Buying without a realtor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you are exactly the type of person that would do well without a buyer agent. You research, you educate yourself and do your homework. You spent years studying the neighborhood. This is telling. I bet you know more about this neighborhood than most realtors.
Most people don’t do this and that’s why they need an agent to hold their hands. They don’t have time for this, are not willing to do things themselves or are simply incapable. That’s fine because not everyone is a DIYer. Some people find it more convenient to pay someone to deliver the service.
Realtors are not indispensable.

Some posters here claim that you cannot get a lower price or a split on commissions. This is laughable. They don’t know the dynamics of business transactions. If the total commissions is 6%, why would the seller agent prefer to pay 3% to a buyer agent rather than paying 1.5% to you? You may not get the full 3% unless the seller agent is desperate to close the deal because there are no other buyer in sight.
From a pure financial perspective, you’ll always get something from seller if you come without a buyer agent. The problem is often that sellers don’t trust buyers that aren’t represented. They fear the buyer wouldn’t be able to handle their side of the transaction. They would rather split the commissions with an agent that will handle the deal or keep all of it to cover the risks
It’s up to you the buyer to convince the seller agent that you have a plan and are capable of handling the transaction.

This is an interesting perspective. As a seller I actually prefer a buyer w an agent. My perception of buyers without agents is that they are cheap, think they know more than anyone else, and are going to ask for all sorts of nit picky things to save money. Not an ideal buyer unless their offer is as is, with only a financing contingency and informational inspection. But as a seller, I don’t particularly want to pay commission to the buyer. As I see it, without an agent, they might get a lower price so I don’t pay my agent as much, but I don’t see how to get out of the contractual obligation of paying 4-5% total, which my agent take. And if my agent pays the buyer, I would be pissed. Just my 2cents.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Are you waiving inspection? I think you need a realtor present for inspection, so either you hire one or waive it. If you waive all contingencies, I don’t see an issue. That said, we are getting ready to sell and I would prefer an offer from someone with a realtor, simply bc without senda the message you are more likely to nickel and dime the seller. Can you just use Redfin? I think they are 1%. Also, the commission percentage is written into the selling contract as a total percent, so if you have no realtor the full amount would go to the selling agent. So they are unlikely to lower the selling price, you have to ask for the commission to be refunded to you. Have you bought before? I would make sure you know what you are doing.

No, we are not waiving inspection. We would never buy the house without an inspection. What difference does it make if we don't have a realtor if we find our own inspector? We can get one through referral from others.

The house has sat on the market for a few months and the estate is looking to get rid of the house. We are not in a hot DC suburb but in the Baltimore suburbs. Properties don't move like they do in DC.

I mean most people will require you to have a licensed realtor present for inspection. They won’t just let you in their house with an inspector. Realistically, yo I are first time home buyers who are trying to save a buck. It’s good, in your case, that you aren’t in a hot market. Good luck.

OP here. Getting the 3% back is nice but not a dealbreaker.

If the only function of a realtor is to have someone present in the house during the inspection, then why is that worth 3% of the sale price? The estate would be paying that, not us, so it's not our money. We will be asking for full closing to start with and will probably end up with half the closing costs covered. The 3% back would be part of the negotiation over the closing costs.

I searched this topic in the archives and it seems like others have done this successfully. I'm not opposed to getting a realtor but it seems like we'd be giving the realtor free money for not very much work. I'm more concerned over your implication that we can't have a proper inspection without a realtor? Why would the listing agent refuse a qualified home inspector into the property if she wants to close the deal?

Because a licensed realtor has to be present, and if the listing agent is present then you are essentially asking him/her to dual represent you (which they cannot/should not do) and also work for free. The chance of you negotiating that full 3% back or applying it toward closing costs is slim. Most likely, there is a seller-side contract which says the listing agent will keep all or some of whatever percentage of total commission if there is no buyer’s agent.

You would be MUCH better off using a discount buyer’s agent who will give you back 1-2% of the 3% paid to the buyer side.

-Not a realtor

This is BS. I have never heard that. Maybe this is the law in DC? I doubt it. In any case in MD a realtor doesn’t need to be present for an inspection.

DP. Who’s going to let the inspector into he house if there’s no agent there to do it? Who’s going to be responsible for supervising the inspector to make sure there’s no damage/theft?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you waiving inspection? I think you need a realtor present for inspection, so either you hire one or waive it. If you waive all contingencies, I don’t see an issue. That said, we are getting ready to sell and I would prefer an offer from someone with a realtor, simply bc without senda the message you are more likely to nickel and dime the seller. Can you just use Redfin? I think they are 1%. Also, the commission percentage is written into the selling contract as a total percent, so if you have no realtor the full amount would go to the selling agent. So they are unlikely to lower the selling price, you have to ask for the commission to be refunded to you. Have you bought before? I would make sure you know what you are doing.

