Realtor Question???

[Pembo]

If you've been using a realtor to find a home and you see one that is For Sale by Owner. Do you tell your realtor?

Do you use your realtor for the paperwork? How would she get paid?

Just trying to cover all my options............

 

[Sonya]

Yes, we did and we almost bought a FSBO house. Our realtor said they would work something out, that the homeowner should pay our realtor but they might not. Depends on how hard they want to sell their house. If the homeowners wouldn't pay then we might have to. Some realtors won't even give their clients the option.
Oh, our realtor said that if the homeowner had a problem selling to us with our realtor, then our realtor would step aside and we could buy it on our own. What a nice guy! Of course he is a good friend of ours!
We lost the house, but it was for the best.

 

[helenabear]

We also bought our house FSBO and I must say that I cannot imagine trying to go through eveything w/o him. He did an excellent job and he did get paid by the owners. To make the deal go, he took 1/3 off his payout as well. That way the homeowners were happy and we were too. Our realtor was a friend of ours from church too so he was very cool about everything.

 

[ToyStory Fan]

No offense to any of the realtors out here on the DIS, but if it is FSBO, then call up yourself or ring the bell...why would you throw away extra money to a realtor for nothing....they aren't doing anything for you they didn't find the house, they didn't show the house and I certainly would never trust a realtors opinion of the overall condition of a house...that's why you pay an independent engineer to inspect the house.

Given the choice, I'd not deal with a realtor at all. In the 2 times we have shopped for a home (our current, and looking now) the realtors constantly try to convince you that you can "work" with what they are showing you...not really paying attention to what you asked to be shown....I don't know about you guys/gals, but I don't have the time or desire to be shown something that doesn't fit my criteria.

So to answer your question I'd go without the realtor, they are not going to show you anything, since they haven't had the "realtors preview" day at the house, it may be the first time they are seeing it too...so save yourself some money and skip them on a FSBO house.

If any of you actually think that the seller pays the commission on the house then come take a look at mine...I promise I won't jack up the price to cover the commission check I'll have to write out.

 

[Pembo]

Wow ToyStoryFan sounds like you had a really bad experience with realtors. Thanks for your opinions.

Ours is a real gem. If the house is terrible she isn't afraid to say something like "let's move on". (She can't say it's a dump )

I've e-mailed our realtor and told her that we are looking at a FSBO and asked what her policy is. It would be very nice to have her to help with all the paperwork if this is the house we choose. I'll just wait and see what she says.

Any more opinions???????????/

 

[jfulcer]

I wouldn't get your realtor involved. Your realtor is there to help your find the house (but you found it), help arrange home inspections (which you can do VERY easily) and help walk you through the sale and try to deal for you. So by taking a little responsibility, you can save yourself thousands of dollars.

You can get a real estate lawyer involved and only have to pay a couple hundred for him to do all the sale paperwork. KimRaye is works with Real Estate lawyers, you may wish to PM her and ask for her thoughts on using a lawyer for this stuff...

 

[Steve H.]

We bought our house FSBO and will likely be selling it FSBO this summer. We didn't notify our realtor when we looked at the house and we worked through all the details ourselves. FIL talked to a realtor friend of his and they sent him sample offer documents and talked to a lawyer in order to get a few other contract documents we used.

As far as closing, etc., the title company that the homeowner's chose handled all those details -- they specialized in FSBO as well.

 

[Pembo]

Thank you for the info.

And Steve, I love the new pic in your sig!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

It's completely up to you Pembo, as long as you are willing to pay her fees. Many FSBO sellers are not going to be willing to pay -- the main reason for listing your house FSBO is to save on the Realtor fee! Your Mortgage Officer, a Real Estate Lawyer, and/or your Title Company can also help you with any of the paperwork that needs to be completed.

I would definately get a good Home Inspection on any house I bought, regardless of whether I used a Realtor or not.

 

[cheshirekitty]

I am a realtor and when I work with customers, I actually call FSBOs myself and ask if they will work with me if I bring them customers. Generally, if they have been trying to sell their home with no success, they will gladly pay me a small percentage. If they won't work with me, I will still tell my customers about it. When I get a new customer, I always tell them to keep an eye out for FSBOs and to not just rely on me....if they find one, they tell me and I set up appts with the homeowners to visit...if they will work with me. Don't forget that a good realtor has a lot of experience with negotiating and may be able to get you a better price than you would alone.

 

[Steve H.]

Thanks Pembo!

BTW, Gateway Title is who did our closing and who we'll be using for our home sale.