Buying without agent

CNeufeld wrote: ↑ Why would you? The seller is paying the commissions, and their agreement with their agent probably gives the extra commission to the selling agent if that agent is doing the work for both buyer and seller. You may be able to negotiate some kind of deal, but probably not as much as you might wish.

C

ranjeet2000 wrote: ↑ Has anyone tried buying a home without agent? What are you experiences?

pkrash wrote: ↑ No problem. Saved money.
You need a lawyer anyway to protect your interests.

pkrash wrote: ↑ No problem. Saved money.
You need a lawyer anyway to protect your interests.

mrbizi wrote: ↑ How do you know you saved money? If you have a skilled realtor (and someone you can trust) working for you, he can provide you with accurate relevant comparables to make sure you don't overpay. He can also help you negotiate and ask for the repair of deficiencies found during the inspection, saving you $$$. I know people who went solo and either did not get these repairs done either because they did not ask for it or asked for too much and/or for the wrong things.

And as someone said earlier, you not being represented by an agent, doesn't mean the seller will pay less in commissions and therefore you getting a lower price.

mrbizi wrote: ↑ How do you know you saved money? If you have a skilled realtor (and someone you can trust) working for you, he can provide you with accurate relevant comparables to make sure you don't overpay. He can also help you negotiate and ask for the repair of deficiencies found during the inspection, saving you $$$. I know people who went solo and either did not get these repairs done either because they did not ask for it or asked for too much and/or for the wrong things.

And as someone said earlier, you not being represented by an agent, doesn't mean the seller will pay less in commissions and therefore you getting a lower price.

ranjeet2000 wrote: ↑ i will definitely use a lawyer.
Do you have a lawyer you recommend?

mrbizi wrote: ↑ How do you know you saved money? If you have a skilled realtor (and someone you can trust) working for you, he can provide you with accurate relevant comparables to make sure you don't overpay. He can also help you negotiate and ask for the repair of deficiencies found during the inspection, saving you $$$. I know people who went solo and either did not get these repairs done either because they did not ask for it or asked for too much and/or for the wrong things.

And as someone said earlier, you not being represented by an agent, doesn't mean the seller will pay less in commissions and therefore you getting a lower price.

ayufan wrote: ↑ if you can find a good agent that is truly knowledgeable and serve your best interest (less than 5% agents out there).. then yes, they are better.

I AGREE. BUT NOT TOO DIFFERENT FROM SAY LOOKING FOR A CONTRACTOR TO FINISH YOUR BASEMENT. SOME ARE TOTAL SLEAZEBAGS AND A FEW WILL DO A GREAT JOB FOR YOU AND EVEN SAVE YOU MONEY.

With comparable sale prices easily accessible via websites. you can negotiate buy the house just as good as an agent.

NOT SURE ABOUT THIS. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT ACCESS TO DATA, IT'S ABOUT THE ABILITY TO INTERPRET THE DATA. A SKILLED REALTOR CAN HELP YOU WITH THIS.

In my opinion.. real estate agents itself is a conflict of interest.. the higher the sale price .. the higher the sales commission for both agents

AGAIN, A GOOD AGENT WILL ALWAYS BE MINDFUL OF HIS FIDUCIARY OBLIGATIONS TO HIS CLIENT. ALTHOUGH IT IS TRUE THAT THE HIGHER THE PRICE, THE MORE COMMISSION AN AGENT MAKES - THE GOAL OF A GOOD AGENT IS TO GET A FAIR DEAL FOR HIS CLIENT WHILE PROTECTING THE CLIENT's INTERESTS.

An agent know their negotiating skill via experience.. with a slow housing market now, you can practice your negotiating skill the same way.

