Buying a house with out a realty agent?

Question

I'm trying to help my mother-in-law buy a house. I'm skeptical about realty agents because the one I used when I bought my house seemed too shady.
He talked me into something that was more expensive than I wanted just so he could make a higher commission. I like my house, but it wasn't my first choice. The realtor seemed like he was refusing to show me cheaper properties. He also evaded certain questions. I was signed into a contract with him so I couldn't change my mind about dealing with him.
My mother-in-law is easily sold on things and I don't want her to get ripped off.
Has anyone reading this ever bought a house without using a realty agent. What the advantages and disadvantages of doing that? and do you have any regrets?

I've had my house for over four years now, so there's no point in telling me what I SHOULD have done with my agent. "Live and learn" is a natural part of life.

Answer 1

You're under no obligation to sign an agreement with an agent when you're buying. And if I did have a contract with one who was not following MY instructions, I'd tell him to take a hike, contract or not!

Unfortunately if you're looking at a house being sold by an agent, there's no way to buy without dealing at least with that agent. And it would be a potential conflict of interest to deal with that agent so you really should find one of your own to work with.

You can buy a property being sold directly by the owner without an agent, but you'll need an attorney to look things over and make sure that the deal is properly structured and legal. That's always a wise idea anyway, even if you do have an agent.

Answer 2

I am a Realtor and have 5 different state real estate licenses. The real estate agent you dealt with (if in deed he did not listen to you) was wrong. That's one of the biggest problems with agents; they don't listen to the buyer.

Any time your agent isn't living up to their responsibilities, you need to change agents. You can go to the agent's Broker and let them know why you want to cancel the contract with their representative. It's not as difficult as people may think. The Broker could even re-assign a new agent who you may end up working very well with.

Be careful if you don't have an agent to represent you during purchasing a home. When you use "Dual Agency" (you trust the same agent as the person who owns the house) that agent can only have complete loyalty to one client. You can go on the web and search for "dual agency" in a real estate transaction. It's such a serious part of real estate that most states have State laws pertaining to representation of each party in the transaction.

I'm not an attorney and would never give legal advice as real estate agents are trained to be careful in this area. You can look so many things up on the Internet about not using an agent. Some people do well with it. Some people find that it was the worst mistake of their lives. One couple that I met didn't want to use an agent and ended up paying $40K more on their home than they had to. They put such a large sum down on the house that the loan amount didn't exceed the appraisal on the home. No one ever pointed out the appraisal amount to the buyers and with the mountain of paperwork for the transaction, they didn't even notice it.

Here is my question. If you are buying, the "seller" usually pays realtor fees. Why would you take that chance of not having a professional help you and look out for your interest? You don't HAVE to buy a house if they are over priced or not what you want.

If I lived near you, I would be your agent and when we got through, you would see that ALL agents are not bad. There are still some of us out there with integrity and honesty.

Just be very careful if you don't have an agent. The seller's agent can slip in fees that are negotiable instead of just pulling money from your pocket because the agent is representing the owner, not you.

http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/DualAgency.php

http://www.fool.com/homecenter/find/find01.htm

Here are a couple of articles for you (above).

Good Luck.

Answer 3

I tried selling my house by myself and here are the reasons I'm sorry I did that:

1. I couldn't be available a lot of the times when the buyer wanted to look at the house.

2. I spent about $500 on ads, signs, other things that would normally have come out the agent fees. I eventually found that out after hiring an agent.

3. I didn't have a way to show people my house without actually being there -- like showing it on the Internet.

4. I couldn't pre-qualify people. I got all excited over a prospect and stopped showing the house then found out he couldn't get qualified for a loan.

Hope that helps. My agent took stress off of the sales process too.... oh and I also found out there were some legal documents that I hadn't accounted for that needed to be filed.

Answer 4

Real Estate Sales Person here!

Anyhow, I would have asked to terminate my contract with that agent, or called the Broker and asked to have worked with someone else. Were you upfront with the agent about the houses you were looking at and the ones you wanted to see?

If you want to view homes on the MLS (those that are with RE companies) your mom will be forced to work with an agent one way or another. And the down side of that is, she might get stuck using an agent that is also a selling agent on that house and who might not treat her fairly (because he represents the Seller first and foremost and the bigger sale price he gets, the happier the seller is and the fatter the agent's wallet is).

Have your mom interview agents to see who she wants to work with and who she is comfortable with. Have her sign on from there.

Not all agents are evil.

Homes not on the MLS (listed with agents are FSBO (For Sale By Owner) and there are less of them out there then listed houses, which means they are harder to find. Also, why pay an attorney to do all your paperwork, when the Sellers pay the agents to come up with a meeting of minds on a contract?

Since you were and are obviously jaded, all I can do is suggest your mom interviews until she finds someone who she is comfortable with.

Answer 5

That is a hard story to hear because I am a Real Estate Broker and always think I am looking out for my clients best interest.

I show them whatever price range they ask to see and get them to visit with a loan officer to get prequalified. (often people are qualified for more than they want to spend, but sometimes there are problems with their credit they need to straighten out before they buy).

I always strongly encourage buyers to get a home inspection. I tell them to look at the first few houses that we look at as an education rather than actually thinking we will find the right house immediately. I never ask buyers to sign a representation agreement unless there is a legal reason the buyers want to do so. I operate as a buyers agent without asking the buyer to obligate themselves to me.

I bet there are good agents in your area. If you ask around with friends and family who have bought homes recently you can find someone.

Answer 6

sure it is unethical. additionally you somewhat are not utilising any realtor in case you have not signed a shoppers' rep contract. So once you're wanting the reward of the ZIP realty then it somewhat is recommended to envision to be certain if those stick to in case you do not sign an contract. in case you utilize extra advantageous than one realtor then a selection of of realtors are not going to gets a commission for the time they spend with you exhibiting you substances. think of approximately this manner, might prefer to circulate to artwork and not gets a commission for some time because of the fact they desperate to pay the guy interior the subsequent cubicle because of the fact he provided some thing as much as them. you're basicly asking the different REALTOR to artwork for you for unfastened. No that may not what we do, we artwork with shoppers and dealers to locate them what they like or prefer.

Answer 7

Too bad you did not stand up to this agent.

Did you realize your agreement was with the COMPANY he worked for NOT the agent himself.

One call to the DESIGNATED BROKER would have cancelled the buyer broker agreement in about 2 seconds.

That would have sent a powerful message to the lousy agent to "Shut up and listen to the client"

Unfortunately, the agent is still out there practicing his lousy service to others. And making all the other agents who give outstanding service look bad.

Answer 8

That sucks what happened to you, could you have gotten a new realtor though without him knowing or do they keep a database or something that says your in contract with this realtor as a individual buying something?