portereight

We used a broker for our last mortgage and he got us a lower rate from our own bank than they would offer us as long term customers with both personal and business accounts, lines of credit, the whole lot. It seems that when the banks deal with brokers they are made aware that they are bidding on your business. Funny thing is that out of six bids meeting our minimum requirements own bank offered the best deal via the broker. We actually got to choose who to tender the mortgage with, so if the broker had a hidden agenda, it was well hidden.
When we went back to our branch to sign the papers we were greeted with the most apologetic excuse making, bs I've ever heard as to why we couldn't possibly have been offered that deal directly. Then our banker starts congratulating us on the rate and terms we received. She was the one who made the offer to the broker. I just stared at her dumbfounded for a moment.
If you are concerned about fees, the winning lender actually pays the broker.
A little competition never hurt anyone.

as for using a realtor, we used our own. I appreciated that she had no conflict of interest in the deal, and told us what things were worth, what we could expect, how long things have been on the market, how many if any offers were made on the property, comparisons with the other houses in the same area (even some not officially listed, but open to offers), prices for the neighboring homes if they traded hands recently etc. It was this attention to detail and unbiased information that we used to put in a fair offer well below asking, with the knowledge of the likelihood of her realtor recommending she accept it as fair. In the end I am sure we did better than if all we could do was have them reduce the price by less than half of their brokerage fee.
Our realtor never once tried to get us to pay more. In fact she suggested that we have the vendor reduce the price by the cost of a new gas fireplace insert, as the had damaged the existing fireplace.