What's the best way to find a house before it goes on the market?

[Anonymous]

We got our house bc the seller contacted our realtor and said he wanted to sell as-is and didn't want to go to market. It was exactly what we were looking for, so we sent him an offer and he accepted the same day. Dream come true after losing six houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We listed our house as coming soon and it only showed up in MLS. Only Realtors had access. We were under contract with multiple offers before it ever hit redfin/Zillow.

Do people who aren't realtors really capitalize the "R" in realtor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We listed our house as coming soon and it only showed up in MLS. Only Realtors had access. We were under contract with multiple offers before it ever hit redfin/Zillow.

Do people who aren't realtors really capitalize the "R" in realtor?

Autocorrect. Apparently apple is in the pocket of the industry!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be great to avoid a realtor and competition from other buyers if possible, wouldn't it?

What's the best way to find someone who is preparing to sell, but hasn't yet listed...neighborhood listserv? asking on dcum?

We're looking in N Arlington, which I know is a hot area, but I see houses in the sales records all the time that were never listed on the market. How does one find these gems?

Why do you want to avoid a Realtor? That sounds like it would be completely contrary to your stated goal.

OP here. I don't have any intention of getting into an anti-realtor thread, but my personal opinion is that I'm my own best agent acting in my own best interests. If a realtor is not bringing a buyer and seller together, I'm not sure I see the value added to the transaction. I know a few good lawyers who deal in real estate transactions, and they should be sufficient to navigate the paperwork.

Same. We purchased without a realtor because we came across a "coming soon" sign. Recently closed another real estate transaction and I found dealing with the realtor incredibly frustrating. Would have been easier to go directly through the other agent or work with the buyer directly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Write individual letters to people who own houses in which you are interested. Arlington is fairly transient and you should be able to find someone who will sell directly to you.

I am a real estate agent, and I do this all the time for my clients.

Really? PP here. In our neighborhood, we seem to get a lot of these letters, and we throw them away. I think perhaps the realtors don't always target well (maybe you do, but that is not always the case). Point being, the letters are kind of annoying. I know you are taking a shot in the dark, but the letters turn a lot of people off.

Agree. I often pick up those postcards at houses I have on the market or have recently sold. People also give them to me on listing appointments. The reason I seem to be successful in doing this in Arlington is that I am a well known agent with a good amount of credibility. The other agents often work for builders who are looking for tear downs or are new to the business and trying to generate activity.

[Anonymous]

We bought our house in N Arlington last year from someone we knew. Spread the word among your friends that you are looking. Our next door neighbors told us a few months ago they were going to sell and asked if we knew anyone interested. We didn't know anyone looking so it went on the market and sold pretty quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be great to avoid a realtor and competition from other buyers if possible, wouldn't it?

What's the best way to find someone who is preparing to sell, but hasn't yet listed...neighborhood listserv? asking on dcum?

We're looking in N Arlington, which I know is a hot area, but I see houses in the sales records all the time that were never listed on the market. How does one find these gems?

Why do you want to avoid a Realtor? That sounds like it would be completely contrary to your stated goal.

OP here. I don't have any intention of getting into an anti-realtor thread, but my personal opinion is that I'm my own best agent acting in my own best interests. If a realtor is not bringing a buyer and seller together, I'm not sure I see the value added to the transaction. I know a few good lawyers who deal in real estate transactions, and they should be sufficient to navigate the paperwork.

Except that evidently you don't know where to begin to bring a buyer and seller together. That's what a Realtor does. Have you ever bought and sold a house?

Op here. Yep. 4 times. And each time the realtor has failed to show me that they added value to the transaction. I'm sorry to say that I'm not terribly impressed by the folks I've met who share your profession.

I was just curious if people had ideas beyond the obvious. There's some good thoughts here, and I'll continue to look to meet a seller on my own.

pp here.

