decisions stay yours.
5. Inspection and appraisal. You hire the inspector; the lender orders the appraisal. Nothing about either step requires a buyer's agent.
6. Close. The closing attorney handles title, settlement, and recording. You do a final walk-through, sign, and get the keys.
In a traditional deal, the seller may offer a negotiated amount for the buyer's side. VroomBrick charges a 1% technology fee for the platform, paid by the seller at closing. You don't pay a buyer's agent commission. On a $400,000 home, a 1% technology fee is $4,000. If a buyer's agent charged 3%, that would be $12,000, a difference of $8,000. Commissions are negotiable, so your number depends on what you'd have paid. If the seller agreed to pay more than 1% for the buyer's side, the rest can be requested as a closing cost credit, if the seller agrees and subject to lender approval and program limits. Model it with the buyer savings calculator.
Buying without a buyer's agent means you own the judgment calls: what to offer, when to walk away, which inspection findings matter. If you want someone to make those calls for you, a traditional agent is the right product. If you want control with licensed professionals handling access, legal review, and settlement, the unbundled path exists now, and it is no longer the fringe option.
Start with the complete homebuying timeline, check your readiness at Home Ready, or see how buying works on VroomBrick.
About VroomBrick: VroomBrick is a real estate technology platform, not a licensed real estate brokerage. VroomBrick does not provide brokerage services, represent buyers or sellers, or hold real estate licenses. VroomBrick charges a 1% technology fee for the platform, paid by the seller at closing. You don't pay an agent commission on the side VroomBrick works with. Closing attorneys, showing agents, and lender partners are independent licensed professionals. Commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable. Savings examples are illustrative; actual savings vary by transaction and are subject to lender approval.
Yes. No law requires a buyer to have an agent. Since the 2024 NAR settlement, buyers who do work with an agent generally must sign a written agreement first, which has made more buyers consider handling the search themselves with professional support only where they want it.
You control your offer terms. On VroomBrick, buyers submit offers through the dashboard and a licensed closing attorney is available to review contract terms before you sign. The attorney handles the legal work; the decisions stay yours.
Listing agents can show their own listings, and platforms like VroomBrick coordinate independent showing agents who provide access to any listed property. You request the showing; a licensed agent meets you there.
It can. VroomBrick charges a 1% technology fee for the platform, paid by the seller at closing. You don't pay a buyer's agent commission. On a $400,000 home, a 1% technology fee is $4,000. If a buyer's agent charged 3%, that would be $12,000, a difference of $8,000. Commissions are negotiable, so your number depends on what you'd have paid. If the seller agreed to pay more than 1% for the buyer's side, the rest can be requested as a closing cost credit, if the seller agrees and subject to lender approval and program limits.
About the Author
Co-founder & CEO · Former Sotheby's Agent
Co-founder and CEO of VroomBrick and a former Sotheby's real estate agent. Writes about how transactions actually work from the inside, and what buyers and sellers can do themselves now that commissions are negotiated in the open.
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