Buying · Massachusetts
Do you need a realtor to buy a house in Massachusetts?
No. Massachusetts does not require a buyer to be represented by an agent. It does require an attorney to conduct the closing, which is a different thing and often confused with it. Whether going unrepresented is sensible depends on what you would be taking on, and that is worth setting out plainly rather than arguing about.
Ask Devarshi about your situationThe short answer, and the one thing that is required.
You are not required to use a buyer's agent in Massachusetts. You are required to close through an attorney — the state does not use escrow or title companies for this — and that attorney is a legal requirement rather than an optional convenience.
The attorney requirement catches people relocating from states where a title company handles closing. In Massachusetts an attorney conducts it, commonly at a flat fee in the region of $750 to $1,250 for a straightforward purchase. That cost exists whether or not you have an agent.
Note also that your lender's attorney is not your attorney. On a financed purchase the lender engages counsel to protect the lender's interest, and buyers sometimes assume that person is looking after them. Engaging your own is a separate decision, and a more important one if you are unrepresented.
Beyond that, nothing compels you to have an agent. Buyers do purchase unrepresented, and some do it well.
What you are taking on without one.
Finding listings is the easy part and portals handle it. The work you absorb is pricing judgement, offer strategy, managing the short window between accepted offer and purchase and sale agreement, and having nobody whose duty runs to you.
Start with the last of those, because it is structural rather than practical. The listing agent represents the seller. Their duties of loyalty, confidentiality and advocacy run to the seller, and anything you disclose about your budget or your enthusiasm is information they are professionally obliged to use in their client's interest. Unrepresented does not mean neutrally assisted.
Then the sequence. Massachusetts runs on two contracts — a signed offer, then a purchase and sale agreement executed within roughly a week or two — with the inspection generally sitting in the gap. Managing that window against a deadline that does not move, while coordinating an inspector, an attorney and the other side, is the part that goes wrong for people doing it for the first time.
And pricing. Portal estimates are models, not appraisals, and they are least reliable exactly where Greater Boston is most unusual: converted multifamily, small condominium associations, and towns where the residential exemption changes carrying cost materially.
When going unrepresented is a reasonable call.
It is most defensible when you have bought before in the same market, the transaction is simple, and you have an attorney engaged early. It is least defensible on a first purchase, a condominium with documents to review, or any competitive situation.
The strongest case is a repeat buyer purchasing a single-family home in a town they know, from a motivated seller, without competition. There the work is mostly procedural, an attorney covers the legal exposure, and the money saved is real.
The weakest case is a first purchase in a market moving quickly, or a condominium — much of Greater Boston's inventory — where a document set needs reading and a small association's deferred maintenance is spread across very few units.
One correction to a common assumption: not using a buyer's agent does not automatically put the seller's would-be contribution in your pocket. Whether a seller reduces the price by what they would have contributed is a negotiation, and the seller may simply keep it. How the compensation actually flows is worth understanding before you assume a saving.
Questions about buying without an agent.
Is a realtor legally required in Massachusetts?
No. No law requires a buyer to be represented. What Massachusetts does require is that an attorney conduct the closing, which is a separate obligation and applies whether or not you have an agent.
Will I save money?
Possibly, but less automatically than people expect. Since 2024 a buyer agrees compensation with their own agent, so going unrepresented removes that cost. It does not follow that a seller will reduce their price by what they would have contributed — that is something you would have to negotiate, against a seller who has their own agent advising them.
Can the listing agent just handle both sides?
They can, but that is dual agency, it requires informed written consent from both parties under 254 CMR 3.00(13)(b), and a dual agent cannot advocate on price for either side. You would be choosing a neutral intermediary rather than gaining a free advocate.
Can my attorney do what an agent would?
Partly. An attorney handles the legal exposure — the purchase and sale agreement, title, the closing itself — and that is the part with the most severe downside. What an attorney generally does not do is pricing judgement, offer strategy, showing coordination, or negotiating inspection findings.
For a simple transaction that division can be enough. Engage them earlier than you otherwise would.
What about buying new construction directly from a builder?
The sales representative at a new-construction site works for the builder, on the builder's contract, which is typically drafted in the builder's favour. Buyers often assume the absence of a traditional listing agent means the absence of a counterparty. It does not.
What about a for-sale-by-owner?
Two unrepresented parties and no agent on either side is workable but puts more weight on both attorneys. Expect a slower process and be particularly careful about the disclosure and inspection sequence, since nobody involved does this routinely.
Can I start unrepresented and get an agent later?
Usually yes, but engage them before you have toured properties or begun negotiating on one. An agent asked to step into a transaction already in motion has less to work with, and a seller's agent may reasonably argue that they introduced the property. Since you would sign a representation agreement at that point, read the scope and protection-period terms carefully.
Sources
Every figure on this page is reproduced from the source listed against it, for orientation rather than as advice. Massachusetts fiscal years roll on 1 July and municipalities republish on their own schedules, so confirm anything you plan to rely on before you rely on it.
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Corroborated across multiple Massachusetts brokerages
- National Association of Realtors settlement terms
- 254 CMR 3.00 — Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons
Last verified .
Weighing it up?
Describe the purchase — town, property type, whether there is competition — and Devarshi will tell you honestly whether it is one where representation earns its cost.