Your post is absolutely correct. With all of the access to resources today, you don’t need to hire an agent. People still do, but nobody absolutely needs to. I don’t understand why people seem to state, “in the future” this or that will happen… the future is now. People don’t need to use them today. As a former agent, as you know, escrow doesn’t look out for anyone or protect anyone. Escrow is an independent entity that doesn’t represent or protect anybody. Escrow enforces conditions and requirements of the purchase contract and makes ammendments when necessary. Similarly if anyone here has read over a termite report or a physical inspection they know half of the contents in those reports consists of disclaimers and release of liability. A title company insure that there are no pre-existing claims to title (or clouds) prior to issuing a title insurance policy, furthermore the policy of title insurance issued to the lender is much more extensive then the policy of title insurance issued to the actual homeowner. How many people homeowners here have called their title insurance company to ask them questions about their policy? Also as a buyer you do not have a say in hiring the lender. The lender is hired by your lender.
Transaction coordinators are indeed utilized by both listing agents and selling (aka buyers) agents. However a tc (transaction coordinator) does not advise buyers/sellers in any way shape or form. A tc simply makes sure that all pertinent forms are signed correctly by all parties involved. A tc working for a listing agent will also make sure that the correct disclosure package is generated based on the location and type of housing. Indeed there are independent transaction coordinators that service independent brokerages (in fact I use one) while most large traditional brokerages have in house coordinators. Most of the independent transaction coordinators I have worked with will not work for a buyer or seller directly, (again due to liability issues) and they all carry a seperate E&O policy.
So once again, I am not disputing your point, in fact as I said, I agree. I just once more want to clarify the pre-existing roles of all the entities you brought up.
