Using an Agent?

The Law of AGency has been changed in a lot of states, and I'm not sure if anything unusual applies in Ohio.  But you should understand that an agent has to put the client's interests first, obey the client's instructions, keep the client's information confidential, report to the client anything that would be useful in the negotiations. All that, the seller's agent owes to the seller.  The seller's agent also has a legal (fiduciary duty) to get the highest possible price for the property.
On the other halnd, the buyer, who is legally known simply as a customer, is entitled to only one thing from the seller's agent-- honest treatment.  Honest treatment might include things like "I can't tell if they'll take less, the seller wants me to keep it confidential." 
If you specifically retained your own buyer's agent, on the other hand, you'd have someone legally obligated to put your interests first, someone who owed you all those fiduciary duties.
In most cases, the seller and the seller's agent have already agreed that the commission could be shared with another brokerage that might produce the eventual buyer.  So in most cases, your agent will, in the end, by paid by the seller anyhow, even though working for you.
Of course, if you ended up buying from a seller who hadn't agreed to that, you'd be liable for whatever fee you had promised your agent.  But it would still probably be worth it.