100% agree the whole process sucks... but the industry built a moat by requiring credentials through legislation. Y/C actually has some companies trying to solve it. Here's a couple of my tricks though:
You can cut down on fees by finding the home on your own (zillow/redfin/etc) and using the sellers realtor (unless they have a conflict of interest) tell them you'll give them 1% or a flat fee instead of the other half of the deal (saving you ~1.5%). There are also flat fee realtors which will do it for like $1K - $3K depending. They just end up doing the paperwork for it.
You can also go "off market" (sounds like thats not what you're talking about though) - theres actually a separate wholesale market you can look into (e.g. https://lafixers.com/) and of course auction. You can reach out to property managers as well who will often know of properties that large landlords may be turning soon.
To cut through the mortgage shopping you can use a person that shops for you. It's usually fixed price for a couple hundred bucks but will save you tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars (e.g. we used - https://danthemanformortgages.com/). Personally I found it to be super helpful because they can consult with you about the deal and teach you the process since mortgage brokers are sales people the same way realtors are.
You can cut down on fees by finding the home on your own (zillow/redfin/etc) and using the sellers realtor (unless they have a conflict of interest) tell them you'll give them 1% or a flat fee instead of the other half of the deal (saving you ~1.5%). There are also flat fee realtors which will do it for like $1K - $3K depending. They just end up doing the paperwork for it.
You can also go "off market" (sounds like thats not what you're talking about though) - theres actually a separate wholesale market you can look into (e.g. https://lafixers.com/) and of course auction. You can reach out to property managers as well who will often know of properties that large landlords may be turning soon.
To cut through the mortgage shopping you can use a person that shops for you. It's usually fixed price for a couple hundred bucks but will save you tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars (e.g. we used - https://danthemanformortgages.com/). Personally I found it to be super helpful because they can consult with you about the deal and teach you the process since mortgage brokers are sales people the same way realtors are.
Good Luck