I must say, OP, you sound like a complete and total ass. Real estate is *not* my profession, and I can promise you based on our limited interaction here that you are most definitely NOT your own best agent. If you behave in any way, shape or form even remotely as arrogantly as you come across here, you're probably ineffective.

I mean, you come on here admitting you don't know how to make a market in North Arlington and summarily reject the most obvious way to do it and then act all put-upon when that's pointed out. Dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sold my house on my neighborhood listserv. I put up the post and people forwarded it onto their friends that were looking in the neighborhood.

I think I put it up at 1pm on a Friday and we had people coming to see by 3pm. We have worked out all the details via email by Sunday and on Monday we had a RE atty draw up the actual contract.

How does this help OP? Are most neighborhood listserves open to non-neighbors? I doubt it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We listed our house as coming soon and it only showed up in MLS. Only Realtors had access. We were under contract with multiple offers before it ever hit redfin/Zillow.

Do people who aren't realtors really capitalize the "R" in realtor?

Writers and copy editors would. Anyone in professional writing. It's like Coke or Jeep -- it's actually a proper noun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be great to avoid a realtor and competition from other buyers if possible, wouldn't it?

What's the best way to find someone who is preparing to sell, but hasn't yet listed...neighborhood listserv? asking on dcum?

We're looking in N Arlington, which I know is a hot area, but I see houses in the sales records all the time that were never listed on the market. How does one find these gems?

Why do you want to avoid a Realtor? That sounds like it would be completely contrary to your stated goal.

OP here. I don't have any intention of getting into an anti-realtor thread, but my personal opinion is that I'm my own best agent acting in my own best interests. If a realtor is not bringing a buyer and seller together, I'm not sure I see the value added to the transaction. I know a few good lawyers who deal in real estate transactions, and they should be sufficient to navigate the paperwork.

I don't disagree with you. The problem is with the bolded and when the seller feels the same way but also wants to FSBO- FSBO clients tend to price unrealistically so it is often harder to get them to wake up and come to terms with what is an appropriate offer. We've had it work, but we've also had to cut our losses and walk away when a FSBO thinks that no realtor means his home has something special and he can jack up the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be great to avoid a realtor and competition from other buyers if possible, wouldn't it?

What's the best way to find someone who is preparing to sell, but hasn't yet listed...neighborhood listserv? asking on dcum?

We're looking in N Arlington, which I know is a hot area, but I see houses in the sales records all the time that were never listed on the market. How does one find these gems?

Why do you want to avoid a Realtor? That sounds like it would be completely contrary to your stated goal.

OP here. I don't have any intention of getting into an anti-realtor thread, but my personal opinion is that I'm my own best agent acting in my own best interests. If a realtor is not bringing a buyer and seller together, I'm not sure I see the value added to the transaction. I know a few good lawyers who deal in real estate transactions, and they should be sufficient to navigate the paperwork.

Except that evidently you don't know where to begin to bring a buyer and seller together. That's what a Realtor does. Have you ever bought and sold a house?

Op here. Yep. 4 times. And each time the realtor has failed to show me that they added value to the transaction. I'm sorry to say that I'm not terribly impressed by the folks I've met who share your profession.

I was just curious if people had ideas beyond the obvious. There's some good thoughts here, and I'll continue to look to meet a seller on my own.

pp here.

I must say, OP, you sound like a complete and total ass. Real estate is *not* my profession, and I can promise you based on our limited interaction here that you are most definitely NOT your own best agent. If you behave in any way, shape or form even remotely as arrogantly as you come across here, you're probably ineffective.

I mean, you come on here admitting you don't know how to make a market in North Arlington and summarily reject the most obvious way to do it and then act all put-upon when that's pointed out. Dumb.

OP here. I'm sorry to get you riled up. That certainly wasn't my intention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be great to avoid a realtor and competition from other buyers if possible, wouldn't it?

What's the best way to find someone who is preparing to sell, but hasn't yet listed...neighborhood listserv? asking on dcum?

We're looking in N Arlington, which I know is a hot area, but I see houses in the sales records all the time that were never listed on the market. How does one find these gems?

