5 Things To Think About If You Aren’t Going To Use A Real Estate Agent To Buy A Home

There are some people who just can’t stand real estate agents.  I get it.  Rather than go over all the reasons why it would be a good idea to have an experienced real estate agent working on your behalf when you decide to buy the home of your dreams, let’s go over 5 things to think about if you aren’t going to use a real estate agent to buy a home.

1. Price What is the asking price of the home you are looking for?  How does that price line up with other sold prices in the immediate area?  Where will you be getting your data?  Is it reliable?  I’ve mentioned in the past that maybe Zillow isn’t the best way to start a home search, because those listings are what is active, not what is sold.

 

2. Seller motivation Why is the seller selling? If the seller has to get out of town quickly, that would be good to know.  If the home seller ran out of money and the electricity hasn’t been on in months, you are going to have repair costs.  As buyer’s agents, sometimes we get the info directly from the home seller, and sometimes we don’t.  We often have a good sense of what is going on with the seller after years of experience of seeing houses in various stages of disrepair.

 

3. Likely Repairs Are you getting a home inspector to take a look at the house before you agree to purchase it?  That money might be the best you’ve ever spent if it shows serious defects in the home.  I’ve seen plenty of little old ladies and men play games with what is really wrong with the home.  I’ve also had clients that didn’t feel like they needed a home inspection only to find out months later that there were many things wrong with a home that even a terrible home inspector would have found.  While it’s true that no inspector is going to find everything, they are worth having.

 

4. Financing How are you going to buy this house?  Will it be straight cash?  If not, who will be your lender?  Do you have any experience working with a lender?  Do you think all lenders are the same?  If you aren’t careful, you will be paying more and you’ll have no idea.

 

5. Title Do you know what title insurance is?  A lot of buyers don’t.  They find out quickly what title insurance does when there’s a contractor who’s put a lien on the home due to a job they haven’t been paid for by the previous owner.  An individual can easily find a title company, but again, how do you know which title company is the combination of the best price and service?

Given that the home seller is usually paying a commission for the buyer’s agent to bring a buyer, I don’t understand why anyone would want to try to buy a home without representation.  To me, it seems like you are taking a needless risk, especially if you have a quality real estate agent to represent you.

If you’ve been looking at homes for sale in St. Louis through Zillow, going to open houses, and listening hard for the “word on the street”, I’d ask that you give us a call at Deerwood Realty.  We can save you time and money, and it costs you nothing.