Should a get a license just to save the commission?

As an experience buyer, I would like to get buyer agents' share of commission (~3%) to myself by dealing with listing agent directly. With house prices high, this chunk of money is sizable. By searching the forum, I get the impression that it is hard to get the listing agent to give you that share of commission as credits at the closing.

 
I would challenge this impression.
 
The buyer is already committed to paying the commission should the sale go through with a buyers rep. Lowering the price by that commission amount is usually not a problem. The problem with credits at closing is usually with the lender and not the agent.
 
Lenders have been burned by people inflating the selling price, inflating the appraisal and financing 80% of the inflated purchase price. That's how you buy property with no money down and you can understand why it makes lenders nervous.
 
A commission check on the other hand is another thing entirely and is not questioned by the system.
 
There are three additional factors to take into consideration with this route, broker split, MLS fees and taxes. The broker split is usually not an issue and it is easy to find brokers that offer an 80/20 and 90/10 splits (usually for less service) and every broker that I have ever worked with has had an allowance of 'personal' transactions that have no split and a small fee (covering E&O and broker cost)
 
MLS fees and Realtor membership will set you back more than the education and broker fees and vary from place to place. You should be able to get an idea of these costs from your local association.
 
Commision money is money earned so you will be required to pay taxes on that commission (of course you will also earn yourself a bunch of deductions in the process also). You need to take into account these two costs in deciding whether getting a license is the right path for you.
 

I also did a search on how to get licensed to be a realtor. It is actually not that complicated. All I need is to get around 60 credit hours of real estate course, pass state license exam and I am licensed! It may take me less than 1000 bucks and a couple month to do. It is not that complicated at all.
 

Your actual out of pocket expenses will be the education fees plus state license fees.
 
I'm not sure where you are getting your figures but with online education you can probably get your education needs met between $2-$4 / hour credit.
 

After I get my state license, I can be the buyer's agent for myself (working as an independent real estate agent). Can I get the ~3% commission this way? I know I need to pay income tax on this commission. Am I missing anything here? Am I pipe dreaming somehow?
 

Yes you can. As others have mentioned you will have to deal with broker split which will vary depending on the deal you can cut.
 
Your expenses plus combined with the price of the house you purchase will determine whether this is a worthwhile enterprise. Personally, I feel that if you can break even financially on this it is worthwhile. The knowledge gained in getting your license will pay off long down the road if you plan on investing in real estate.
 
The thing that I think you are missing by focusing on the commission is the benefit gained from being able to look at your properties on your own, access MLS data directly and write your own contracts. This offers a greater potential than 3%, finding the best deal and crafting the best contract will net you a lot more than the commission.