No, we are not waiving inspection. We would never buy the house without an inspection. What difference does it make if we don't have a realtor if we find our own inspector? We can get one through referral from others.

The house has sat on the market for a few months and the estate is looking to get rid of the house. We are not in a hot DC suburb but in the Baltimore suburbs. Properties don't move like they do in DC.

I mean most people will require you to have a licensed realtor present for inspection. They won’t just let you in their house with an inspector. Realistically, yo I are first time home buyers who are trying to save a buck. It’s good, in your case, that you aren’t in a hot market. Good luck.

OP here. Getting the 3% back is nice but not a dealbreaker.

If the only function of a realtor is to have someone present in the house during the inspection, then why is that worth 3% of the sale price? The estate would be paying that, not us, so it's not our money. We will be asking for full closing to start with and will probably end up with half the closing costs covered. The 3% back would be part of the negotiation over the closing costs.

I searched this topic in the archives and it seems like others have done this successfully. I'm not opposed to getting a realtor but it seems like we'd be giving the realtor free money for not very much work. I'm more concerned over your implication that we can't have a proper inspection without a realtor? Why would the listing agent refuse a qualified home inspector into the property if she wants to close the deal?

Because a licensed realtor has to be present, and if the listing agent is present then you are essentially asking him/her to dual represent you (which they cannot/should not do) and also work for free. The chance of you negotiating that full 3% back or applying it toward closing costs is slim. Most likely, there is a seller-side contract which says the listing agent will keep all or some of whatever percentage of total commission if there is no buyer’s agent.

You would be MUCH better off using a discount buyer’s agent who will give you back 1-2% of the 3% paid to the buyer side.

-Not a realtor

This is BS. I have never heard that. Maybe this is the law in DC? I doubt it. In any case in MD a realtor doesn’t need to be present for an inspection.

DP. Who’s going to let the inspector into he house if there’s no agent there to do it? Who’s going to be responsible for supervising the inspector to make sure there’s no damage/theft?

This, what seller or seller’s agent is going to allow that? Maybe elsewhere, but I can’t imagine any tolerance for that bs in the DC market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
DP. Who’s going to let the inspector into he house if there’s no agent there to do it? Who’s going to be responsible for supervising the inspector to make sure there’s no damage/theft?

The seller agent of course. That's part of his job. Stupid agents may not agree to it but most will to close the deal.
And please read this before you proclaim that buyer agents must always attend the home inspections.
http://www.workingre.com/should-agent-attend-home-inspection/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
DP. Who’s going to let the inspector into he house if there’s no agent there to do it? Who’s going to be responsible for supervising the inspector to make sure there’s no damage/theft?

The seller agent of course. That's part of his job. Stupid agents may not agree to it but most will to close the deal.
And please read this before you proclaim that buyer agents must always attend the home inspections.
http://www.workingre.com/should-agent-attend-home-inspection/

There are a few challenges with that. First, the seller's agent may not be willing to do you the favor of being present, and make require you to assume liability for the inspector if anything is damaged or goes missing during the inspection. And even if they are willing to do you the favor of being present, they may still require you to assume liability because they won't want to walk the property with the inspector and hear their comments (more below), and they may not be all that accommodating in the scheduling of the inspection. Second, a seller's agent anticipating that they'll have to do more work for an unrepresented buyer who's requiring an inspection may be less inclined to waive half the agent fee, so any discount you get may not be as much. Third, there is a real benefit to someone on the buyer's side being there during the inspection to discuss what the inspector is seeing, because not every detail will make it into the report so you may learn key details you'd miss otherwise. A seller's agent won't want to hear a word of the inspection report, though, because they don't want to be required to tell the seller, who then will have to disclose to the next buyer if your deal falls through. Therefore, the seller's agent won't be willing to discuss anything with the inspector, answer any questions, etc., and may require that any discussion between the inspector and buyer happen away from the house, which means the buyer will lose some of the benefit of the inspection.

[Anonymous]

I never had any issues working with seller's agent if I am representing myself. Infact, I know my friends who were able to split commission with their agent as a buyer. Everything is possible Just approach them and see what they say.

[Anonymous]

We have bought and sold houses without real estate agents and it worked for us. My son and daughter in law used a realtor when they bought a very expensive house and specifically did not want to use Redfin after researching it all carefully.

I think that buying a house without a realtor should save you 3 %. Selling a house without a realtor may save you 6 %. However you should keep your eyes wide open and depending on the market you may be better off with a buyer's agent.

[Anonymous]

Pick a title company, talk to them and they would give you a draft of the contract(or pick online) and would also look it over for free or a small fees as long as you are using them.

