Buying w/o a Realtor?

[preppy]

Deleted the details - thank you all for your advice and insight! 

[zarapipe]

Nothing to add but often times an in inspection isn’t required or getting a mortgage. We didn’t get one on the last home we purchased. DH is a licensed contractor so he did it all. We did a radon inspection though. I wish you the best. It sounds like a great compromise.

[SusanBAnthony]

We sold, not bought, but the experience was great. As you said, use a lawyer to look everything over. I'd consider having it inspected too, just to get a neutral set of eyes on it. And make sure you really think about how you'll feel about the friends if 1 week after closing, something goes horribly wrong. Will you feel like they might have kept something from you? Really do your due diligence that you are ok buying it given the state it is in (including what might be hidden behind drywall, etc).

[wanderingback]

Not the same situation, but we bought our house after being renters in it. We didn't use a realtor and I never considered them being needed for our situation. It was my first time buying a house so I was pretty clueless and it worked out fine, the mortgage broker was very helpful with a lot of my questions.

[vamoose]

We just bought our first house. We initially looked at houses on our own (no agent), but ended up using an agent for the transaction, so we started working with her around the offer stage. 

The agent helped with:
-Deciding on a good / reasonable offer (including price and terms)
-Lots and lots and lots of paperwork (presumably this would be done by the lawyer) - everything from the offer to acknowledgment of disclosures to removing contingencies to amendments, etc. 
- Referrals for inspections (general and drainage for us), setup the inspections, attended inspections, gave referrals for other professionals so that we could get quotes for work that would need to be done and understand those costs. She also coordinated with some of these people for us and was available to let people into the house as needed. 
-negotiating with the sellers agent (mainly closing timeline and some permitting stuff with the city) and generally working as a liaison with the sellers agent. 
-keeping the deal going when we got off timeline because of covid related financing delays (she connected the sellers with some of the finance people to ease their fears)
-answered about one million questions from us (are x, y and z things we should be worried about? who can we ask about a, b and c issues? is that normal for this neighborhood? etc etc etc)
-made sure we stayed on schedule
-followed up after closing to check in and give other referrals as needed. 

[starryfish]

I would do it in your situation but def get an inspection before you decide. Inspection is not required for a mortgage, usually just need an appraisal for that.

I have bought 2 houses and then recently re-fi our house. I always spent more time with the banker than i did my REA bc it was the constant emails of what they needed for the mortgage.

[boiler717]

I would see if instead of a lawyer for contracting you can arrange for a realtor to do it for 2% commission, split by you guys, or 1% to just represent you and you each get your own (that’s standard here for no marketing, listing, etc). She can help everyone decide what is “fair” for inspection items.
Our agent was super helpful in 2 situations I haven’t seen mentioned. One, when our buyer’s lender changed their standards for basing salary off of offer letters, she was able to work with their bank and another bank to make it happen. Two, our appraisal came in low because of “economic insecurity in the market” and our realtor really went to bat against the appraiser to get more value.

[imojoebunny]

Do you agree on the market value of the house? That is the biggest reason I see to use a realtor, along with negotiating any repairs or terms. I would get a survey to make sure there are no random easements or other issues (Sometimes required by mortgage holder or state, but not always), an inspection regardless of whether I would ask for repairs, an appraisal will be required for the mortgage, but I would look at as many comps as you can to make sure the price is reasonable, and get an OWNERS title insurance policy, not just the one your lender will have. It can work if both parties are reasonable. My neighbor/friend just bought another neighbors house this way, and it worked out well for both of them.

[preppy]

Jul 21, 2020 15:43:02 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

Do you agree on the market value of the house? That is the biggest reason I see to use a realtor, along with negotiating any repairs or terms. I would get a survey to make sure there are no random easements or other issues (Sometimes required by mortgage holder or state, but not always), an inspection regardless of whether I would ask for repairs, an appraisal will be required for the mortgage, but I would look at as many comps as you can to make sure the price is reasonable, and get an OWNERS title insurance policy, not just the one your lender will have. It can work if both parties are reasonable. My neighbor/friend just bought another neighbors house this way, and it worked out well for both of them.

