Exactly lots of people want the experience of the salesman in picking a house, information on the neighbours and what its like to leave there & why the previous person is getting rid of it.
The HN bias is a bit like the salesman is the inefficient part disincentivized to help you and trying to rip you off.
The salesman is incentivized to screw you. They work on commission so the faster they can move houses, the better. Real estate agents are screwing both the buyer (feed you bullshit to get you to buy) and the seller (convince to back off of higher prices because the 0-15% difference in price isn't worth the weeks more effort on their commission).
Like a restaurant though, if they were bad at their job they wouldn't attract new clients. Under a HN analogy if they screwed clients they'd have a 0 rating and lose future clients.
The assumption you have is they are simply a market matcher but they're offering more than that.
Their incentive is to get the highest possible sale price in the shortest amount of time and a good reputation. That high price has to also be clearable meaning it cannot be just up in the air and seemingly arbitrary (it can cost either time or reputation).
Without them there is much more information asymmetry. Using an online version you basically have access to the same information you would as with them but without the human element to judge through nor their experience on offer.
This is not true. Some professions are based on screwing the current client and moving on to the next one. How many times do you get to buy a house? This is why most people use an agent to sell their house. They can lie without seeming they're lying (sorry was unaware of xyz...that's what the owner told me)
The incentive for the agent is actually highest cash in down payment because they don't want to deal with the bank to get their money plus they get to keep the down payment if the buyer pulls out.
Perhaps things are different internationally, but if word got out that agents from the estate agencies I work with were regularly screwing buyers, they'd sink quickly.
> plus they get to keep the down payment if the buyer pulls out.
The HN bias is a bit like the salesman is the inefficient part disincentivized to help you and trying to rip you off.