I have an old friend (Jeff and I went to Lincoln Elementary School together, and then re-connected on FaceBook.) who moved away from Arizona years ago and now wants to come back home.
Just for the fun of it (and with his permission) I thought that I would publish a portion of one of our email conversations, suitably edited.
I find that out-of-state clients have a hard time with our Wild West - we do things very differently in Arizona than they do in the normal world.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet my friend Jeff.

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Carol;
You have been exceptionally considerate with your help and advice and I sincerely appreciate it. I have another question. We found a particular house on the internet that we're very interested in, but we want more info about it. Being the frugal Scot that I am it occurs to me that if we go directly to the listing agent we could dramatically reduce commissions. I expect to have an attorney go over everything anyway so not having an agent of our own doesn't seem to be that bad an idea...I would expect it would mean having the attorney a little more involved, but not 3% worth. I'd appreciate your advice. If we really need an agent, should we get them involved before asking any questions of the listing agent? I'm going nuts with all of this stuff. Here's the house we're looking at. (Link to realtor.com) It doesn't say "Fixer-upper" but there's got to be more to the story.

Jeff! You're being too polite - you make me nervous. That is an absolutely freakin gorgeous home! Yes, something might be afoot. It's probably a short sale, but I can't know because it's not in my stomping grounds.
As to your question:
Arizona is different from every state in the union in the fact that the REALTORS® can write legal contracts with no need for lawyers. As a result, most lawyers do not understand real estate law. Seriously.
Generally, the Buyer does not ever pay commission - the seller pays the list agent X percent and the list agent theoretically splits that with the Buyer's agent. So your plan is to say to the list agent "We will go into this deal unrepresented, and in return we will expect a price discount of the commission that would have gone to our representative?"
Maybe in the real world, but not Arizona - the thought makes the hair on the back of my neck go up. If somebody said that to me I would refuse to work with them, and here's why: liability. I don't care how many disclaimers you sign you will sooner or later try to sue me if I let you continue without representation, especially since you are obviously no longer from here. (Kidding. Mostly.) The other option is dual agency, which also is legal in Arizona. Unless the REALTOR® is very, very good I wouldn't go there, either.
The best plan is to find a local agent that you trust to negotiate the price down enough to make up for their commission. I know good agents all over the state who will get to the bottom of "What's up?" with that house, and who will take good care of you tenderfoots.
Hire an agent first and have them talk to the list agent.

The more I look at that area the more questions I have. That seems to be about the right price for the area so now I'm wondering what's wrong with the area? There wasn't an Indian burial ground there or a nuclear test or something was there? Our feet are indeed tender so how about pointing us at an agent who can hold our hands. It looks like the best deals are in that Northwest area and down in Buckeye. We're not completely opposed to Buckeye, but we prefer North. My family is in Prescott and at I-17 and Thunderbird. We also have to consider that my wife is going to need a job and won't want a long commute. The final consideration is that I will probably have to fly out of Sky Harbor fairly frequently...So, who do you know who can cover all of the bases and knows if they're getting 3-headed toads out of the canals near El Mirage?Thanks. Really.