Compared to other listed houses I think they are honestly undervaluing it by about 15k and I def think its fair but I think thats a good call to look at the other actual closing prices in the area vs just the listed prices. Survey is also a good idea I didn't think of. The friends are very reasonable and we trust them so I have high hopes for it to work well and I am happy it worked for your neighbors but I want to make sure we are being smart about it! 

[wanderingback]

Jul 21, 2020 15:47:29 GMT -5 preppy said:

Jul 21, 2020 15:43:02 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

Do you agree on the market value of the house? That is the biggest reason I see to use a realtor, along with negotiating any repairs or terms. I would get a survey to make sure there are no random easements or other issues (Sometimes required by mortgage holder or state, but not always), an inspection regardless of whether I would ask for repairs, an appraisal will be required for the mortgage, but I would look at as many comps as you can to make sure the price is reasonable, and get an OWNERS title insurance policy, not just the one your lender will have. It can work if both parties are reasonable. My neighbor/friend just bought another neighbors house this way, and it worked out well for both of them.

Compared to other listed houses I think they are honestly undervaluing it by about 15k and I def think its fair but I think thats a good call to look at the other actual closing prices in the area vs just the listed prices. Survey is also a good idea I didn't think of. The friends are very reasonable and we trust them so I have high hopes for it to work well and I am happy it worked for your neighbors but I want to make sure we are being smart about it! 

Like I said above I am/was pretty clueless about buying houses, but the person who got us our mortgage sent out the person that did appraisals for the neighborhood properties to assess value. (I think all that is the correct term). So yeah I don't think you have to have a realtor to do that specific part either. 

[Poppy]

We bought our home without a realtor. Here in CO there is a standard contract and I had a friend who had done it a year before who helped guide me.

We did hire a lawyer to look over the paperwork for peace of mind but he didn't really add anything useful in our case (again, standard contract so there wasn't much to change).

We did use an inspector (a friend recommended one they'd used) and the mortgage company required an appraisal (the contract has clauses to end the contract if financing cannot be obtained).

Everything went smoothly. We've been here a decade. No regrets!

[tiki]

We bought last year and our realtor was only responsible for submitting offers / communicating with other agents and recommending vendors such as a home inspector, mortgage broker and lawyer since we were clueless. If there is no bidding process, no other agent involved, and you know how to find those other professionals, then I don't see a need for a buyer's agent.

[thejackpot]

I bought my first property without a realtor. My cousin rented it and then the owners wanted to sell and I was in the market. I got a great deal and I only needed an attorney for the paperwork. I did get it appraised and inspected. I still own it and rent it out. It was perfect for me.

[bugandbibs]

We did this and used a real estate attorney. We pulled comps and agreed on a price lower than that. They sellers still came out ahead because none of the sale price went to pay realtor fees. We got a good deal.

We did do an inspection and the homeowner fixed a few minor things. They wouldn’t have been deal breakers, but it was nice to not have to fix it ourselves.

[minzy]

We’ve bought twice without a realtor with no regrets. (We have used them to sell twice though.) My husband has some work experience with commercial real estate and one of his hobbies/personality facets (haha) is tracking markets and “striking” when there’s a good deal. The first time we bought from a (still) trusted family member and it was the smoothest process imaginable. The title company was helpful for some of the odds and ends. The second time we identified the property on our own and my husband knew the local market better than the sellers’ out of town realtor did. We used our lack of commission requirement as a bargaining chip and were able to get a great deal on the house.

It sounds like a decent opportunity for you guys to save some money and your friends to save some hassle. I’d definitely consider going without in your shoes.

[lo]

It was a PITA and stressful for our us to purchase without a buying agent. We bought a house from our neighbor, and we thought we had agreed on terms, but stuff came up. She started being super shady and doing things that weren’t standard. Since we had no agents, I had to deal with it all. Our real estate lawyer helped us, but she wasn’t an agent, obviously. I ended up getting some help with wording and writing our final offer from a real estate agent friend. In the end it was fine, but I was tired of pretending to be nice and calm to a neighbor that was constantly freaking out about stuff and acting like we were trying to take advantage of her. We don’t wave to her in the street anymore, lol.

We sold our house at the same time by owner and that went as smoothly as could be! We allowed a buyers agent and paid the standard percentage to him. Under contract in 4 days.