Do I need a real estate agent?

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I am looking to buy another house (and rent the first one out) and am looking for a farm with a house and some barns.

I know how to look up:

-Who the current owner is
-the parcel size
-if any back taxes are owed
-the legal description
-tax id number

I can read the meets and bounds legal description to verify that the location is accurate, hire an appraiser to determine the value, hire a home inspector to look over the house, title insurance to verify that the person selling the land is the rightful owner, if needed a surveyor to survey the land, and a lawyer to write a purchase agreement.

So the question is there anything that I am forgetting about that a real estate agent does that can justify the 3% that the seller will pay him? My line of thinking is to put in an accepted offer then have the owner discount the house another 3%. The seller's real estate agent gets his/her 3% and I save 3% and the seller pays the same regardless if I use a buyers agent or not.

On a $300k home I can save at least $5k to $7k because most of the work that the real estate agent would do I have already done and can't see me doing all of this work only to not get any benefit out of it (I do it anyway because that is my nature). Am I missing something?
 
The traditional real estate agent legally works for and is paid by the seller. Even if you as a buyer contact a real estate agent other than the sellers they still work for the seller. There are some buyer agents but much less common.

If the seller has signed an agreement with a real estate agent, then even if you walked up to the house and gave the seller a suitcase with $300K in it, and never talked to a real estate agent the seller may have to pay the real estate agent he has an agreement with.

If you find a "for sale by owner" (fsbo) then you may save money, but in some cases the seller does not want to pay a real estate agent to sell his house, he wants all the money for himself. Does not always mean cheaper.

At the end of the day, a good lawyer is what you need. The real estate agents get a lot of commission they don't earn and will say anything to sell a house.

Now if you talk to the agent who has the listing from the seller, you might be able to get them to cut a percentage off what the seller will pay them since less people to share it with.
 
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Only if you like used car salesmen with nice wardrobes.
smile.gif
 
Just make sure you have a knowledgeable real estate attorney to help you.
All real estate agents work for their own benefit and nobody else. (I know I was one of those people, (part time), years ago. You will be just fine!
 
If you see the house with the listing Agent, then decide to wait until he is "out of the picture" he still gets his full commission or can legally go after you for it.

I personally buy and sell with an agent, but I am aware that they are only working for themselves.

If you expect a Seller to split anything up with you or give you a better deal on the house he is trying to sell without an Agent, you are wasting your time. He is purely looking to fill his pockets with the Agent's commission so to speak.

What I like about using an agent, is you list your house the full price you expect to sell it for, taking into account their comission etc., and just sell when the Agent finds a buyer willing to pay that price and you are protected then.

If a land sale goes sideways and your listing agent has Lawyers that can straighten out an issue it is very good peace of mind and nothing else.

I had an issue buying a Townhouse that flooded before I took possession and they wanted to fix it up for me and force me to take it. I didn't want it anymore as I would have to disclose that it was a flooded property etc etc if I go to sell.

I had a TON of digital pictures, ReMax was my Agent, and when the Seller went after me to still buy the property, I walked away as ReMax would have to work out the legal dispute so I was sitting pretty.

They got the drift (the Seller) and left me alone.
 
Originally Posted By: SVTCobra
So the question is there anything that I am forgetting about that a real estate agent does that can justify the 3% that the seller will pay him? My line of thinking is to put in an accepted offer then have the owner discount the house another 3%. The seller's real estate agent gets his/her 3% and I save 3% and the seller pays the same regardless if I use a buyers agent or not.

On a $300k home I can save at least $5k to $7k because most of the work that the real estate agent would do I have already done and can't see me doing all of this work only to not get any benefit out of it (I do it anyway because that is my nature). Am I missing something?


Real estate broker here. The main problem with this is that the seller has already signed the contract with the real estate brokerage. It's a private contract. It basically says that they get a fixed percentage if the house sells. If they sell it themselves, they get the whole amount of the contract, in this case maybe 6%. If you show up without an agent, the office may assign you one even if they're working as a sellers agent, then you've got the listing agent and then another agent in their office who will split the commission.

You can't put in an accepted offer. You put in an offer, then it gets accepted. That's it, you don't renegotiate the price afterwards. If you put in an offer that's 3% lower maybe they'll be happy to take it because it's overpriced by 20k. It's a forest/trees issue. You're not the first one to come up with this strategy. Best way is to find a rebating agent. The real work of an agent is to get the deal to close. You're actually the worst type of buyer. It's hard to close deals when people are too cheap.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
The traditional real estate agent legally works for and is paid by the seller. Even if you as a buyer contact a real estate agent other than the sellers they still work for the seller. There are some buyer agents but much less common.

If the seller has signed an agreement with a real estate agent, then even if you walked up to the house and gave the seller a suitcase with $300K in it, and never talked to a real estate agent the seller may have to pay the real estate agent he has an agreement with.

If you find a "for sale by owner" (fsbo) then you may save money, but in some cases the seller does not want to pay a real estate agent to sell his house, he wants all the money for himself. Does not always mean cheaper.

At the end of the day, a good lawyer is what you need. The real estate agents get a lot of commission they don't earn and will say anything to sell a house.

Now if you talk to the agent who has the listing from the seller, you might be able to get them to cut a percentage off what the seller will pay them since less people to share it with.



