Purchasing a home with no agent (feedback, income tax, fee, accept)

[Bill Keegan]

You absolutely can hire your own agent to represent you in the purchase of this house you like so much, even though you did not have an agent when you first saw it. You went to an open house. The agent at that open house has not claim on you at all, and cannot stop you being represented by any agent or broker you like. A piece of advice; DO NOT use the agent who said he couldn't represent you to purchase this house, as he clearly does not understand how things work.
Do you know people in the area where you want to buy? Talk to some of them, preferably those who have RECENTLY purchased a house. If they were pleased with the service they got from their agent, perhaps you'll want to call that agent.

[nycgirl610]

We called up the listing agent and made an appointment to see the place, so it was not an open house. Don't know if that makes a difference?

[kikimar]

Not every first time home buyer needs an agent.

Go to the town or city hall where the home is that you are interested in. ask the town assessor to get you the info on the recent homes that have sold in that neighborhood.

Also ask city or town hall to get you all the permits that have ben pulled on the property. To be sure any recent work was up to code or to see the name of the people who did the work.

Go to the police department and see what kind of complaints have been filled in that neighborhood. (noise complaints, dog attacks)

It is all public record.

with a bit of research you can get the info. And making an offer without an agent can be more appealing to the seller. They only need to pay 3% rather than 6%.

I did it as a first time buyer and I just sold my house FSBO.

[TristansMommy]

Originally Posted by kikimar

Not every first time home buyer needs an agent.

You're right about that.. But....

Go to the town or city hall where the home is that you are interested in. ask the town assessor to get you the info on the recent homes that have sold in that neighborhood.

You're kidding right? Umm.. do you know how long it actually takes them to really have that information in their system? In an ever changing makret you want to the numbers from yesterday.. NOT 4 months ago!

Also ask city or town hall to get you all the permits that have ben pulled on the property. To be sure any recent work was up to code or to see the name of the people who did the work.

Yeah.. you can do that.. but that is also all done by your title search Why make extra work for yourself! Waste of time! Any deficiencies in permits, etc would come up in title search and your mortgage ocmpany would require the seller to fix the permit problems or no closing..

Oh.. and you are not really looking for "permits".. you are looking for Certificate of Occupancy.. btw.. because the CO is what is given when the work is completed , someone has inspected it and made sure it's up to code.. the permits only give the homeowner initial permission to start the work!! VERY big difference.. without a CO it is considered an open permit.. and you DO NOT WANT open permits on a houes when you buy it..

Again..all discovered in title search that regardless of wether you did it yourself, will have to be done anyway and paid for in your closing costs.. mortgage company requires it..

So you think you are saving yourself money.. but all you are doing is creating unncesary work for yourself!

Go to the police department and see what kind of complaints have been filled in that neighborhood. (noise complaints, dog attacks)


It is all public record.

Yeah..you can and should do that anyway.. and while you're at it go to the Meagan's Law wbsites and check up o pedophiles.. buyers and sellers agents can't tell you that there is a pedophile across the street.. they can only direct you to where you can find that information (that is law in NY and probalby elsewhere.. we are also not allowed to tell you about racial / demographic make up of a neighborhood as well.. its all in the Fair Housing Bill)

with a bit of research you can get the info. And making an offer without an agent can be more appealing to the seller. They only need to pay 3% rather than 6%.

Oh boy!! Where did you get that information from.. LOL. NO MATTER WHAT YOU OFFER FOR THE HOME. represented or not .. the fulll commission in the commission agreement needs to be paid!!! So, if the listing agreement is for 6% than 6% gets paid!!! The agent only agrees to share the set commission with any cooperating or buyer broker agent.. not give up half the commission if a buyer comes that does not have thier own buyer agent HUGE misconecption.

A buyer SAVES NOTHING BY NOT WOKRING WITH AN AGENT!!
But they are certainly able to go, find and put in an offer on a home with any listing agent without one... by all means.. better for the listing agent actually.

BTW.. the agent that has the listing and you come in as a buyer without a broker.. is now diong paperwork for both sides/ and follow up for both sides of the transactions.

I did it as a first time buyer and I just sold my house FSBO.

If you bought your home without an agent thefirst time you bought.. and you think you saved 3% you probably didn't.. AND if the agent that listed the property compromised on her commission on the deal.. in otherwords gave up some percentage of her commission .. she wasn't a strong agnet to begin with. Why would any homeowner want someone negotiating in THEIR best interest to protect their money when they can't even negotitae in their own best interest to protect their commission!!

But.. I'm pretty sure the full agreed upon commission at the time of the listing was paid by the seller regardless of wether you were represented by a buyre broker or came in with a cooperating agent.. you were then c onsidered the listing agents customer!

Oh.. and another point of fact.. the agent does not have the authority to compromise on the commission.. only the Broker whom he/she works under can do that.

[kikimar]

TristansMommy

Thanks for all you info, u sure do know what you are talking about!

We bought our house from and estate and a great deal. I sold FSBO, b/c I am a new stay at home mom and really had a lot of free time. It took 2 months and it was a lot of work, but I LOVED it.

