Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Two things:
First - Why would you not have a buyer's agent?
Second - You "hire" (although does not cost you anything, hence the answer to my first question) the respective person so make sure you understand real estate as a whole and choose someone who specializes in buyers/investors. Don't choose someone just because they work for a national company and have access to the MLS. Chances are the first homes you see are going to be their office's MLS listings. The MLS still sells the vast majority of homes but guess where the majority of the deals are not. Find someone who knows where the deals are and that will be your person. There is plenty of inventory to choose from.
I know the agent is free and I'm all for having one. I just want a good and knowledgeable one. I also was just curious as to exactly what the buyer agent does besides find houses. I'm going to stick with my guy in the meantime. Thanks for the replies.
One thing I would note... you are buying something ranging from $100,000-$500,000. While I'm on the finance side, there's a simple thought that comes to mind, and I have actually been part of this type of transaction, and it can go either way. A client has a brother who works at a retail lender, and even though the rate was a full 1% worse with more costs, he went with the brother. This cost him over $10,000 in the first year alone....
It's really simple, family and loyalty to friends apply when you're talking $100's of dollars... but if you're dealing with something so major in your life, you need to put yourself and your immediate family first. If you feel guilty, toss the friend/family a grand for free, and you could still save money.
As a buyer looking for a house, I don't think there's any transaction out there where you can get so much benefit, for so little investment. It costs you zero (unless you negotiate out that commission off the price), and you get the protection and help of a solid agent. Of course, you want the experienced motivated one. So many houses have crap you need to ask about, that you may not know to ask... an agent can save you a HUGE amount of money and headache if they know what they are doing.
I personally have my real estate license, and it in no way qualifies me to do a purchase or a sale of a house. I studied hard for one full weekend, and passed my test with ease. It's just not a smart move to let a friend gain experience at your risk. Now, if he has a solid management team backing him, and guiding him, it could be another story... just be careful though.
So we kind of have a buyer agent. He's a friend of my husband's friend and just recently recieved his real estate lic. Seems nice enough but I'm a little skeptical because he said he would send me listings of communities last week Sunday and as of date, I have nothing from him. I know I can look up houses myself and when we get there, go house hunting. However, exactly what other information would agents have that I wouldn't be able to find online? It seems that the internet is making it so easy to find your own house, the demographics, great schools, shopping and future site plans. Also, would an agent be the one to help us with the contract at signing? Finding the house doesn't concern me, it's all the paper and legal work. I ask because if that's part of the agents job, I might need to find another one.
My agent did the same thing, said she would send me stuff, put me on her email lists - I never got anything unless we were on the phone and she was doing the search. The things is, it was nothing I didn't already have saved myself.
I'm going to tell you what I tell everyone else...
Go to all of the major companies sites and sign up. Put all of the information in that you want to look for. You will then get emails when something gets listed. My favorite site so far is remax for ease of use. I will go to the email info, then copy the MLS # into the remax search and save it that way.
Sign up at realtor.com saving the search there too. You can also save houses. So far I haven't been successful with the emails from there - I've never gotten one but it could be due to my spam filter - haven't had time to check.
Check the search engines - google homes, yahoo homes - msn homes.
If you are looking for new homes, you want to sign up on those major sites. Do a google for New Homes city / state - you should get the builders. Also if you have any real estate books - especially for new homes - sign up there and do a search.
Lastly, sign up at all of the builders sites you can find. They will start sending you coupons.
I feel like I am forgetting one step. Hopefully it will come to me.
My agent did the same thing, said she would send me stuff, put me on her email lists - I never got anything unless we were on the phone and she was doing the search. The things is, it was nothing I didn't already have saved myself.
I'm going to tell you what I tell everyone else...
Go to all of the major companies sites and sign up. Put all of the information in that you want to look for. You will then get emails when something gets listed. My favorite site so far is remax for ease of use. I will go to the email info, then copy the MLS # into the remax search and save it that way.
Sign up at realtor.com saving the search there too. You can also save houses. So far I haven't been successful with the emails from there - I've never gotten one but it could be due to my spam filter - haven't had time to check.
Check the search engines - google homes, yahoo homes - msn homes.
If you are looking for new homes, you want to sign up on those major sites. Do a google for New Homes city / state - you should get the builders. Also if you have any real estate books - especially for new homes - sign up there and do a search.
Lastly, sign up at all of the builders sites you can find. They will start sending you coupons.
I feel like I am forgetting one step. Hopefully it will come to me.
I followed your advise and you are right.....I'm getting e-mails like hotcakes!!!!!
Also, I would run the risk that the FSBO doesn't accept the offer, after I have spent the money on the attorney (the FSBO is trying to rent out at the same time). Hence my question if an agent might take the case on for a reduced commission (if sale goes through).
so, you want the agent to take their time to write your contract with only the "possibility" that they get paid if your offer is accepted, but you won't commit to him/her to be your agent so they have a good chance of eventually getting paid. Because you don't want to spend money on an attorney.... in case your offer is rejected? Do I have that right? Cause, I don't work for my clients like that. you commit to me and I will commit to you.
Shelly
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Thanks
