Buyer's Agent or Buy It Yourself?

Question

********(This is buying a fixer upper home with cash)********

Which is less expensive?

Is it easy to buy it on your own?

I mean what do you really have to do...write an offer, have the house checked out by an inspector, have title cleared by title company.

I asked earlier about the MLS. I find realtor.com does a good job at listing properties. The only positive I could see from getting a buyer's agent was that they "may" have more listings. Right now I just checked it and based on my criteria I found 33 properties. (One small town of 12,000) My issue is I already had this run around with an agent. I wanted to go to $75 G and they asked if they could take my search up to $100 G. I said no and they haven't talked to me since, nor have I gotten any new property listings. It gives the whole idea of an agent a bad taste in my mouth. How much would an agent charge anyways? Do they get a commission? Or are they just paid from the commission at the end of a sale?

NO SALES PITCHES!

Answer 1

If you are the buyer, having your own agent costs you NOTHING. They get paid by the seller. If you are buying a FSBO, it might be a different story because FSBO sellers aren't signed up with an agent and they are super cheap to begin with and probably aren't willing to pay your agent's fee, so you might have to negotiate a proper payment with your agent if you are having them handle a FSBO transaction.

I think it would be smart for you to get your own agent to handle your purchase. They can pull comparable sales in the area, dig up facts you might not know, and write things into an intial contract that will protect you and your deposit. It is too much money to be flying blind and since you can take advantage of their services for absolutely no money out of your pocket, there is no reason not to have one on your side. If you are dealing with only the listing agent for a property, that agent has a fiduciary (primary) duty to the seller, not you.

Answer 2

Ok, I am a loan officer and an agent. The best reason I can give you to use a buyers agent is to help not only make sure everything is done legally, (there are a lot of scams out there) and also, to assist you in negotiating the price, terms and just generally assisting you in every way. That is my belief. You want to get a good real estate agent, though, I have found there are a whole lot fo ridiculously lazy agents out there! I wish you the best of luck! And, FYI, the buyers agent does not add 5% to the cost. Agent commission is paid by the seller in the majority of transactions, and the cap for either agent is (majority of the time) 3% to each. And, the guy below is right, especially if you are dealing with a FSBO. It's a total disaster when 2 unlicensed individuals get together to do a real estate transaction. I've seen what can go wrong. It can potentially ruin your life! The term "Buyer Beware" is soooooo true!

Answer 3

They get their salaries by commission and commission only. The rule of thumb for the fees is 6-8% of the sales price of the home (that is the price it actually sells for, not the listing price). The seller generally pays this, but that can be negotiated in the contract. If the seller's agent sells the house their broker gets 100% of that commission and pays a percentage to the selling agent.
If you have a buyer's agent, they will split the commission with the other agent, so they each get 3-4% of the sales price.
It would be worth your while to find an ethical agent and have them look out for your best interest. The seller will probably pay the commission anyways.
Now you know why the agents are only going after clients who prequalify for larger loans ~ more $$ in their pockets faster.
Good luck.

Answer 4

Do not use a buyers agent negotiate yourself! Having a buyers agent involved will add at least 4-5% to your deal/sale price. I bought my last home in Cascades Virginia 5 years ago from NV Homes and the sales rep. clearly stated that the wife and I would not have gotten the deal we received with a buyers agent involved. I would however recommend getting either a new or a used home inspected to insure that everything is done properly before you closing date..

Answer 5

Agents are paid a commission by the Seller. Shouldn't cost you anything. But you shoud have your own solicitor. Money well spent I found.

Answer 6

I wouldn't use one, for the reasons you mentioned, and more. The plus side, is that they can find more listings. Usually the listing agent pays half the commission to the buying agent. You don't have to pay them.