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.
Lol I don't even know what a real estate agent actually does.
I can go on a real estate listing site and look for homes I like, or come on a forum like this and find out the pros and cons of the neighborhood etc. nowadays you don't need to "hire" a person to tell you about a neighborhood or how much it cost or hook you up with financing deals.
If it was me buying a house I'd skip the whole real estate agent thing and just help myself to a house.
This is a great point that I kinda ignored. Realtors often have really good advice on how to proceed with a negotiation.
I often get a thousand here or there via good negotiation. My last two houses came with seller paid home warranties. I was gonna buy my own basic warranty. I got deluxe and seller paid. My Realtor negotiated that.
Aside, I was laughing last month because I made an offer, was considering going up another $2K but due to poor communications they made a counter $1K up and I took it. A free $1K because I was in a cellular dead spot east of palm springs and didn't raise my offer $2k.
The legal review of the contract is the most valuable thing an agent does for you
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carson9
I beg to differ.
I beg your differ and raise you a beg. That is just laughable. All the realtors use standardized forms, from their board of Realtors. It's the stuff in the fill in parts you look at. The rest is boiler plate and every agent in the region uses the same forms.
You are wasting your money to have somebody look at the boiler plate. The other Realtor is just going to say sign the form or no deal.
I read the boiler plate once. Once! I actually studied it until I understood it. Didn't do any good. There isn't anything there to discuss. No monsters. No sneaky stuff. They all use identical forms in your region. No sign, no deal.
A legal review of the contract is not even in the back of a Realtor's mind because they understand it is boiler plate and every sale has identical wording.
I quit looking at it myself when I realized all the important stuff was the stuff typed in.
No one trolling on agents suggesting inspectors here has EVER answered what the agent should do when a client picks a loser for inspector of if letting the client proceed with a chosen and widely-recognized buffoon inspector increases the agent's liability. If the posers want credibility, they should have a straightforward answer to that question, and no one has ever even tried to address it.
IMO the fact is that having a good inspector is just a matter of luck. I've used the same inspector 4 times this year. He seemed okay. I always order aquatic. My last house had a heated pool so I sent my pool guy along. I give him a lot of work, he does favors for me.
My inspection report said, "The pool heater did ignite when prompted." My pool guy said he couldn't get the heater to ignite. I phoned the inspector and said, "We have a problem here. Mike says the pool heater is broke, you said it works." He re-read his report. Oops!!!!!
He changed his report to read, "The pool heater did not ignite when prompted."
This saved me $600 In my BINSR. Seller elected to fix it themselves. I have the receipt.
That's how good my Reator's chosen inspector was. Luck.
Lucky me it was my last deal for the foreseeable future.
I've sold several homes/condos on my own without a real estate agent. It's not difficult. Get a good lawyer at a flat fee & understand your market. Research is your friend.
I just don't understand this "get a lawyer" stuff. Only reason I can think of is that a lawyer can legally get your escrow closed for you.
I could fill out the board of realty forms myself. It isn't the boiler plate! It's the part that is written in!!!
Obviously that is not the case as the OP already stated that while looking online on his own, he continues to run into stumbling blocks as all the potential properties are already off the market once he attempts to move forward. Many things have changed in 30 years - I assume real estate (and the its logistics) is one of them.
This too. See above. Trulia and Zillow are NOT MLS!
They are Reator advertising systems. You see the face and name that pops up next to the listing?? That's the guy or chick who paid to have their advert there. THAT is what Trulia/Zillow are for.
But you're right, thanks have changed in the last 30 years....real estate listings have become even easier to access. No more do you need to belong to a special MLS club and page through a 2" thick book each week. Now with Redfin, Trulia or Zillow, as the big players, you can see things the day they become available. But that doesn't guarantee they won't already be under contract in a hot market. Your effect, is accounted for with multiple causes.
MLS is as real time as it gets. It isn't listed until it's in the MLS. Only Realtors see the MLS. Zillow etc. pays a fee to get a feed but the feed is unreliable and late, and Zillow etc. often get it wrong or don't get the Under Contract, Backup, Sold etc.
List Hub fits in here somewhere. I need to Google it.
I also wrote back last night to a realtor from my area who wanted to " choose "for me another realtor in the new county I drove to even though he clearly didn't know anyone there. He just wanted to make sure I used his realty Coldwell Banker. When I refused to go with anyone he didn't even personally know he has refused to reply to me. Not even when I wrote about my car breaking down. He had seemed so nice. I guess he is not.
One word: referral fee
Think about this. Cows like the rancher so much because they get fed free hay. Then they get a lot of nice delicious corn! They never see it coming when the compressed air punch goes through their brain.
They end up in little packages at the supermarket.
Finding a realtor by pulling cards off a drugstore wall is not the way I would have suggested finding a realtor.
You find a Realtor by playing on the Internet and cold calls to realty offices. Ask friends and neighbors for names. Then you interview several of the best sounding of them. If you haven't found one you like, wash, rinse, repeat.
If you are not a good judge of character then you better get somebody who is to pick one for you.
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.
