A recent post at Rain City Guide prompted me to write my own feelings on this subject. While the bulk of the blog written doesn't have a lot to do with the title, some of it did (mostly the last three paragraphs). And I couldn't disagree more.
One of the more important roles of a Buyer's agent is to negotiate. Among other things, sure. Yes, your agent should be able to tell you which homes are overpriced, and how overpriced they are. That's a given. But we do negotiate – and some of us do it very well. And we do it on more things that people know about. Price, inspection, contractual timelines, etc. Everything that is filled out in a typical purchase and sale are points of negotiation that determine how the transaction will play out. Every conversation that the agents have with each other matters to the transaction. It's all negotiation, and if you have an agent that doesn't know how to do this effectively, it will matter!
I don't want to get into all of the other things that we do as Buyer's agents, the list is too long and not pertinent to what I am trying to point out. Point is, negotiations are a huge role of a Buyer's agent. Interview your agents, you have a lot of options. Make sure they can do it and do it well.