DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Has anyone bought a house from owner, no real estate agent?

Hey guys,

Going to my best helpful advice forum i've got. At 32 years old, one thing I've come to understand is there's plenty of people on this message board that know a lot more than I do about all sorts of things.

First off, if you don't want the backstory, just go to the end, i appreciate any advice i can get.


Anyway, my wife and I have been shopping for a home. We bought a small 1BR condo a couple years ago, but we want to move up and get a home that we can raise a family in.


So we've been searching in Southwestern CT (On the water, near NYC) and it's one of the lowest value, home-wise, areas you can find. Ungodly expensive for what you get. But my wife's career depends on her being here. She can't get a job in Cleveland in what she does. But NYC and Stamford, CT offer her the environment she needs.

We are staying here though because our families live here (hers and mine), and her career is here. And I like her working and making good money. Best thing that's ever happened for us



So we've been looking at homes in the area, like really in the area. Right near where me and my parents live now, and we were about to make an offer on a home we kind of liked (but really liked the location of).

But right before making the offer, I finally got the guts up to knock on someone's door of another house that I really like. I walk by this one all the time with my dog, it's very close to my parents, but far enough that my wife has a bit of room. But if in the middle of the night, my father falls or starts bleeding, like he has. My mother can call the house, and my wife or I can literally run over there within 3 minutes, get the car packed with whoever is coming and go to the hospital. This is very important to me. My father is about 77, has heart problems, and he isn't in the best health. So this house I always walk by is the perfect location, and the outside of it looks great.


So I knock on this guys house, and it's an 86 year old man, that i recognize from the church I grew up at. His wife had died two years earlier (which is just awful, i really hope I die before my wife does, I mean, it makes you wanna cry. He must have been with her forever. Three years later, he still has a table set up as a memorial to her). Anyway, he was already going to have put the house on the market and work his way to an assisted living, but he was waiting for his son to retire and come help him put the house on the market.

So the guy let me in, and I went inside the house, loved it. I mean, this is the one. No question about it. I don't care what it takes, this house has gotta be mine. This will be where I raise my family. The yard is perfect. I know where to put the basketball hoop. It's small, but the bedrooms are big enough, and there's four of them. It has a screened in porch, a deck, a big kitchen. It's wonderful. Garage that will fit my Honda Pilot (which is harder to find than you think). It's got it all. Small side street that it's on, quiet neighborhood. I can watch my kids walk to my parents from the front yard (with my parents watching on their balcony).



So my plan is to try to make everything as easy for this guy as possible. No need to hire a realtor. I'll purchase the house as-is on the contingency that there is no major results from an inspection. I just gotta make sure the thing aint fallin down. But everything about the house looks like it's had plenty of TLC. He can take all the time he wants closing on the thing too. I'd have to make sure it works, but i already own a condo that we're living in, and we're not in a major rush to leave. So if he needs time, we can give him plenty of time.




Other than hiring a lawyer, getting a loan pre-approval, what else does one need to buy a home with no realtor on either side? He said he'd take an offer, and the house doesn't have to go on the market. He just has to go over it with his son (since it's his son's inheritance, lol). I figure we would need a home inspection. And the rest that's needed, the bank will really let me know about. That or the lawyer.



Is there anything else that I might be forgetting that I'd need? Also, how do you go about asking an 86 year old guy to ask his son what he values a house at? Do you think I'd be best giving him an offer or asking if I can talk to his son?

Like I've said, I can't screw this up because this is the one. It's destiny, or at least I have to make it destiny.

I'm not a real estate expert by any means, but I do remember this advice when I bought my house: find a realtor that will write up the contract for you "under the table." They don't need to do anything besides write it up ... it cost me like $500, but it was definitely worth it. You can represent yourself at the closing and with the bank, but there were so many details that I didn't know about ... it made it much smoother (and not very expensive).

Also, maybe just approach the son yourself? Not sure how close you are with the family.

The son lives in North Carolina. The guy is from my parents old church. Catholic. He was a reader and is an usher. His wife ran the bingo (my mom worked with her it turns out, lol). He said he recognizes me from when I was an Altar Boy. I was an Altar Boy for like 9 years. I've done all the masses. Spanish, French, English. Easter, Christmas, Stations of the Cross. Weddings and Funerals. I was a pro, lol


EDIT:

So I can get a realtor to do just this and not pay them a commission? I thought a real estate attorney does the contract?

Aren't there certain things that only a licensed realtor is allowed to do regarding a home sale/purchase?

I thought that was the case, but I'm out here in CA.

Don't know too much about buying without a realtor, it's basically just contract negotiations like 'such and such will be included in the sale' or 'this and that will be repaired before the sale'.

But asking his son what he values the house at is irrelevant. Unless you have the cash and will just give him his asking price out of your own pocket (don't do that), your mortgage company appointed real estate appraiser will determine the houses value based on condition and current market conditions.

Which is why you don't just throw money at the guy, cause if he wants more that it's worth, you're already under water. Don't want that.

I know that people buy homes with no realtors all the time. Buying the home nowadays, I see no reason not to use a seller's realtor, as long as the seller is okay with it. With Realtor.Com and Zillow.Com, a buying realtor wasn't worth much to me. I felt like she only slowed things down.


