“You are paying top dollar for a house but know nothing about it. Skipping any part of a procedure for purchasing could harm you in the long run.”

What don’t I know about it? Does an agent perform the home inspection for me? No, I have to hire a home inspector to tell me what I need to know. That 3% the seller won’t be paying you could come off the price of the house to pay for the inspection plus repairs.

Realtors aren’t lawyers, so I don’t know why I would want to rely on one for contracts.

Realtors aren’t bankers. In fact, I’ve seen too many examples where realtors push buyers into loans with one of their buddies that aren’t even that good. Everyone getting a piece of the action except the buyer.

I can do pricing research on my own. It is 2011, there is a ton of transaction price and listing price information on the internet. I don’t need the realtor mafia to disclose me their secret information anymore.

Next time I sell, I will go FSBO. I’ll offer 1.5% to an agent who physically shows up. The price of the house will probably be $350k. Can you honestly say $5k for showing a house is unreasonable? An attorney will handle the transaction for me at a fraction of the 3% I’d pay to a selling agent.

The home I’ll buy will probably be about $450k. I am not paying someone $13,500 to show me places I can find online and go check out myself. I can redo the landscaping for that money.

I will say that buy the time I made the offer on this house I’d been looking for almost a year, using a buyer broker and had a pretty good sense of the market. I was also getting the sense that my broker didn’t have the “ins” that a broker who represent both buyers and sellers would have.

AND the sellers were buying the place next door, which made it unlikely that they would be jerks. They weren’t.

At the beginning of my search I made an offer on another FSBO. The seller had another offer fall through and was less than forthcoming about the reason. When I had the house inspected, the radon count that was off the charts. Needless to say, I did not go through with the purchase.

Bottom line: buying directly from the owner can be a very good experience, with some knowledge of the market and the right sellers.

I just had 2 offers on my FSBO. One couple had a realtor that required 3% — the other couple did NOT have a realtor. Guess which one got the house? The 2nd.

Realtors just add expense. With the internet, tax records online, a good real estate attorney a buyer can save themselves money. Lots of money.

Let me write again… REALTORS JUST ADD EXPENSE FOR THE BUYER!!!

You are paying top dollar for a house but know nothing about it. Skipping any part of a procedure for purchasing could harm you in the long run.

Why take a chance? You do not save any money, you just got the deal an agent would have and wouldn’t have had to do any of the work to boot.

I think it is nuts to not use an licensed Realtor! As a buyer, you do not have to pay them anything unless you agree to it. As a buyer, you are open to some very dangerous litigations withoput a map, whereas the seller holds all the cards.

If your a considering an FSBO, call several real estate lawyers and find out how much it will cost for them to coordinate the entire transaction. You will likely be surprised how much cheaper and more efficient the who process is.

I’ve never bought a FSBO, but if you find a great home, priced right, why not !! Protect yourself by getting a certified home inspector to inspect and bring a (3) general contractors to look at any repairs that need to be completed after receiving your home inspection.

Use the inspectors report to shave off thousands of dollars of legitamite, proven deficiencies. Have a Real Estate atty review the contract, and proceed.

I like the idea of getting the Owner to split the difference with you as-if-a-comission was being paid.
It’s a win-win ( and no middle man)!

I’m glad the first comment is a positive FSBO because it’s definitely an option, just a stressful one without the proper guidance.

-Negotiated a lower price than current market value by agreeing to split the commission the buyer would have paid. My rationale with the buyer was that I was taking a risk, and so was he. The buyer agreed to split the potential commission.

After buying the house, I realized what a great deal I had gotten. I bought the house for 20K below market, in fact the appraisal came in significantly higher when I got my loan. All this being said, I would say that it was still stressful. Once we agreed on the sales contract, it got a lot easier. We both took the documents to escrow and it was fairly smooth sailing from there.

Hazzard