This is the way I understand the process as well. We purchased a piece of land a couple years ago, we inquired about it through the listing agent and ended up making an offer. It was a win win for her since she got the selling and the buyers percentage on the property. The only thing she had to do was to disclose to us that she was an advocate for the seller and represented them even though she wrote our offer.
We also had our house listed on our own, I advertised it locally and through Zillow, my opinion of Zillow is much like my opinion of Craigslist, some potential buyers are much the same. The process of selling or buying is easy and any lawyer with any land law experience can handle it, you just have to find a seller before the real estate agent gets to them.
 
I don't know how it works... but if your worried about 3% now, then home ownership might not be for you. You need to do research on similar home values, how long its been on the market, talk with listing agent, etc... At the end of the day, a few thousand here or there shouldn't affect whether you buy a home you really want.

For example, my home was a short sale and I paid ~75% of asking price... it had been on the market for a year.
 
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Originally Posted By: bmwpowere36m3
I don't know how it works... but if your worried about 3% now, then home ownership might not be for you. You need to do research on similar home values, how long its been on the market, talk with listing agent, etc... At the end of the day, a few thousand here or there shouldn't affect whether you buy a home you really want.

For example, my home was a short sale and I paid ~75% of asking price... it had been on the market for a year.


Short sales are always tough. I think I put in over 100 offers on short sales, only had about 5 actually go through. The reason they're usually on the market for a year is because there's no bank approval on the short sale price.

The real answer to get your 3% is to negotiate a price as low as it will possibly go, then ask for the 3%. You won't get anywhere with this because the seller has to pay the listing broker the full fee no matter if the buyer has an agent or not. It's in the contract. The only real way around this is to find the seller before they sign the contract. But that's what real estate brokers do...
 
The MLS (Multiple Listing Service) hereabouts permits two or more real estate firms to "cobroke" a sale but does NOT permit two agents from the same firm to represent buyer and seller. You won't find two lawyers from the same firm representing both sides of a case, either, it's called a "conflict".
 
IMHO if you need to ask "Do I need a real estate agent", then yes you do need one. If you knew enough about buying and selling real estate to do it without an agent, you wouldn't need to ask.
 
You are looking for a farm?

Start looking at farm auction company or farm real estate company sale bills. You are looking for a specific property - work with a specialized person.

As others have said, don't try to beat a system with pros and legal dream teams. Do people try and beat you out of your work/salary by 'beating' the system you are in?
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
It's hard to close deals when people are too cheap.

In any business..
 
Thanks for all the replies. I already bought a house in the past without a realtor representing either party and was a smooth transaction. Sounds like unless the seller and their agent redo their contract then I can't get anywhere.

The reason why I asked is there are some significant savings to be had and since I research these properties myself and don't need any hand holding along the way I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. For those that think I'm being cheap I am to some extent but why pay a realtor a significant chunk of money for something I can do myself far cheaper and have researched and already did something similar in the past? To me it's like working on your car if you know how, to save money and learn something new.
 
We bought recently and did all the research ourselves. We knew as much or more about any place in our price range as the agent did. Occasionally they would clue us in to a unit prior to it being listed.

5-6% fees will die, but it will take some time. All of the industry is so tied together that they can easily resist major changes to their structure.

$555 for an appraisal. Magically it appraised for the exact amount of our offer! What are the chances?

We also felt like if we tried using a rebate/discount online agent that there's a good chance they other side wouldn't want to deal with us, or at least be resistant.
We did get a buyer's agent rebate as part of the negotiation, though, so you can always go that route. If they want to make a deal and make money vs no sale, they should be willing to kick some back.

The entire RE industry seems so built up out of nothing, though. And you feel "used" after paying them money, and we were on the buying side.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: SVTCobra
So the question is there anything that I am forgetting about that a real estate agent does that can justify the 3% that the seller will pay him? My line of thinking is to put in an accepted offer then have the owner discount the house another 3%. The seller's real estate agent gets his/her 3% and I save 3% and the seller pays the same regardless if I use a buyers agent or not.

On a $300k home I can save at least $5k to $7k because most of the work that the real estate agent would do I have already done and can't see me doing all of this work only to not get any benefit out of it (I do it anyway because that is my nature). Am I missing something?


Real estate broker here. The main problem with this is that the seller has already signed the contract with the real estate brokerage. It's a private contract. It basically says that they get a fixed percentage if the house sells. If they sell it themselves, they get the whole amount of the contract, in this case maybe 6%. If you show up without an agent, the office may assign you one even if they're working as a sellers agent, then you've got the listing agent and then another agent in their office who will split the commission.

You can't put in an accepted offer. You put in an offer, then it gets accepted. That's it, you don't renegotiate the price afterwards. If you put in an offer that's 3% lower maybe they'll be happy to take it because it's overpriced by 20k. It's a forest/trees issue. You're not the first one to come up with this strategy. Best way is to find a rebating agent. The real work of an agent is to get the deal to close. You're actually the worst type of buyer. It's hard to close deals when people are too cheap.



This is BITOG. Where unneeded oil is purchased simply because it is cheap. (Late to be sold/given away be cause it's no longer needed). And second guessing most professionals is "standard practice" because they are paid too much.
smirk.gif
 
It's a sellers market so you can get laughed out of the process fairly easily at any step.

That all said, make your offer, contingent on inspection, you getting finances, etc.

If they seem too quick to say yes, find some problems with the inspection that cost a few percent. Tell 'em you'll buy it if they knock those percent off. They'll either bite, or they won't.

It's between the seller and the realtor if they agree to cut the commission.

A typical contract is six months; if it's on your street and you see a sign go up, wait the six months (if you're bored!) then make contact after.
 
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