The most important thing an agent gives you is to list your house on MLS (Multiple Listing Service - mls.ca), where most people search for houses. In theory, you can sell your house on your own. A friend of mine paid an agent $1000 to list his house on MLS and sold the house all on his own. You can sell through places like bytheowner.com which charges you a fixed amount and provides some basic services. It's probably safer to use an agent when you sell a house. However, I don't see any reason at all to engage an agent when buying a house.