In this case, the house wouldn't even have to go on the market. No need to stage, no need to do anything. He moves out and I move in

EDIT: Looking it up, I think the contract is made by a Real Estate Attorney. I've already got one of those

Of course an appraiser could change everything.

I think I have a general idea of what the home is worth. And I imagine an appraiser would see that based on the other homes in the neighborhood and the square footage price it's somewhere in the same ballpark. With 10% down, i think it gives enough leeway, that I'd be okay.

That would come after I'd put in an offer that was accepted though (at least, that's what I would like to happen).

I think if you hire a lawyer, you should be fine. They'll know which forms and such you'll need if any and will be able to answer any questions you should have. The lender will also take care of most of the dirty work for title and escrow and such.

I had a friend who bought his house (in California) without realtors, and said it was a fairly simple process once he found the house and a lawyer that dealt in real-estate.

Pay in cash, all pennies.

That's what I'm thinking. I wonder if i should call the lawyer I did my condo with, tell him what i want to do, and see what he says. That is, after i get a pre-approval

Agreed. A good attorney and a good home inspector are what you need. You've already found the house, no point in paying a realtor. You might want to touch base with a local realtor to make sure there aren't any zoning changes in the works, local mineral rights issues, rule out being in a floodplain and whatnot.

I'll have to look into that about those kinds of things. I wonder if they're available with internet service.

I'm just nervous about a real estate agent because i don't want them to talk me into using them. That's the type of thing that'll happen to me. Talk to a real estate agent, they explain why i should hire them, i get nervous, and bam, i have a real estate agent i didn't want in the first place

Best to get your own licensed realtor (maybe a friend) that works just for you regardless if the seller has a realtor or not. Negotiate a closing fee with them, make sure they don't sign on the seller as a client during the sale in the contract. Buy a 1 year buyers insurance plan that covers all mechanical s. AC/Appliances/Furnace and such. Have the house inspected by a licensed inspector. Don't mess around and get stuck with a money pit. The money you spend upfront protecting yourself will pay off I guarantee it. Best of luck.

I am not disagreeing that you can't do this w/out a real estate agent, but why even take the chance. A home is the biggest investment you will ever make [for most of us] and why chance things by making a mistake.

We are in the process of buying a lake home and our realtor has been invaluable.

I bought a condo back in 2002 from a friend. It was quite simple, to be honest. I went to a local place that has generic contracts and bought a couple blank real estate contracts. We agreed on a price and both signed the document. From a legal perspective, that was all we needed to do (that I can recall).

Financially, the financing company and title office did their magic and just told me what I needed to get for them.

Understood. My condo I bought a couple years ago, I had a realtor. She was a good friend of mine. And honestly, she brought nothing to the table at all. We found the place ourselves.

She was a liason for signing of documents and stuff, but in reality, I felt that this all could have been done through attorney and a home inspection. The rest with my mortgage company.



This house I'm looking at is at the far end of my budget. I plan to offer up to $500k for it. And that, IMO, is a good price considering that it's 1700 square feet on .3 acres in the neighborhood it's in, and with the elementary school that it's districted to. This house, with a real estate agent IMO would probably sell for over 500k$

With no real estate agent, the seller saves the 5% fee (which would be 25k$). There's no staging of the house. There's nothing more than him moving out and me moving in. He's owned the home since 1952 (and it's a good home, that clearly has been cared for), and i'm hoping to go about it ensuring that I won't knock it down (like a bunch of houses on that street). That I won't go after him for things on the home inspection that aren't major. That I'm in no rush to leave my condo that i'm living at now, and that I'm pretty flexible in any type of closing date. Also, that like him, it's the place where I'll start my family.

The guy wants to sell his home, but he's lived there a ridiculously long time. He's got a lot of memories there. It's as if he hasn't changed anything since his wife has passed. He's got his memorial to her, and it looks as if the pictures she placed of their sons haven't been moved. lol, there's still hearts attached to their shudders.

Honestly, if he gets an agent, I just don't know if I'll be able to afford this home. And, when you have a selection of just a few streets, and only a few homes on them that you can afford that have more than two bedrooms, I really want to make this one happen.


So that's what i'm hoping. No real estate agents involved, and no 5% fee to the seller (and thus, buy the house for less).



I'm pretty set on this house and this location. Being near my retired parents would be a big relief for my wife, assuming we are able to have children. My parents want grandkids, and my wife could probably use some help, as I'm a sailor and gone half the year

EDIT: I'm also an only child and so being near my parents is a major priority to me. Especially with my father. Like i've said, his health isn't great. Having them as such a major part of my life has been wonderful the past couple years since i've lived close by, and I'd like to still live close by (just not AS close as I am. Literally, i'm across the yard. I don't mind it, but it's getting to my wife kinda)

I recently bought a home too, and I feel like the realtor didn't bring a lot to the table. The biggest thing they can do for you is show you the home, since they have access to the key boxes and coordinate with the sellers agent for a good time to see the house without occupants in it.

