As a buyer, can i use an attorney instead of an agent?

[gg]

Slow down people! You can't do what you are asking. The commission will be paid by the seller, so it isn't your call in any way. There is an agreement of a 6% commission upon sale. Now if you are a cash buyer there are some advantages to you. Here is how you do it. Lets say the home is 100,000 and the commission is 6%. There is a $6,000 commission that will be coming out of the seller's pocket upon sale. BUT it doesn't have to. You can offer 94,000 and pay the commission out of closing. Why the heck would you do that? 1. Your assessed value would be based upon the $94,000 instead of the $100,000 for tax purposes. The transfer tax would be on the $94,000, so that saves $60 for each of you. I do this on ever sale because I play cash of course and don't want my assessment too high.

Anyway, forget dealing with some attorney. The commission will be paid anyway and you are just adding fees. Oh, I have 20 years of real estate knowledge. Enjoy.

[MMCXII]

Originally Posted by btarb24

The house i'd like to buy has a sellers agent. I'd prefer to negotiate the buyers agent fee out of the house price and pay directly for a real estate attorney to assist with my side of the closing. The sellers agent is saying this this is not an option and that i have to have a buyers agent in order to proceed with buying the house.

In Pennsylvania, is it possible for there to be a selling agent, but no buyers agent? My expectation is that the seller would negotiate with the selling agent to have the buying agent fee be given back to the seller in this situation -- effectively lowering the price of the house by 3%.

This isn't really doable. The commission is set in the sellers contract with the Selling Agent. It doesn't change, why would the Selling Agent take 3% less? If you have an agent it's 3%/3% if you don't its 6% to the SA. You contracting with an agent doesn't make a difference with the commission. You should have a buyer agent to represent you in the purchase. If you feel the need to have an attorney you should employ an attorney to review the sales agreement before you sign it, after you've agreed on a price. Once that is done, you loan documents don't really need an attorney review. The loan documents are standard and cannot change. I've worked in residential and commercial real estate for well over 25 years and have never seen this scenario you are proposing.

[jea6321]

You dont need to use a buyers agent, but you also are not acting from a point of advantage by hiring an attorney.

As a buyer, it makes almost no sense not to use a buyers agent. You get all the service of a realtor for basically free. You are still the one who gets to negotiate, the agents just play middle men for the negotiations between you and the seller. There is typically more than 3% of wiggle room on price without having to ask them to renegotiate a contract with the listing brokerage. A good buyers agent will be happy to get you the best price possible. As an agent, my goal is always to have clients leave as happy as possible. The one time sale means little compared to the potential of future transactions and referrals that may come from doing a good job.

[selltheburgh]

The seller signed an agreement with the seller's broker and the west penn MLS stating they'll pay a certain percentage. You can't swoop in and undo that.

In many cases, you can hire an attorney to represent you instead of an agent because a lot of Attorneys have their real estate license. They'll still get the buyer agency half of the commission.

Find a good buyer's agent to represent you and it'll pay off with negotiating and working through inspections.

[UKyank]

Even if it were possible, as someone who just sold their home I will say that the sellers market is pretty hot & I turned down any offer that was different then a straight up 20% down conventional mortgage, no sellers assists, no FHA loans, etc., because the current market enables sellers to be abit picky. I definitely wouldn't deal with someone doing their side of the transaction abnormally so they could save money as there is no upside to such a deal to me as a seller but comes with many potential downsides (delays, etc).