buying a house being sold by owner

[nick__45]

Thanks, I don't know why I thought it might be a little tacky to negotiate directly with the seller - LOL.

It is tacky to negogiate with the seller directly because the realtors and your teachers through-out grade-school as well as your congressmen and TV personalities tell you it is TACKY. A lot of time realtors make sellers and buyers look like bad guys.

[MonkeyMama]

Personally, I would not buy a house without a realtor. A top notch realtor. We looked at plenty of FSBO properties with a realtor. They may frown on paying your realtor, but at the end of the day, the best offer is all that matters.

(As far as lawyers - that is regional. In California, the title company handles the legalities. I am aware that in other states, lawyers are customary for real estate transactions).

I will be cheap with anything, except when it comes to legal advice and real estate transactions.

I truly believe our realtor saved us a FORTUNE when buying our home, with her knowledge and expertise. On the flip side, don't hire a bad realtor! Our unintentional home buying M.O. has been to sniff out "too good to be true" deals. They always have a really awful selling realtor on the other end. (One who is paid pennies, or too busy to care much about their clients). Having a top notch realtor, in comparison, has swayed me prfoundly. I know we have saved tens of thousands more than we spent on our realtor.

Kelly jef - I'd hire a REALLY GOOD realtor to represent you.

[KellyJef]

Personally, I would not buy a house without a realtor. We looked at plenty of FSBO properties with a realtor. They may frown on paying your realtor, but at the end of the day, the best offer is all that matters.

Since we are not working with a realtor (we weren't really ready to buy just yet but this house became available and we knew it would not last long and was pretty much exactly what we want) and we know the owner of the house and have already made her a verbal offer which they accepted, I assume what we need now is to find a lawyer.

However, when we put our house on the market (within the next two weeks), we do plan on using a realtor.

[snafu]

We bought our 1st home FSBO and it was a gem. The seller provided all the paperwork [there is a lot] and we used a lawyer to review the documents before we signed to make certain everything was correct. Some lawyer's fee is based the value of the purchase, not the time/work required, so ask about fees in advance and choose a lawyer who is referred by someone whose judgement you trust. I hope you remembered to include home inspection as a condition of purchase. You need to write in any details like drapes, appliances, or anything at all you want. The seller has the option of saying NO.

We've used a realtor for our last two homes. The most valuable service provided was comparable Solds to nail down the price. Realtors were needed when we transferred across the country with less than a week to make the decision. As a seller, choose your realtor carefully. It is a good idea to have at least three realtors view your property and give you a written proposal on how they would market your home, their listing price recommendations and how they came to that figure. You need to decide for yourself if you permit Open House.

Keep in mind the asking price and selling price are only vaguely related. Homes are fair priced only at what a willing buyer and willing seller say it's worth! Realtors have a formula for their fee which the seller pays but it is NOT written in stone. They can adjust their commission downward. My pet peeve with realtors is that they pressure the seller to accept offers, no matter how silly. The realtor works on commission and is only paid when the property is sold. They often try to scare the seller saying the buyer will 'walk away.' Nonsense, they can be called and asked to return to the 'table' if nothing better turns up in a couple of weeks.

I don't know where you live but for security, I think Americans need someone else in the house when showing to strangers.

[cicy33]

In IL we use Attorneys for real estate transactions. The title company is seperate and chosen by the Seller or Sellers Attorney. Some states do not use Attorneys for real estate transactions. KellyJef which state do you live in? Forgot that people on here could be from all over the country. Oops.

I also live in Illinois and we recently bought two houses through owners and did not use a lawyer. We went through a title company. It really isn't much different than buying a car. (a little more paperwork!) we were paying cash (not that expensive on the first one) so perhaps if a bank were involved there would be more requirements but still I wouldn't think a lawyer. Lots of people buy houses with real estate agents being their only contact here. We didn't need a house check of any kind on the first one other than the title search which the title company handled. the house we bought was in serious disrepair so we knew it was crap! We are in process of repairing it now.

The second house we bought we did contract for deed initially. Then due to a death we were able to pay it off in a few months. again, we still only used the title company. They do all the research and everything. We didn't need to get an appraisal, or termite check or any of those things since we weren't going through a bank. We did do some checking but we felt that the price was right so an appraisal wasn't necessary. 2 bedroom, 2 car garage, large backyard. 68,000.

[fiscallyprudent]

i highly recommend that you talk to a real estate agent, even if it's a consulting session - they'll usually do these free of charge. Call your largest privately owned company and ask for an agent that's mid-high producer. I've heard many stories of people missing FSBO documents, or doing things in a way that will bite them later.

[KellyJef]

We went through a title company.

How do you find a title company (they aren't listed in the phonebook)?

[cicy33]

How do you find a title company (they aren't listed in the phonebook)?

I was able to find them under the listing title and abstract companies.

[jdavis103]

I think, it's even better to buy a house sold by owner as you won't have to pay additional charges for realtor's service and will be able to save some money. Just be careful with signing the papers. Good luck.

Realtors only charge the seller, not the buyer. Hopefully the OP made an offer several percent lower than otherwise, because that's the only way they're saving money by avoiding using a Realtor for their half of the transaction..

(in other words, just because a house is FSBO doesn't mean the buyer can't use a realtor.. Too late now in this case, of course, but for future reference)

[cicy33]

Realtors only charge the seller, not the buyer. Hopefully the OP made an offer several percent lower than otherwise, because that's the only way they're saving money by avoiding using a Realtor for their half of the transaction..

(in other words, just because a house is FSBO doesn't mean the buyer can't use a realtor.. Too late now in this case, of course, but for future reference)

While this is true, the buyer can have closing costs too. I think this is something that people forget. It is still important to read everything and check things before signing papers. It is worth doing a title search before signing if you are not using a Realtor. It is better to find out the problem now versus 20 years down the road and you lose your house.