Should I get a Buyers Agent?

[MamaMac]

I think I already know the answer to this, but would like some feedback please.

 

We went under contract to purchase a property in July 2009 contigent on them finding another property. They still have not found a property, so my husband has been looking at property listings on line from Afghanistan. He found one he wanted me to go look at and I reluctantly agreed thinking I could find something to not like about this property. The house is smallish, but doable. It's the fact that it has all the outbuildings we need and a large shop for him to work in.

 

Husband now wants me to put in an offer. We are already preapproved FHA and loan guy said no problem to up the pre-approval amount from what we asked for to purchase the first property.

 

Here is where I am getting hung up. We didn't enlist the help of an agent for the first property as it is my sister and bil's place and we have not been actively look for other properties. Now with this new property the agent that showed it to me disclosed that it is HIS property, his daughter is the listing agent, which I don't have problem with. However, I am thinking I shouldn't be doing this on my own.

 

What should I be looking for in an agent, are they not going to want to help if I have already found the property, and how much should I reasonably expect to pay?

 

We have no shortage of realtors to call, but I am wondering what questions I should be asking of them I guess. (I know, same ones I am asking here, but I would appreciate some feedback before I start calling around)

 

Thanks.

[MamaMac]

I should add that with my sister's property we completed all the paperwork ourselves and submitted to our LO. That went off without a hitch, it cleared underwritting for that specific property ok. It is also ok for us to back out of that contract now.

 

I know I need an agent on my side to help me out, I am not comfortable submitting our offer on my own as I am almost positive that it will appraise for less than our offer and we are thinking of offering almost $20,000 less than asking. Appraisal less than offer is good for us I know, unless seller won't come down and if that is the case we walk and keep looking.

 

If I could get some ideas of what questions I should ask when calling around, and what a ballpark % for fees could be I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

[800FICO1]

If you are not that well versed in real estate it would be advisable to get a buyers agent so that you have someone that will present your offers and fight for your best interests, also a buyers agent will be there to answer any questions you may not understand. As the sellers agent is working for the seller to get the best and highest price for the property and will lie to you (i.e.) saying other offers are on the table when none are in an attempt to inflate the sales price to make more of a commission *NOT ALL WILL DO THIS* some will do this..... and take advantage of an inexperienced buyer such as yourself because they would not be able to do these things with a buyers agent because they both know the same things. I've seen it all....or most.

 

As for your offer, offer what you are only comfortable with BUT the seller may be wanting one price and the bank appraisal comes in for less then what they are asking for the property. My advice would be not to make an offer on a property and immediately have negative equity going into the deal I've known individuals that have done this very thing and have been burned. The home is being offered at $315,000 but the bank appraisal comes back at $269,000 but the buyer won't budge on price.....walk away. You may love the property but you must not do deals like these making up the difference in price IMHO. Starting with negative equity is always a bad deal...

 

Many other deals out there for you but you must find them.

 

Good luck to you

[MamaMac]

Thank you for the input. That is exactly what I was thinking, since I don't know too much. I was comfortable with my sisters place and doing what we did because they had just done a refi the previous year, so we worked the price off of that. Her property is worth what we were/are going to pay.

 

We are going FHA and I don't think they will allow us negative equity anyway. I am prepared to walk if the seller won't come down to appraisal, husband not so sure, but their is nothing I can do about that. We are looking for an acreage, and unfortunately there are only 3 listed in our whole school district. If we have to wait, we have to wait.

 

Thanks again.

[Bloody but Unbowed]

You are correct FHA will not allow the negative equity as far as loan amount is considered. Also be prepared for the owner (realtor) and listing agent (daughter) to have emotional attachment to the home as far as when the time comes for negotiation on price and issues. MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR OWN REALTOR ... There wont be any fees for you and the owners should have set his price to cover it.

[MamaMac]

Ok, I found a realtor I think I will like working with. He is very calming, I think I am going to need that. :-) I have no idea why I am so nervous, I shouldn't be. We are going to look at the property on Friday, and go from there.

 

As far as the realtor and daughter are concerned, thanks for the heads up. I have looked at the property once already and will see it again Friday, but I am not "attatched" to it I guess you could say. If we have to walk then it will be my husband that will be heartbroken.

[Brian B The Loan Professor]

Agree - if the home is listed with an agent the seller has already worked the cost of your agent into the price

Also by default you are working with the sellers agent if you do not have your own rep. However the selling agent will always have the seller as their first priority

use the agent and dont look back

 

Good Luck hope it all goes smooth

[800FICO1]

Agree - if the home is listed with an agent the seller has already worked the cost of your agent into the price

Also by default you are working with the sellers agent if you do not have your own rep. However the selling agent will always have the seller as their first priority

use the agent and dont look back

 

Good Luck hope it all goes smooth

 

+1 couldn't have said it better myself.

[MamaMac]

Agree - if the home is listed with an agent the seller has already worked the cost of your agent into the price

Also by default you are working with the sellers agent if you do not have your own rep. However the selling agent will always have the seller as their first priority

use the agent and dont look back

 

Good Luck hope it all goes smooth

 

+1 couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

Yes, I knew the listing agent will look out for the seller and in this particular instance the agent is the seller. I just did not like my odds on this one. :-)

 

I made the agent/seller mad I think. When he called me," to see if I had anymore questions since they are going to show it again", he had talked to my agent because he had called to set the appt. for Friday already. When I actually confirmed that I had gotten my own agent, you would have thought I lawyered up. :-) He actually said to me "well that is what we are for", I can tell this is going to be fun.

 

I like the house, I like the set up and I can see us growing old together there, but I don't have to have it. Something else will come along, if this one doesn't work out. (Is this a typical attitude for a woman to have?)

[Bloody but Unbowed]

The reason the agent got upset is they thought that they were going to "double dip" on the commision. That basically means that if the home was sold with 2 agents and there was usual 6% commission expected then 3 goes to seller agent and 3 to buyer. If you were to buy from the seller agent (thats what you would have done initially) then that agent would get all 6% of the home sale price as their commission.

[MamaMac]

The commission is part of it I am sure. I think the main reason is he was thinking that I wouldn't know to ask for concession or what to include in the offer, say like the engine hoist in the shop, since it is attatched to a main beam, little stuff like that. I think he thought I wasn't going to know any better. I don't, that's why I went and got my own agent. I may be dumb, but I ain't stupid.

[insomniac81]

I'm going through a similar situation. Landlady died a couple months ago, brother handling the estate wants to sell to us. He's got an agent managing our rental now, and she's also acting as the seller's agent. She pushed dual agency when we sat down to talk last week; we're not comfortable with that. So now we have our own agent but we haven't broken the news to her yet... this should go well. :-(

[MamaMac]

Well we put in our offer on this place today. He has until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow to do his thing, so we will see how mad I made him I guess. :-)