{"id":22597,"date":"2025-07-07T04:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T11:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=22597"},"modified":"2025-07-08T02:58:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T09:58:44","slug":"buyer-what-does-a-real-estate-agent-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-what-does-a-real-estate-agent-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does a Real Estate Agent Do? The Benefits of Hiring an Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve decided you\u2019re<a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-should-i-buy-a-house-now-or-wait\/\"> ready to buy<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/should-i-sell-my-house-now-or-wait\/\">sell a home<\/a> for the first time (congratulations, that\u2019s a big step!). But you may wonder, do I even need a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/can-you-be-your-own-real-estate-agent\/\">real estate agent<\/a>? What does a real estate agent do? After all, if I&#8217;m buying, there are dozens of websites with home listings and step-by-step advice. And if I&#8217;m selling, perhaps I can handle it myself and save on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/realtor-fees\/\">Realtor fees<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These may be true, but the process is far more complicated than it may initially appear. According to the National Association of Realtors, about<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nar.realtor\/research-and-statistics\/research-reports\/home-buyer-and-seller-generational-trends\"> 90% of all<\/a> homebuyers and sellers found and sold their homes through a real estate agent \u2014 for good reason. Real estate agents are essential advocates throughout the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Connect with a Top Agent<\/h3>\n                        <p>Who you work with matters. HomeLight data shows that top agents sell homes faster and for more money than average agents. Connect with a local, expert agent in your area to maximize your home sale.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/find-agent\/quiz\/seller?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Find Agent<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-buyers-agent\/\">Buyer&#8217;s agents<\/a><\/strong> help you find the perfect home, act as a liaison for the parties you\u2019ll interact with, and be by your side throughout the transaction process. Without that added support, you could have many complications, including missing out on your dream home, becoming bogged down by paperwork, or costing yourself a lot of money.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/what-is-listing-agent\/\">Listing agents<\/a> <\/strong>will be in your corner as a homeowner who wants to sell your house. These agents help you attract interested buyers, push the best aspects of your house out in the open, and close the deal. The best real estate listing agents will go above and beyond to simplify the entire home-selling experience for you.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve talked with several veteran real estate professionals and learned the ins and outs of the role agents play for buyers and sellers, giving you an invaluable guide on what a real estate agent is and how they can streamline your homebuying experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What does a real estate agent do? Learn how agents support both buyers and sellers, helping them make confident, informed decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":38878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192,638,641],"tags":[756],"class_list":["post-22597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-buyers","category-house-hunting","category-find-home","tag-what-do-real-estate-agents-do"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Does a Real Estate Agent Do: A Guide for Buyers and Sellers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What does a real estate agent do? Learn how agents support both buyers and sellers, helping them make confident, informed decisions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-what-does-a-real-estate-agent-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Does a Real Estate Agent Do? The Benefits of Hiring an Agent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What does a real estate agent do? Learn how agents support both buyers and sellers, helping them make confident, informed decisions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-what-does-a-real-estate-agent-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-07T11:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-08T09:58:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/what-does-a-real-estate-agent-do-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Garrett Callahan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CallahanGarrett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Garrett Callahan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"19 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Does a Real Estate Agent Do: A Guide for Buyers and Sellers","description":"What does a real estate agent do? 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Based in Massachusetts, he is an admirer of historic homes and loves an old house with a good story.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/garrettcallahan\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CallahanGarrett"],"url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/author\/garrett-callahan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}