Agents Who Represent Themselves May Have a Fool for a Client

Our E&O policy actually has a clause that gives the insurer an out if the agent represents themselves and there is a problem. I'd think that alone would make most people stop and think, but in my office agents still do self representation. 

A lot of what your stating is not only true in residential but also commercial realty.

I could not have agreed with you more!! I have worked with an agent that represented her own home, that was not fun.

I'll give you a perspective from a home inspectors point of view.

If I happen to be inspecting a home and the seller is at home but not an agent, I will ask questions about the home and get information that can be useful. The seller is usually forthright and willing to disclose and at times even add more information then I asked for.

If the seller is at home and is also the listing agent, it is like pulling teeth when I ask a question. I have inspected homes where the listing agent is the homeowner. I would say that in 75% of those inspections  I was treated as a district attorney trying to get to the bottom of a crime. The three answers to any question I ask is usually, yes, no, I don't know.

Agents here are getting more and more into the habit of not representing themselves.
I certainly would not put my own house on the market. 
I would like to have a Professional Realtor :) represent me, negotiate on my behalf and deal with the other agent and buyers, if necessary.  It's like having a 'shield' between me and the buyer.  I think it will be less stressful and less emotional (or at minimum, it will help me keep my cool, because I know, without a doubt, I will behave as a typical seller.  It is my house, after all.)
I think the E&O Insurance likes it better that way too.

great points - and you are right we often see our home differently than others do and we are busy - do we have time for our own houses?

I have always heard your E&O does not cover you when you list your own home. Not sure if that is absolute or not. Anyway, when you draw the parallels to doctors and lawyers, hiring a good realtor starts to make sense. Besides, how are you to be unemotional about your very own property? Aloha from Kauai

I think you are on the right track, Randy.  I did however, sell my own home four years ago.  What I did first was to consult on listing price with my manager and two other agents in my office.  And then I said I wouldn't do my own open houses. I got lucky, it was at a time when supply was down, and then I set the listing price where it should have been.  I would not have, under any circumstances, handled a buyer myself.  I'm not saying no one should, I just know it would not have worked for me.

Randy,

Excellent points.  I was literally just thinking about the subject the other day.  Even though we are professionals, I think it is good idea to remove ourselves from the emotional attachment and practice what we preach.