When I asked a question an hour or two ago, someone said (paraphrased) “why use a broker or a buying service; you can just do it yourself” – and then listed a bunch of recommended steps.
My reasoning is:
(1) My time is valuable. If these steps would take me, say, 6 hours. and a broker or buying service charges $300, I would have to value my time at less than $50 an hour in order to it myself. I have not valued my time at less than $50 an hour since the 1980s.
(2) Even if I invest some time to learn, a professional can do it better. Same reason I don’t do my own car repairs or plumbing.
I am interested in whether folks think I am looking at this wrong.
*Also the “time counter” on this forum can measure only the amount of time the site is open in a window – not the time you are paying any attention to it – so it is wildly misleading.
I can’t find the post you’re talking about to see the context, but that’s ok.
If you’d prefer to use a broker, knock yourself out. They’re here for a reason… not everyone wants to take the time or put in the effort to learn to be effective.
It’s still useful to spend some time doing some research so you can determine if the broker price is good or not. I’ve had deals where brokers were not able to get anywhere near the price I got; going with one would have cost me thousands of dollars. I’ve also had deals where brokers were able to get substantially better prices than I have, so I used their services.
