The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Real Estate and Landlording => Topic started by: downtownshuter on April 28, 2014, 07:16:55 PM
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We're looking to buy and I was thinking we could do it without a buyer's agent, hoping to save some money by having the buyer's agent's commission effectively split between us and the seller. We've gone through the buying process twice and in both cases we felt like our buyer's agent didn't do anything except schedule showings (we'd find the homes ourselves by searching zillow or redfin). When it comes to negotiating, I feel like most buyer's agents are inclined to simply get a deal done so they get their commission, rather than actually trying to get us the best price.
With that said, I believe there are many well connected agents who can be aware of properties that are coming up for sale before they show up on zillow and similar services, and these sometimes end up under contract before or immediately after they are listed. We are looking in a specific, small area with limited inventory and where everyone in the business knows each other, so I don't think it's rare for things to happen behind the scenes.
I do believe there are good buyer's agents out there but without a personal reference from someone who has bought in this area, are there any suggestions how we could go about finding a "good" agent? Should we just contact 4 or 5 and meet with them and see who we like?
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I would ask around among investors, if you have a local real estate investors association, that is a good place to start. Check on CL for houses, FSBO.com, Fannie Mae and driving around and also sort on MLS for foreclosures. My advice is to never, ever pay retail for a house. Buying a foreclosure or short sale will almost always save you a pile of money. Even if you have to pay for some repairs, the gain of only a small amount of sweat equity can be stunning.
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With that said, I believe there are many well connected agents who can be aware of properties that are coming up for sale before they show up on zillow and similar services, and these sometimes end up under contract before or immediately after they are listed. We are looking in a specific, small area with limited inventory and where everyone in the business knows each other, so I don't think it's rare for things to happen behind the scenes.
We had a very positive experience with our agent, and in fact what you describe is the way we got our house (our agent and the selling agent were buds, so we were the first to see the house and the first to have an offer in).
Do you have friends/coworkers that have bought recently that you could pester for recommendations? Worst case, you might get a list of agents you don't want to work with.
And to +1 what blindsquirrel said, ours was a short sale. The buying process was a shit show, but we got a much cheaper house that way.
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I may be able to help. I have access to the back-end MLS and can look-up the agents stats and activity and recommend an agent based on productivity in an MLS area.
Email me with the area you are looking in and I will let you know who rises to the top on the agent side....NewportRealEstateGroup@Gmail.com
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Thanks for the tips everyone. My searches on CL, FSBO, and Fannie Mae came up empty in the area we're looking in but I will continue to monitor them. There are some foreclosures in the area though. I'm feeling more and more like it will help us to have a buyer's agent, especially one experienced with distressed sales in our area. We have an indefinite timeline for moving so we can be opportunistic and don't mind the hassle of foreclosures or short sales. I will try to get in touch with some local investors.