Buying a home without a buyer's agent? (disclosure, 3%, commissions)
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.
I am a prospective homebuyer with decent experience. However, this will be my first purchase in TX. I have read up on the rules and found that TX has a few minimum service rules for brokers, which severely limits discount RE broker's ability to rebate a portion of their fee.
Basically we have found a house, went to look at it through the seller's agent. MLS lists it at 3+3 commision. I've already done the comps and am ready to make an offer. However I would prefer not to have to pay the 3% if possible.
Can a RE lawyer handle an offer in TX like they can in some other states, and the buyer saves the 3% (and therefore, I save it)...or does the seller agent keep the full 6% regardless of what happens? I have not been able to find a conclusive answer to this question. Thanks all.
The listing agent has made a contract with the seller to charge THEM! 6% of the sales price as a commission for services rendered. Generally the listing agent will co-broke with a buyers agent 3% for the sole purpose of motivating that agent to bring them a buyer.
If no buyer agent is representing you then you are not a client you are a CUSTOMER!. Many brokers will reduce their commission to 4% if there is no co-broke but if you are the buying customer then this should not affect you..
If you are the buyer then nobody should be charging you ANYTHING for the commission.. It is only an agreement between the Seller and the listing broker and the buyer has Nothing to do with it. I don't think there should be a problem with a rebate though.
I didn't mean to imply that anyone is charging me. The 6% goes to the seller's agent, half of which they split with the buyer's agent. However, what happens if there is no buyer's agent?
I know that typically they will either keep the full 6%, OR they only get 3%, and the 3% remaining stays in the seller's pocket, allowing me to make an offer that is slightly lower. At least that's how I've seen in done in other states. Alternatively, I know that you can get a discount broker with limited services (paperwork) who can give you a rebate on part of that 3%; however it was my understanding from the research that this is not legal in TX.
I didn't mean to imply that anyone is charging me. The 6% goes to the seller's agent, half of which they split with the buyer's agent. However, what happens if there is no buyer's agent?
I know that typically they will either keep the full 6%, OR they only get 3%, and the 3% remaining stays in the seller's pocket, allowing me to make an offer that is slightly lower. At least that's how I've seen in done in other states. Alternatively, I know that you can get a discount broker with limited services (paperwork) who can give you a rebate on part of that 3%; however it was my understanding from the research that this is not legal in TX.
For general information. When a seller signs a listing agreement. It outlines the total commission to be split. Whether the buyer has an agent or not, doesn't matter too much in terms of commissions or money saved to the actual owner.
It would be nice if it worked that way. But it's just the way the system is set up.
Without a realtor, how were you able to A) View the house and B) Run Comps? Texas is a non-disclosure state, so not everyone has access to comps.
You can view a house without your own Realtor. All you have to do is call and set up an appointment and most times the sellers agent tries to get to the point where they can represent both parties if you do not have your own. You see it all the time on HGTV.
As for Running Comps all you have to do is your home work. You can still find sights out there that will provide you with that info that are not based out of Tx or that do not generally deal with Tx real estate. Then there are those sights that have glitches that are not fixed and all you need to do is remember how you got to the comps and you can always get back. Every now and then you can get to comps on HAR. It really is not brain surgery just takes some time.
You can view a house without your own Realtor. All you have to do is call and set up an appointment and most times the sellers agent tries to get to the point where they can represent both parties if you do not have your own. You see it all the time on HGTV.
As for Running Comps all you have to do is your home work. You can still find sights out there that will provide you with that info that are not based out of Tx or that do not generally deal with Tx real estate. Then there are those sights that have glitches that are not fixed and all you need to do is remember how you got to the comps and you can always get back. Every now and then you can get to comps on HAR. It really is not brain surgery just takes some time.
I was wanting to know how He did it. If the Seller's agent showed him the house, it would make it harder to go directly to the buyer and work a deal with them. Like after the listing expired.
I've never run into any websites that will show you what a house sold for in Texas. I guess I haven't really tried though.
A) I viewed the house by contacting the seller's agent.
B) I did some comps by looking at real estate value estimate sites like Zillow et. al. (which, yes, are notoriously "off) and HAR. I do a few of my own calculations on the stats of the neighborhood and comparable houses within a few blocks that are listed or have sold recently. I start my offer near the bottom of that range and see what I can get. Pretty easy, really.
Also, I know what the house that I may write an offer on sold for last time in 2001 - I believe that was listed on Zillow as well.
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.
First lets take a look at the situation
