Quick disclaimer: I’m still licensed, but primarily work at a tech company these days. I’m only licensed to help my wife out from time to time and because I enjoy the investment side of things.
You would rather work with an attorney than a Realtor? That is crazy in my opinion. At least the Realtor gets paid nothing unless they help to close the deal whereas the attorney bills you hourly regardless.
The commission is always negotiable, but it is typically stipulated in the listing contract with the seller and tends to be between 5 and 6% split evenly (most of the time) between the listing broker and the buyers broker.
You can always ask for a credit from the buyers agent or the sellers agent. It depends on the situation…if it’s a hot property or not so much.
Personally, I’d try to get the best home for my money regardless of how much the people that are helping me do so are getting paid. All that would matter to me is a home I like in an area I like for a price I can afford (translation-as little as possible). If you can find the home yourself then do it and just write your offer through the listing agent and ask them for the credit. The tough part there is that they work for the seller primarily. If you have a buyers agent then they only work for you and you might be able to negotiate the price down more than your credit would be anyways so you spend less on the home instead of paying more to get a credit. Not always of course, but if I tell a seller I will get them X I’m going to do everything I can to get them X dollars. The buyers agent does not have that conflict of interest and they might know of a property that recently closed in the area for less to negotiate the price down. That is as much their job as helping you through the process.
Another consideration is that a lot of properties fall out of escrow for reasons other than the buyers credit and financial position. There are other reasons such as an appraisal coming in low, etc.