They'll normally do the "shopping" for you and find you houses with the criteria you are looking for, but with the invention of websites like Redfin and others, you can do the shopping yourself. I remember finding things on Redfin all the time, and then contacting the Agent about it to arrange a viewing.

Once you pick a house, they can really help to negotiate a price with the sellers' agent. They'll "usually" make sure that you're getting a fair deal, just as the seller's agent will try to get the best price they can as well. Sometimes, I feel like Buyers' agents don't have the best intentions here, as they get more money if you purchase the house for a higher value.

After all that, most of it is taken care of by the lending company. The one I used scheduled everything, including the appraisal and home-inspection. The got the escrow and title stuff taken care of as well.

I honestly didn't feel like I needed the Agent for much. We looked up the house ourselves, bid what we wanted to bid on it, accepted the counter-offer, and worked directly with the lender to take care of everything else. If you don't think you need to arrange a viewing of the house or negotiate a price, then you're probably alright. You'll probably want to get a basic contract drawn up by a lawyer so that you get the sale price locked in, but after that, the lender should probably help the most after that.

2 things:

1) Get a home inspection so you know exactly what you're buying.

2) Hire a lawyer to read through the contract.

You'll have t go to closing, so figure out who's paying for that, and how. (cash, wrapped into the total price of the house, etc)

Make sure that any stipulations are in the contract. (appliances stay, hole in roof fixed, etc) Make sure than any contracted repairs are done before closing.

That's all my feeble mind can think of at this moment.

- Home inspection, of course.

- Got the lawyer covered already. Contacted him yesterday and he knows what's going on. Same guy I used buying my condo, and same one i'll use when I sell my condo as well.

- I'm pre-approved to my max amount, so i plan on going to talk to the guy tomorrow about getting a firm asking price.


As for the closing, solid points. My wife was at our condo closing, I was at work, trying to pay for the closing costs, lol. But we'll certainly need to have all that figured out.

That exactly how I feel. With Realtor.Com and Zillow, the MLS listings are all posted over the internet. My wife and I aren't in any huge rush, and we aren't moving to a new area. So all that is no big deal. Most sellers are okay using their realtor (if a realtor has to be involved), and I feel like there's more motivation for the realtor to get a deal done so they can get a larger portion of the 5% (some of it pays for overhead of their office, etc.)



In this case, I found the home by knocking on the guy's door. All the heavy lifting is done. From what I remember, besides sending me the contract, the realtor did very little (except letting me in the house). A good attorney and a solid mortgage broker, and we should be fine I think.

I just have to find a good home inspection service, but I have enough friends in real estate investment, that I think that shouldn't be a problem either

Congratulations!

I would recommend an aggressive home inspection and repairs before closing. We did this in part during price chatting. Code stuff got done, some waited.

Lawyer still a must. Use your own. Is this a land contract situation?

Fees to be paid and by whom is important. Also title and lien checks. Definitely doable!
Enjoy the new digs.

Quick heads up. My last house was built in '54. At some point in the house's history new insulation had been laid in the attic. Unfortunately it was laid over the old vermiculite insulation. The inspector didn't look under the newer stuff to find it. We found it during a bathroom remodel. Vermiculite was commonly used insulation in the 50's. Unfortunately it often contained high levels of asbestos. As ours did. Cost about $4000 to abate. Plus another chunk of change, and a lot of miserably hot sweaty itchy work to reinsulate. (Man that job sucked.)
When I had my current house, built in '52, inspected I specifically asked the inspector to check for a similar issue. Thankfully no vermiculite was found. If had been it would have changed my offer to offset the abatement cost.
Just something to consider looking into.

I wasn't trying to argue. I thought you were asking for advice in your original post. That is why I responded. I wasn't looking to debate the topic. If your mind is made-up, why bother asking?

Oh, just wanted to make sure there's nothing i'm forgetting, that's all.



And I wasn't arguing. I try not to get upset or make anything argumentative/personal on this message board.

Only time I got upset was when 40whatevertheheck his name is said something racist about hispanics/illegal immigrants, and my wife is a hispanic and at one point would be considered illegal (her green card expired when she was 17 and she was illegal for a couple years), and I took it personally and called him a name, which I don't regret calling him, because that's what he is.


But he's on the ignore list anyway.......


So yeah, i appreciate any thoughts or opinions. And sometimes my responses (which you might see as debating), is helping me reaffirm what I want to do and helping me think. But yeah, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything

Yeah, that's cool.

I wasn't trying to change your mind or anything. I probably misunderstood the intent of your original post.

I would never buy a house without an agent unless your agree to buy "as is" without inspection with full knowledge you may be in for some hefty repairs and only those with properties UNDER 20k. I have bought two houses that way and it turned out great for me. One house was 8,000 and I put 12k into repairs and rented it out and now fixing to sell it off for a big profit. The other was 14k and I put 8k into it and I live in it right now it's valued at 80k now.

For more important properties you gain a lot of resources from major real estate agents and their ability to hire reputable inspectors and gain the muscle to handle problems if they should arise because they are on YOUR side.

I would also urge EXTREME caution in buying any home you think is your dream home because that can blind you to faults in the house that could be quite costly.

Either way I hope you have great success with the purchase of your new home =)