What to say to realtors

We went to look at a house today, which was for sale by owner.

Both a seller and a buyer can use a realtor. The purpose of a realtor when you are buying a house seems to be to look on the internet for you to see if there's a house you might like, then drive you to the house to look at. They charge something like 3% of the purchase price to do that. As we can use the internet, and have a car, we don't see the need for a realtor.

The owner asked Susanne if we have a realtor representing us. They didn't have a realtor - so we felt a bond. They too had rejected these people who seem to me to be unnecessary parasites. As houses cost a lot, and you get 3% for buying OR selling a house as a realtor, you don't need to buy (or sell) a lot of houses to make a reasonable amount of cash. I read somewhere the other day that there is one realtor per 76 people in Southern California.

No, said Susanne. We don't have a realtor. They're pushy and obnoxious and serve no purpose except to irritate us. And they are parasites on the face of the planet. (Actually, those weren't her exact words, but she did use the word pushy.)

I asked the owner if she was selling the house herself. "Yes" she said. "I'm a realtor."

Luckily, we've realized that part of the job of being a realtor is to ask lots of questions which sound like you're being friendly. But in actual fact, you ask those questions to everyone and don't listen to the answers. So realtors just ignore everything you say.

"Well" she said, "If you need someone to represent you ...".