From the article: "I avoid FSBOs if I can," says Mary Pat Anderson with Home Smart Professionals in Indio, California. "Homebuying is complicated enough without having to deal with inexperienced, uninformed sellers."
As a buyer I had a agent like that. I found a house right where I wanted and well within my price range. So I made an offer without using her. The agent was then offended when I cut her out of the deal as she didn't find the house for me nor did we have a buyers contract. I had specifically told her to check out an area, she didn't.
Owners are also not legally obligated to tell you everything about the home, including the possibility that somebody was murdered inside or what people are noticing as to why they won’t make an offer on it.
You could be left with a huge repair bill once you own it.
Realtors have legal obligations to not hide anything from you that you want to know about the home.
If life has taught me anything, it’s “never trust a realtor.”
To each his own. It’s not rocket science but how many times do people make stupid mistakes when they do something for the first time? I own a real estate agency and I don’t buy and sell my own homes without an agent. I just don’t want the hassel of dealing with open houses, my own advertizing, dealing with novice buyers and a dozen plus other issues. Just remember the old saying, a man who represents himself has a fool for a client.
It’s relatively easy after you’ve been through it a couple of times.
But most buyers fear/hate it...so you have to offer 2-3% to the buyers agent.
That beats 5-6% all day long.
Maybe $100/billable hour + advertising costs would be an equitable arrangement.
” Take, for example, my neighbor, who has his home back on the market as a FSBO. Third time’s a charm, right?”
Or take my neighbor, who sold his quickly, for a higher price than anyone else on the block expected, and and kept the 24,000 he woulda spent on commissions.
When my siblings and I sold my late parent’s home, we used a realtor that we had known since high school (40 yrs). She was just about to retire but agreed to help us with the sale. She was worth every dime we paid her at closing. She weeded out non-serious buyers, let us know things that needed to be done to increase the sale price, and found us a septic guy at the last minute to repair and certify the septic tank (for minimal costs). She got us through the check-list and kept us from panicking. Also, the photographer she used for the pictures was fantastic.
We sold the property to a young couple with a 6 month old son. They had been looking for the perfect place for their needs for almost a year and our place fit the bill. I think my folks would like them as they would remind my parents of themselves when they were young and just starting out. It’s a bit of a fixer-upper but a solid home overall and they are enjoying the place. The wife occasionally texts me with questions and even invited me to come pick blueberries after the sale.
Find a realtor with a good reputation and ask family and friends for a recommendation.
To me it never made sense that both buyer and seller agents made the same.
most realtors HATE the competition from FISBOs ... period ...
that being said, there’s a type of realtor that will manage all the paperwork for both sides AND attend the closing FOR A SMALL FIXED FEE ... they represent neither the buyer nor seller, but act only as a facilitating party, shuttling offers back and forth, and if/when a deal is finally reached, they make sure title insurance is obtained, the paperwork for all parties is legal, and that all state and local legal requirements have been satisfied, such as any required inspections, radon inspection, etc.
i helped a friend buy a FISO house that way ... part of our deal was that the FISO seller agree to pay half the agent fee ... they were actually VERY happy to do that because they were otherwise pretty clueless about how to go about actually selling their house other than sticking the FISBO sign in the front yard ...
both the buyer and the seller made out like bandits by not having to pay exorbitant percentages to a passel of realtors, and yet the transaction went as smooth as silk ...
Most agents go a terrible job and are not worth an average of $30,000 to sell a house.
The real problem with FSBO is this:
- You opt to sell it FSBO to save the realtor’s commission (~5%).
- The buyer knows it’s a FSBO and deducts 5% since he knows you’re not paying a realtor.
The FSBO seller saves nothing but has to put up with all the hassles of the sale.
Relator agents are just like used car salesmen...They want WAY too much to sell homes. Do not trust them!
So much conflict of interest for real estate agents.
Most dangerous for the seller because the seller agent may “let slip” your minimum bid to get the sale through.
If you don’t use an agent, you can hire a real estate lawyer to review the deal for much less than normal RE commissions.
If it is a cash deal (no loan on the buyers end), it is pretty easy as a buyer in my experience.
I have sold over 100 seperate parcels on my own without a realtor.The few times I dealt with one they were all worthless.
“I had specifically told her to check out an area, she didn’t.”
I bought my first house in summer ‘78. I picked out an agent and told her “I do NOT want to be anywhere near the freeway.”
The very first house she took me to was...you guessed it...backing up to the freeway. She said “It sounds like the ocean. You’ll get used to it.”
I fired her on the spot. No second chances for an idiot. That was almost 50 years ago and I remember it clearly.
Here is an unfinished apartment in my city. It’s huge, about 1600 sqft and you get a deck of about the same size. It’s 4 bedrooms.
It’s such a good price and it’s right near the heart of downtown, but I can’t really figure out why it won’t sell. It’s been on the mls listings forever, but no biters apparently.
I don’t think it’s because you have to spend about $150,000 finishing it because, even including the cost of finishing it, it’s still a very good price imo.
The only thing that occurs to me without knowing anything about it is that people may have a problem with the noise the HVAC units might give off. Other than that, I can’t see why nobody is biting it, but the fact that they aren’t biting is a warning in itself.
https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/26695690/601-10518-113-st-nw-edmonton-queen-mary-park
No real estate agent protects the buyer or seller, regardless of who hires them.
Their only interest is to close the deal. It’s how they get paid.
The agent’s financial motivation does not align with the buyer or the seller.
But they will work hard to make you satisfied wih the deal. They feed on referrals.
It’s pretty basic stuff, if you think about it. Most people don’t.
To each his own. I avoid realtors and bankers (except socially).
Owner fi, as is. Been doing it for years and never had a problem.
Unlike the typical flipper, I’m choosy about the properties I buy. Old, single-fam, worth the effort, in an overall decent neighborhood, and no crazy people next door. Once in a while I’ll take a deserving multi-fam but it’ll be a single fam when I’m done with it.
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I’ve done it both ways. Either way, buyer (or seller) beware.