It does not cost you anything to buy a property through an agent. Fees are only payable when selling. When selling you should always consider all your options but to say agents are rip offs just shows you may not understand how the market works. I'll never forget my neighbour skiting to me how they saved 15k in agent fees selling privately and that i was silly selling with an agency. Once they had finished i was able to tell them i had just recieved an offer for 64k more than they got selling privately. I was very happy to pay for the agents fee. I'm now an agent also and i don't get paid nearly as much as I'm worth.

Advice

Buy properties close to good schooling as they appreciate more in value when the market moves and are also less volitile when the market slows.