Done that a couple of times and it's pretty straight forward. After the contract is signed, just the inspection done and let title company handles all the business. You are going to save tons of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:believe OP stated that this is an estate sale, he just needs someone to do the paper work. we all know that high % of real estate agent's commission around these neck of the woods are unjustifiable. nothing against those buyer/sellers that leverages their agents to their best leverage but OP is literally just asking how to get the other 1/2 of the commission back. lets move along

Actually OP asked what they would need a RA for, which is what people are answering. I would say, for an estate sale, either buy as is for a low price or get someone in there who knows the neighborhood, can tell you the state of the house. Likely it had older owners who let it go and now has been sitting empty. OP’s questions suggest this is their first transaction, so they would benefit from someone to guide them, but their responses also indicate they are the type to go without an agent and probably irritate all involved. Good luck OP. Give us an update on how it goes.

Not to mention estate sales can be among the most complicated transactions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:believe OP stated that this is an estate sale, he just needs someone to do the paper work. we all know that high % of real estate agent's commission around these neck of the woods are unjustifiable. nothing against those buyer/sellers that leverages their agents to their best leverage but OP is literally just asking how to get the other 1/2 of the commission back. lets move along

Actually OP asked what they would need a RA for, which is what people are answering. I would say, for an estate sale, either buy as is for a low price or get someone in there who knows the neighborhood, can tell you the state of the house. Likely it had older owners who let it go and now has been sitting empty. OP’s questions suggest this is their first transaction, so they would benefit from someone to guide them, but their responses also indicate they are the type to go without an agent and probably irritate all involved. Good luck OP. Give us an update on how it goes.

Not to mention estate sales can be among the most complicated transactions.

We did an estate sale and it was simple. Our agent was worthless and not at the inspection or even closing. The title company did everything. Completely no need for an agent.

[Anonymous]

Our mortgage company offered to provide us with sample contracts and recommend inspectors if we wanted to avoid having a realtor and it's a highly regarded mortgage firm recommended often on here. The mortgage officer said it's pretty straightforward if everyone knows what they're doing.

You can always get a real estate lawyer to review/draft sales contracts. It's more legwork but if you and seller are in agreement both sides can save quite a bit of money.

[Anonymous]

It might be a straightforward sale but not necessarily. We also only got a realtor to negotiate a sale of our one preferred house (the only one she showed us) but it turned out to be a very complicated, ongoing negotiation mainly due to septic issues. That was where she earned her money in my opinion. Whether you use a realtor or not op, i would rid yourself of the idea of a likely simple acceptance of your first offer. Many thousands of dollars are involved. Expect complications and challenges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:believe OP stated that this is an estate sale, he just needs someone to do the paper work. we all know that high % of real estate agent's commission around these neck of the woods are unjustifiable. nothing against those buyer/sellers that leverages their agents to their best leverage but OP is literally just asking how to get the other 1/2 of the commission back. lets move along

Actually OP asked what they would need a RA for, which is what people are answering. I would say, for an estate sale, either buy as is for a low price or get someone in there who knows the neighborhood, can tell you the state of the house. Likely it had older owners who let it go and now has been sitting empty. OP’s questions suggest this is their first transaction, so they would benefit from someone to guide them, but their responses also indicate they are the type to go without an agent and probably irritate all involved. Good luck OP. Give us an update on how it goes.

Not to mention estate sales can be among the most complicated transactions.

We did an estate sale and it was simple. Our agent was worthless and not at the inspection or even closing. The title company did everything. Completely no need for an agent.

You got lucky. Try doing one with like four heirs involved.

[Anonymous]

I did that too recently as an executor of an estate and it wasn't an issue unless heirs are making a big deal about anything.

Unless something complicated like the sewer issue with the PP, most of the RE transactions could be handled without an agent. No wonder the average commission rate continues to go down. 4.5% is pretty standard these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:believe OP stated that this is an estate sale, he just needs someone to do the paper work. we all know that high % of real estate agent's commission around these neck of the woods are unjustifiable. nothing against those buyer/sellers that leverages their agents to their best leverage but OP is literally just asking how to get the other 1/2 of the commission back. lets move along

Actually OP asked what they would need a RA for, which is what people are answering. I would say, for an estate sale, either buy as is for a low price or get someone in there who knows the neighborhood, can tell you the state of the house. Likely it had older owners who let it go and now has been sitting empty. OP’s questions suggest this is their first transaction, so they would benefit from someone to guide them, but their responses also indicate they are the type to go without an agent and probably irritate all involved. Good luck OP. Give us an update on how it goes.

Not to mention estate sales can be among the most complicated transactions.

We did an estate sale and it was simple. Our agent was worthless and not at the inspection or even closing. The title company did everything. Completely no need for an agent.

OP, you can do it. Look into it before dumping tens of thousands to a useless RE agent.