There is another thought I had about this. The number of hours it took the agent to become excellent. If I'm hiring a handyman, I want a guy who has done and seen it all, who will know to ask me questions on details I didn't consider or know about. If I design a custom made shelf, I want the guy who will look at the plans and instantly realize I didn't put a back on it and ask me about it, to which I will say it is for better ventilation for my kids consoles. Then he will tell me that if there is no back, it is going to be flimsy, then he'll suggest some corner brackets or strips across the back at strategic places to secure the entire thing together and make it stable.
Same deal with a real estate transaction. I want to be able to tell the guy why I want a property, what I will use it for, and then he can help me avoid things like buying a property at the edge of town where he knows there is a good chance that property will be close to a new dump because the old one is approaching capacity, or some city ordinance that will prevent me from doing what I want to. Shit like that.