Advice re Realtor please
 

Hi

So, our situation is currently-

Renting a house, privately between us and the owners, lease until next June

We have first refusal of purchasing property

Owners have told us they will be putting house back on Market June 10

We will need to make a decision probably by March as to whether we wish to stay in this house and purchase it or move somewhere else

We want to look at lots of properties to help make our decision

We have a realtor in mind that we would like to use, this is fine BUT-

If we were to proceed with purchasing the house we are currently in we would get a better deal price wise if there are no realtors involved, I know we dont actually pay the realtor anything, but we will via the house price we get to agree.,

Our dilemma is that we do not want to be seen as just using a realtor to enable us to make house viewing easier and to have some guidance etc to then drop them like a hat if we decide to purchase this house. But on the other hand should we find somewhere that is more suitable to our needs then we are doing what is generally the normal process.

Guess I want best of both worlds, any advice as to how we could proceed, or should we just go it alone in viewing all other properties direct through selling agent, which I dont really want to do if I can avoid it

We are speaking with a mortgage broker soon so we can get an idea of how much we can borrow and try and get a approval in principal as this will be valid for 6mths anyway I think, which will take us to April/May next year.

Thanks for any advice:thumbup:

Re: Advice re Realtor please
 

Hi Nikki,

Can't offer any advice but just wanted to say hi and hope someone's along to help soon ;):D:wub:

Re: Advice re Realtor please
 

Good on you for trying to do the right thing.

I am not sure this counts as advice but here is a suggestion. Be honest with the realtor and tell them what you are doing.

If you buy another house they will be compensated with the commission from the seller - no problem.

Why not offer to pay them a fee if they assist you in the purchase of your current rental. You will have to agree this in advance and it should come somewhere close to what they would earn in commission so there is no bias.

Re: Advice re Realtor please
 

Hi,

If you have a Realtor in mind you might find that talking to them about the situation might be the answer. Your problem seems to be that you really want to look at some other places incase there is something else that you like better. This is good for your Realtor as he/she will get the commission from the purchase if you proceed.

Secondly, you might want to get the Realtor to give an opinion of the market value of the place that you have first option on. If this is such a good deal then perhaps adding a clause to the Buyer Rep. that you pay the Realtor out of pocket expenses, perhaps a fixed amount that you all agree on. If you have been taken out to look at places and had an evaluation of the place where you are living and decide to proceed in purchasing the house that you are living in then this sounds fair.

This will not work for some, but you should remember that free advise is worth what you pay for it.

Hope this helps:thumbup:

Re: Advice re Realtor please
 

Hi

Thank you for the replies, this gives me something to work with. To be honest even if we proceed with buying the house we are in now, I would still ideally like a realtor or lawyer to act for us to ensure that we dont get stitched up with anything, so if we could come to an agreement as suggested for a fee then this could work well.

Re: Advice re Realtor please
 

My advice (which isnt really worth much as we're still renting:p) is that with this being your first purchase, play it safe and get a realtor. At least that way, if things go tits up, you might have a potential scapegoat you can seek recourse from.
All the best....