I brought up the permits, just as an example to the type of info you can get if you feel like you want to do some research on your own. I was not talking abut open permits, just the fact that she can get a lot of info publicly. And I am aware that all permits must be closed to sell. My husband owns a construction company.

Just trying to help........

[gbone]

I posted the below on another thread and thought it might be germane to a number of posts in this thread:

nyc, Buyer Representation came about in the early 90's because of lawsuits from homebuyers. Prior to this time homebuyers thought that the real estate agent that they were working with was making decisions that was in the buyer's best interests. This wasn't necessarily the case as the agent actually represented the seller and had a written contract with the seller spelling out the agent's responsibility to the seller. In too many instances the buyer was taken advantage of for the benefit of the seller. The courts agreed with the buyers who brought the lawsuits. With fairly strong legal precedent set, states throughout the country began amending their real estate laws in order to provide for fair representation for both parties or no representation for either party. Many states incorporated a Buyer Representative Agreement in their real estate laws to address the court findings. Some other states went a different route to insure that the buyer was aware of who represented whom and what the buyer's rights were.
To summarize, this was a legal issue that has been addressed by the courts and the states to protect the consumer. As hard as it is for some people to believe, Realtors support this because it is in the consumer's best interests. Buyer Representation is a legal protection for the consumer that is supported by the courts and many state laws and is not part of a self interest business practice of Realtors to scare the consumer.
I hope this helps.

[TristansMommy]

Originally Posted by kikimar

TristansMommy

Thanks for all you info, u sure do know what you are talking about!

We bought our house from and estate and a great deal. I sold FSBO, b/c I am a new stay at home mom and really had a lot of free time. It took 2 months and it was a lot of work, but I LOVED it.

I brought up the permits, just as an example to the type of info you can get if you feel like you want to do some research on your own. I was not talking abut open permits, just the fact that she can get a lot of info publicly. And I am aware that all permits must be closed to sell. My husband owns a construction company.

Just trying to help........

Hi,
Thank you.. and no problem.

It makes sense that if you are a stay at home mom and have time on your hands.. then selling your home on your own was probably great for you.

Did you sell in the height of the market in 2 months.. or recently.. because that is awfully fast if it is recently.. and in that case you must have really priced your home aggresively.

You would probably like being a Realtor if you enjoyed selling your home so much.. I am licensed, not active much since having my son.. but I became interested when my mom had her home for sale in 2001 through an agent.. but I said.. I can do this! and I did do it well!

I just wanted to clarify and make people aware that it's not as easy as people really think it is. Even in the hot market I had FSBO's begging me to take thier listings and sell the home.. too often their deals fell thruogh, for lots of reasons.. but basially they just coulnd't talk to the same people and negotiate through it all like a Realtor , as a third party, could.

ANd just so all know.. EVERY home I sold lpeople put down 20% .. never sold in teh boom with 100% financing.

[kikimar]

TristansMommy

We sold at a bad time, we did not make as much as we could have. but we wanted to sell to be able to buy a big house in a better neighborhood while those houses are prices low.

I marketed my house well. looking into all the prices of the neighbors homes and recent sales. then priced it 20 grand below. I was available to show every day anytime.

I did not use a realtor to sell b/c it would have eaten up my profit. I turned down 2 possible offers b/c I did not want to pay a commission. Hard to do.

I will stay away from the real estate business. I am a non-profit gal. I do all pro bono design work for non profit companies. I love being able to help out people.

[TristansMommy]

Originally Posted by kikimar

TristansMommy

We sold at a bad time, we did not make as much as we could have. but we wanted to sell to be able to buy a big house in a better neighborhood while those houses are prices low.

I marketed my house well. looking into all the prices of the neighbors homes and recent sales. then priced it 20 grand below. I was available to show every day anytime.

I did not use a realtor to sell b/c it would have eaten up my profit. I turned down 2 possible offers b/c I did not want to pay a commission. Hard to do.

I will stay away from the real estate business. I am a non-profit gal. I do all pro bono design work for non profit companies. I love being able to help out people.

Glad it worked out for you. It was obviously the best way to go for you.. and great for other want to be FSBO's to kow what they would be sacraficing (pricing 20K below market) and what they would be gaining (no commission) and what potential results would be. Too many FSbO's arent willinng to price below the market where they would attract buyers and sell.. and sell timely. Actually most FSBO's overprice...

I felt like I was helping people when I was selling homes.. although it wasn't pro bono.. I did have a nice little mortgae to pay so couldn't do pro- bono work..

Design work sounds fun.. I couldn't design my way out of a paper bag..LOL.. it's a neat gift to have!

[deno088]

Originally Posted by TristansMommy

... and great for other want to be FSBO's to kow what they would be sacraficing (pricing 20K below market) and what they would be gaining (no commission) and what potential results would be. Too many FSbO's arent willinng to price below the market where they would attract buyers and sell.. and sell timely. Actually most FSBO's overprice...

Your kidding right?
Or better yet I can post it like you would-
You're kidding right?