Also, an agent will not be as detailed as you would like. i.e.
- future development in the area
- zoning inquiry on barren land
- school rankings
- demographics (detail)
- transportation (route to go to work, public transit, congestion info, etc)
- quality of home , things that needs to repair

SOME OF THESE MIGHT BE TRUE. SO ASIDE FROM FINDING A SKILLED AND TRUSTWORTHY AGENT, THERE ARE OBVIOUS BENEFITS TO HIRING AN AGENT WHO KNOWS THE LOCAL MARKET WELL.

just these little things.. majority of the agents out there would not bother to check for you nor will they even do a better job than you.

As for contract... a few clause you may wish to cross off.. .. remember.. all changes on a contract needs to be initialed or sign.

Lastly.. All contracts needs to be READ by whomever that signs it it's not alot of pages.



For a 1MM house.. if you buy without an agent. at least the seller save 2-2.5%.. that's 20k there.. let's say you get it for 15k cheaper... it's still something you get from doing your homework that is ultimately allowing you to make a proper decision.

AGAIN, YOU ARE ASSUMING THAT BY GOING SOLO, YOU WILL GET A PRICE BREAK. IN MANY CASES, GOING SOLO MEANS THE LISTING AGENT JUST "DOUBLE-ENDS" THE DEAL, WITHOUT ANY BENEFIT TO YOU.

think about it this way, when you buy a car... did you just go and TRUST the sales person and buy the car without reading nor understanding anything? Many people read on the car website about features and all..


Lastly... an agent is only good because they took courses and have experience in Buying/selling house. Their knowledge in real estate is only better than you because many buyers didn't bother reading news, following trend, and doing their homework.

Finally, a house is the biggest investment in anyone's life.. most people take 30 years to pay off the house... the mortgage payment is usually the biggest re-occuring cashflow item in your account. finding an agent or not.. it's up to you.. but ultimately, you should do all your research by yourself because an agent wouldn't do it for you nor will they do a decent job.

I AGREE WITH ALL OF THIS. YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE. AND A GOOD AGENT WILL ADD VALUE TO YOUR SEARCH AND PURCHASE.

Good Luck

CNeufeld wrote: ↑ Why would you?

CNeufeld wrote: ↑ Why would you? The seller is paying the commissions, and their agreement with their agent probably gives the extra commission to the selling agent if that agent is doing the work for both buyer and seller. You may be able to negotiate some kind of deal, but probably not as much as you might wish.

C

CNeufeld wrote: ↑ We were out shopping for our house about 2 years ago now. Our agent spent a lot of time putting together Saturday tours for us; multiple times, he coordinated viewings of 10+ houses on a single day. We did sign a BRA with him when we put together our first offer, but after that fell through, he stuck with us for probably 6 weeks of intense searching.

In the end, I got a notification (through the search our realtor configured for us in their system) before it hit the MLS website. I got the notification around 10am, we drove by it by noon, we did a viewing by 4, and had a verbally committed offer by 6. If we hadn't had an agent and were dependent on seeing it on the MLS site, I (and our agent) felt strongly that we would have gotten into a multiple offer situation the next day, as they already had several viewings booked, and it was well priced in a great neighborhood.

Just something to consider...

C

Furcorn wrote: ↑ What are you asking us to consider? Here's a summary of your post:

Buyer did not want to put any effort into research or legwork, so [blah, blah].

CNeufeld wrote: ↑ We were out shopping for our house about 2 years ago now. Our agent spent a lot of time putting together Saturday tours for us; multiple times, he coordinated viewings of 10+ houses on a single day. We did sign a BRA with him when we put together our first offer, but after that fell through, he stuck with us for probably 6 weeks of intense searching.

In the end, I got a notification (through the search our realtor configured for us in their system) before it hit the MLS website. I got the notification around 10am, we drove by it by noon, we did a viewing by 4, and had a verbally committed offer by 6. If we hadn't had an agent and were dependent on seeing it on the MLS site, I (and our agent) felt strongly that we would have gotten into a multiple offer situation the next day, as they already had several viewings booked, and it was well priced in a great neighborhood.

Just something to consider...

C