Why do you want to avoid a Realtor? That sounds like it would be completely contrary to your stated goal.

OP here. I don't have any intention of getting into an anti-realtor thread, but my personal opinion is that I'm my own best agent acting in my own best interests. If a realtor is not bringing a buyer and seller together, I'm not sure I see the value added to the transaction. I know a few good lawyers who deal in real estate transactions, and they should be sufficient to navigate the paperwork.

Except that evidently you don't know where to begin to bring a buyer and seller together. That's what a Realtor does. Have you ever bought and sold a house?

Op here. Yep. 4 times. And each time the realtor has failed to show me that they added value to the transaction. I'm sorry to say that I'm not terribly impressed by the folks I've met who share your profession.

I was just curious if people had ideas beyond the obvious. There's some good thoughts here, and I'll continue to look to meet a seller on my own.

pp here.

I must say, OP, you sound like a complete and total ass. Real estate is *not* my profession, and I can promise you based on our limited interaction here that you are most definitely NOT your own best agent. If you behave in any way, shape or form even remotely as arrogantly as you come across here, you're probably ineffective.

I mean, you come on here admitting you don't know how to make a market in North Arlington and summarily reject the most obvious way to do it and then act all put-upon when that's pointed out. Dumb.

I'm sure there are many of us on this site who have experienced an agent not working in our best interest. Isn't necessarily correlated with how big of an ass you are or aren't.

Example. Just a few weeks ago my agent contacted me a day before closing telling me the buyer's agent hadn't submitted the requested repairs to her the correct way. While our agent received the repairs, she thought it was just the list from the inspection report. Did she reach out to the buyer to clarify? Nope. Instead I had to have a contractor go through at the last minute and then pay for the repairs. It put me at a disadvantage.

Had the buyers agent sent me a confusing email about repairs I would have followed up and figured out what was going on. The repairs would have either been negotiated or done well before closing.

The problem with using an agent is you have little control over what is said to the other agent. I think op just prefers to do the work himself so he doesn't have to worry about messages being misconstrued or things being messed up. I understand completely.

[Anonymous]

Here's the thing, OP - as a buyer, having no agent doesn't help you, because its the seller who pays the agent (via your purchase.) As such, you are really looking to find a SELLER who doesn't want to use an agent... which is going to be a very small market and full of FSBOs who may be hard to deal with and have unrealistic expectations. In the market you're talking about, there's not a huge incentive not to involve an agent for the seller since things are going into price wars all the time.

What I am saying here is that you are really limiting the potential pool of houses to a really, really small number. You're potentially passing up houses you might like a lot better, that work better for your family etc.

You might be very different, but I would hate to buy a house simply because it was one of the handful sold without an agent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's the thing, OP - as a buyer, having no agent doesn't help you, because its the seller who pays the agent (via your purchase.) As such, you are really looking to find a SELLER who doesn't want to use an agent... which is going to be a very small market and full of FSBOs who may be hard to deal with and have unrealistic expectations. In the market you're talking about, there's not a huge incentive not to involve an agent for the seller since things are going into price wars all the time.

What I am saying here is that you are really limiting the potential pool of houses to a really, really small number. You're potentially passing up houses you might like a lot better, that work better for your family etc.

You might be very different, but I would hate to buy a house simply because it was one of the handful sold without an agent.

For the love of God. The real estate commission is baked into the cost of the house. Op would certainly be paying for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sold my house on my neighborhood listserv. I put up the post and people forwarded it onto their friends that were looking in the neighborhood.

I think I put it up at 1pm on a Friday and we had people coming to see by 3pm. We have worked out all the details via email by Sunday and on Monday we had a RE atty draw up the actual contract.

How does this help OP? Are most neighborhood listserves open to non-neighbors? I doubt it.

Listservs are very helpful. People in the neighborhood forward them to people they know who are looking for houses. I also have clients post my listings on the MONA listserv. That is very helpful.