realtor

Did a quick search and did not see any posts on the topic of buying a house without using a realtor. If there is one please direct me to the forum, if not looking for some advice. We sold our house a year ago and are currently renting. We will be looking to buy a house in south Florida in the next 6-12 months, no urgency. I realize that the seller pays the buyers realtor commission almost always, so the common answer I get is “use a realtor you are not paying for it”. To which I say I am paying for it, the seller knows they have to pay typically 6% to realtor fees on the sale of their home and price accordingly (I know I did, although my realtor only charged us 1.5% so it was 4.5%). My theory is, if I don’t use a realtor will I be able to save that 3%? On a $300,000 house that is $9000, a significant amount of money. I assume the downfalls of no realtor is the process would take longer, as could not drive around looking at houses and going into look at them. We would have to wait for the sellers agent to let us in. We would pay for the home inspection anyway so not losing that value by not using realtor. As far a doing comps, which is what realtors often site as their area of expertise, I am confident I could do a comparable job of finding comps and asking a fair price. Although in this market especially in south florida there are so many house available I plan on trying to offer a low ball offer on many houses and see who bites? Also on a somewhat wider topic, if buying a foreclosure or short sale from the bank with a buyers agent who pays their 3%? I assume the bak wont pay it does the buyer then pay that amount? Thnaks to all who read I know this long-winded but looking for some real wolrd answers or theoretical either way. IS there a benefit to a realtor and if so is is worth $9000? Has anyone bought without a realtor how did it go?

Will try to get the facts:

early 30′s/single net worth of 200k, found a house I like for 58,000. Price has steadily dropped since appearing on MLS since February (starting at 79k, then to 69, 63, and now 58.)

House facts: Built in 1957, 1220 sq feet with a 180 ft Florida porch added on, over half acre, ranch on a slab, no real attic, 2 bed/1ba, needs major overhaul with outdated carpet/etc (which doesn’t bother me), in a nice town and neighborhood, no garage but would like to erect one for under 5k, and has outbuilding in backyard. Older couple owned it, wife died, the executor of the will is a probate lawyer. It is listed on MLS thru a major realtor company in my area. Being sold AS IS.

The house seems structurally sound, its all brick, not much room for expansion with varying roof lines, but I’m fine with that. No plans for kids anyways. Girlfriend loves it (she would move in in another year.) Nice asphalt driveway. Nice trees and foliage.

Looked at the house yesterday, realtor told me another person was in the midst of writing their offer but hadn’t submitted it yet (sounds like a typical sales pitch.) I’m to get a home inspection tomorrow, which won’t do much since its being sold AS IS, but at least the realtor being there could potentially tell the executor of the will what the inspector says. I want to use the inspection as part of my leverage, though it may not help. It has been at 58k for 4 weeks now, due for another price drop. I’m looking to offer 44k cash. Everything is still in the house too, which I don’t care if it stays or leaves.

The way I see it, if your goal is to throw lowball cash offers, its a numbers game. Some will stick. But I wish to win this house with the lowest bid possible. Seeing the quick price drops makes me think they want the money and done. I also am curious how much lower they would take my offer in cash with no contingencies versus a loan. 5% lower statistically?

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks

Hi, I have some questions I hope people here can help me out with.

I currently own a home that is about 70 miles from my employer. I bought it because it was close to my old job, but I switched jobs about a year ago to where I am now, and gas and driving time are killing me.

The home I currently own has a payoff of around $69k. I paid $72k for it 4 years ago.

Due to the housing market conditions in the city, there are tons of cheap houses for sale. I am considering buying one for around 25k. Just looking on realtor.com, there are over 100 listings in the area I am looking at. Looking through them, there are tons of nice little homes that just need some TLC for that price. My only requirements are 3+ bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

I took out an FHA loan for my current home. It is my understanding that I can not qualify for an FHA loan again.
If I purchase another house, are there still other loans I can get that are standard 30 year fixed rates? Or are these exclusively for FHA type loans?

My plan is, buy a cheap but livable fixer-upper, move, put old house on the market, and after the old house sells start fixing up the new place.

Taking a close look at my finances, it seems like I can alocate about $400 a month extra right now if I factor in what I’d save in gas as well. I’ll take a loan from my 401k to cover a 20% downpayment so I don’t have to pay PMI. A mortgage calculator online says a $25k house would have about a $150 payment, leaving me with $250 for taxes and insurance. Is this a resonable assumption?

I really want to move and quit commuting for over an hour each way to work, but I want to make sure I’m not getting myself in over my head. Any advice from anyone else that has gone through a similar scenario?

I did quite a few searches on here and surprisingly didn’t see this covered much as far as “Selling” a house.

Anyone have any good advice for choosing a good realtor for selling a house? I’ve done google searches on this already with mixed results, but I figure the fatwallet forum members are a step ahead of the rest when it comes to intelligent financial decisions, and can likely offer much better advice.

Any good tips or advice would be much appreciated. I keep hearing things like “get references from friends, etc. Well, I don’t know any friends who own a house, let alone sold one. I’ve heard to look for reviews and references. Well very few realtors have reviews I find online (at least not where the house is, its in a small town). Sure, you can ask for references, but any references provided by the realtor would obviously be biased. right now I don’t seem to have too to go by other than look at the other houses they are selling, see what their personality is like, and in general just make a gut decision. I’m just not a fan of gut decisions based on minimal evidence.

Also, a couple questions in particular.
1. I heard “Realtors” are more trained and held to higher ethical standards than simply “Real Estate Agents”. Is this really true, or is it just a marketing gimmick? Should I only deal with a Realtor.
2. I hear its good to have all real estate paperwork looked over by an attorney. At what point should an attorney get involved? Right at the point of the listing paperwork, or later on during the sales paperwork.

Thanks.