When buying a house without a realtor is possible, it could easily be a double-edged sword making it either a success or a total failure. Because there are advantages as well as risks of buying a house without a realtor. The majority of the home buyers who tend to buy a house without a realtor are those who are buying a newly constructed home. Other buyers are those who are buying houses that are for sale by the owner or those who are trying to reduce the cost by not using a buying agent.
No matter whether you’re using a realtor or real estate agent to buy a house or not, the steps that you have to follow are the same. The only difference is you must take full responsibility for the whole process of buying a house if you’re not hiring a realtor or real estate agent. Therefore, you have to consider all the advantages and risks involved in buying a house without a realtor, before taking such a decision.
Advantages of buying a house without a realtor
The following two factors are the most common reasons why people refuse to buy a house with a realtor.
Control
In the case of buying a house without a realtor, you are controlling the whole process and that gives you the edge of carrying out it to your desires. Moreover, refusing help from a professional means that you’re confident in your ability. However, the success of such a decision depends on what you know about the real estate industry and your experience in the particular area.
Cost-effective
Money is the most common reason for people to buy a house without a realtor. Because hiring a professional to help you in the buying process does cost you some money. Therefore, you can reduce the cost by a considerable amount, if you’re not working with a realtor.
Risks of buying a house without a realtor
Although it seems expensive to hire realtors to buy a house, they can return more than you spent to hire them.
Time
Wasting time is the first risk that you may encounter while buying a house without a realtor. Since buying a Las Vegas house with pool involves many steps, not knowing what you’re doing could easily lead to wasting so much time. This is a disadvantage because when you spend too much time for searching a house and its procurement work, prices of the houses could go higher than they were before. Since realtors are experts in this industry and have so many connections that they have developed over the years, they can save you a significant amount of time.
Money
While it’s true – hiring a realtor will cost you money, it can also return more than you spent. Because these professionals have years of hands-on experience and know-how to save you money by negotiating a better price point. Moreover, realtors can help you to find a house that’s worth the money you spend, and if you ever decide to sell your house again, you’ll be able to get a profit as well. Therefore, while their services cost you money, they can save you more than they cost upfront.
How to buy a house without a realtor?
After considering all these factors, if you still think about buying a house without a realtor, you must follow these steps, so that you won’t end up regretting your decision.
Obtain preapproval for a loan: Before even thinking about buying a house, you must get the financial help that you need. Usually, sellers are fond of buyers who have financial assurance, because then only sellers know that you’re a serious bidder. So, you must get a preapproval for a loan, because it’s the strongest assurance of your financial readiness for a mortgage.
Get help from a real estate attorney: There is a lot of paperwork when it comes to buying a house including offer letters, title records, bill of sale, and disclosure statements. So, it’s better to hire a real estate attorney, if you don’t have any clue about real estate purchases and their paperwork. A real estate attorney will review the documents and help you to start with the offer and purchase contract so that you won’t end up messing things up.
Conduct research: Research is an essential step when you’re buying a house, even from a family member or a newly built home from a builder. You must conduct in-depth research about the current sale prices of similar houses in the area so that you get the best deal out of it.
Make an offer: Since you don’t have the knowledge or the experience on how real estate purchases work, you must learn how the real estate agents put together offer letters and purchase contracts in your state and region. After that, your lawyer can review these documents, and if they are clear, then you can make an offer on the house. Also, since you work alone without a realtor and the seller won’t have to pay for your agent, you can ask for a discounted price from the seller.
Inspect and negotiate: If your offer is accepted by the seller, you must inspect the home to find out whether there are any issues with it. After the inspection, you must negotiate with the seller on what needs to be fixed before closing the deal.
Finalize the purchase. It’s always better to have a lawyer when the deal is closing, and in some states, it’s required as per the law. Your lawyer can help you understand each document that you’re signing so that you won’t get cheated by the other side.
While it’s possible to buy a house without a realtor, you could get easily overwhelmed by the complex process and numerous paperwork. Although hiring a realtor costs you upfront, it could be considered an investment as buying a home could be the most expensive purchase of your life. So, think twice before diving into real estate without the help of an expert, because you may get drowned if you don’t know what you’re getting into.
