No. No state requires a buyer to be represented by an agent, and buyers close without one every day; what an agent gives you is access, negotiation and somebody who has done it before, and since 2024 you have to agree in writing what that costs before they show you a house.
The word realtor is doing some work here. A Realtor is a member of the National Association of Realtors; a real estate agent is anybody licensed by the state; a broker is licensed to supervise agents. None of the three is legally required for a buyer, in any state.
What IS often required is somebody to handle the closing, and that is a different job: an escrow or title company in the western states, a closing attorney in several eastern ones. Skipping an agent does not mean skipping that.
What changed in 2024, and why it matters to your wallet
Buyer agents used to be paid, in practice, out of the commission the seller had already agreed with the listing brokerage, which made a buyer's agent look free and made the cost hard to see. Following the National Association of Realtors settlement, agents working with a buyer must have a written agreement with that buyer, signed before touring homes, stating what the agent is paid and how.
The practical result is that the fee is now a negotiation you are part of. The seller may still contribute, the buyer may pay directly, and the amount is not fixed by anybody. Read the agreement, and read the length of it: a twelve-month exclusive agreement is a different commitment from one covering a single house.
What an agent is actually worth
Three things, mostly. Access, because they see listings, price changes and off-market talk daily. Judgement about price, because they have watched a hundred negotiations and you have watched one. And project management through escrow, where a missed date has consequences and there are a lot of dates.
None of that is worth a fixed percentage of anything. It is worth what it is worth on your purchase, which is why the fee being negotiable is the useful part of what changed.
When going without makes sense
Buying from somebody you already know, buying new construction where the builder's own representative writes the contract, or buying an investment property you have priced yourself, in a market you already understand.
In every one of those, hire the specialists you did skip. A real estate lawyer to read the contract costs a fraction of a commission, and an inspector is not optional in any scenario.
Questions people ask
Is it cheaper to buy a house without a realtor?
It can be, and it is not automatic. The saving is whatever the buyer-side fee would have been, which is now negotiated rather than fixed. Against that, an unrepresented buyer who overpays by more than the fee has saved nothing.
Can I use the seller's agent to buy the house?
Sometimes, and it is worth understanding what you are agreeing to. The rules vary by state: some allow dual agency with written consent, some prohibit it. In dual agency the agent cannot advocate for both sides on price, so you gain convenience and lose an advocate.
Do I have to sign a buyer agreement before seeing a house?
If you are working with an agent, yes, in practice: since the 2024 settlement an agent must have a signed written agreement with a buyer before touring. Open houses you attend on your own are a different matter.