Buying a Home Without a Realtor Will Probably Cost You Big Bucks

Are you considering buying a self represented property (For Sale by Owner)? Would you do surgery on yourself? No, Would you represent yourself in a law suit? No But, you think going into a huge financial transaction without the knowledge and skills of an expert could be a good idea???!!!

Do you know what to ask a FSBO, what to look for in the property, where to get the property records, what other similar properties have sold for in the last 12 months, do you know what documents a seller needs to provide to you and when? How did the FSBO decide on the price for the home, hard facts or "it seems like it would be worth ______, or I'm moving to _________ and that's what I need to get out of it to be able to buy there, or so and so's across town sold for _________ and ours is nicer?

A Realtor is your representation, your analyst of real estate data, assurance that the legal paperwork is completed and is completed correctly, the one who follows up with the flow of the process to closing. Not to mention your negotiator.

In the last month I have had the sad experience of having to tell 2 sellers who need to sell they paid too much they both bought from FSBO sellers. Now they will both take a loss to be able to sell their properties. I know this isn't uncommon in the large metro areas where the foreclosure epidemic is hitting but it is very uncommon in our area.

One of the properties didn't appraise for the bank loan to purchase, the contract didn't stipulate it had to appraise and the buyers "Just wanted it", so they paid the difference. Great for the sellers - big problem for the buyers. The buyers have negative equity on both.

Would this have happened if they had paid a Realtor to represent them- not likley, a professional licensed Realtor has training in property pricing, legal issues in real estate, complete property disclosures, lead based disclosures and they will do a CMA (competitive market analysis) this will show the properties that are most like the one you are interested in and what they have sold for in the last 12 months, and last but not least your Realtor is your negotiator. The Realtor's goal is to get you the property you want at the best terms possible when dealing with an unrepresented seller.

Take home - you will end up paying a Realtor to represent you in the purchase of a FSBO but it is money well spent. On the 2 properties above the money spent to have a Realtor represent the buyers would have saved the them over $27,000 in less than 3 years, that's a 37% return on investment.