magnumpi

Yeh i get what you sayin, she known him for almost 2 1/2 years now. He not going anywhere, and if he fks up, we know where to find him...LOL

Must be hard though putting trust in some one you don't even know already.

Novocastrian

Hmm. I don't think you should actually trust a realtor in the first place. (But see above for caveats).

magnumpi

Maybe then, trust is the wrong word in the case of a Realtor. Maybe you have to confidently use his knowledge and contacts to secure that dream home.

4d32ftw

also a lot of open house are run by other agents and not the listing agent. so I found it a very good way of seeing if they are remotly likeable or knowledgeable. you dont need to tell them your looking for an agent, infact we rarely got asked. I presume they just think many visitors are just there for a sunday trip out to look at other people homes.

i found if you go out activly looking for one then you just get the honed sales pitch of why you should use them, and they all have a similar pitch.

Auld Yin

We used a buying Realtor, a friend of the OH from her church, so he was to be trusted.

A surprising comment from a Private Investigator. Earl Jones of Montreal scammed old ladies from his chrch of over $50million and I'm sure Bernie Madoff got some contacts through his and other synagogues.
Religion and honesty can be strange bedfollows.

magnumpi

How could a Realtor, who is looking for a house, in an area that he actually lives, scam 100's of 1,000's from us though?

Sure i would notice the slight price deviation, or my bank would notice a moved decimal point.

gryphea

We are currently using a realtor for our first purchase in canada.

Couple of things:
we haven't signed any buyer's agreement ( and I wouldn't);

it has been useful viewing houses with him- he is pretty informative about
what is wrong with them, resale potential, how much things cost to fix etc etc. I would never spot the things he has spotted, sure a Home inspector would, but its nice to know things before you get to that emotionally invested point. He knows the area and the types of problems etc
we get tricklefed properties a few days before they come on MLS. This could be important for the house that turns out to to 'right';

for us of course its a free service and I suspect any seller's realtor wouldn't reimburse their client if there was no buyer's realtor so suspect it makes no difference to the price.

we put a lowball offer in and it was really useful to have him explain all the ins and outs of the contract and TBH the buying process is different and its good to have that explained, that said it has taken a few weeks to get to know each others thinking

Ours sent us all the properties that had sold in sub-division in last 15 months and sends the last 5 years for streets we are interested in. This is more than I could look up on council pages as it has photos , asking price, selling price. You can see the upgades etc

I don't begrude people earning a living. I charge a lot for my services and so understand he gets paid out of the deal.

His mortage broker was able to offer us prime -0.85 % which is at least 0.1% better than I would have found most places and 0.2% better than our bank

So I would go for a realtor. Why not? Do I trust him every inch of the way? Don't be silly, but that doesn't mean we don't get anything from it.

magnumpi

Nicely said

I agree with the knowledge that a Realtor can bring to the purchase.

It's like buying a car with a knowledgeable mechanic at your side.

Monique_in_Canada

I would defo recommend a realtor, but choose one that will work for u at no charge, there are plenty of them, they will get enough money from their cut of commission on the house they sell u, most realtors charge 5%, so if he sells another realtors house he will get 2 1/2% and the listing agent will get 2 1/2%

Alan2005

Using a realtor is not a free service if you are buying. It's not the sellers money that pays them is it when the deal completes is it.

We used one. I don't like the system here, but what you gonna do?

dbd33

<chokes on cornflakes>

magnumpi

my point was that someone you have known for several yrs, and whome you socialise, on a weekly basis, would most likley try harder to secure the right hse than some one you met 5 mins ago on the tinternet.

spaceace

here's our experience

• we rented for 15 months and bought the rental property
• we didn't use (or need) a realtor which gave us 20K to bargain with right away
• i organized everything to do with the purchase, which wasn't rocket science really - and anyone who tells you otherwise is giving you BS

having said that, we were in a perfect situation and didn't need a realtor to help us with finding a house or location information etc

Al the Agent

As a Realtor, I obviously have a biased opinion on this subject. A few posters are correct in the fact that the buyer does indirectly pay the commission as it is built into the purchase price and it's the buyers money that pays it, but there typically isn't a fee paid directly from the buyer. Some agents will require a buyers agency agreement be signed that states the buyer must use that agent for any purchase for a certain amount of time. If the buyer finds a FSBO that isn't willing to pay the agent a commission, then the buyer is on the hook for it. Although I see why some agents do this, I don't. I feel that if I wasn't able to find them a home through my efforts, why should I be compensated.

A good agent should know the area they are selling in and bring value to their clients through their knowledge, negotiating abilities and the like.

One poster mentioned visiting open houses to get a sense of the agent, and I think that's a great approach. If you are not in the area you are looking to buy in, email a few agents with some general questions and see how they respond and how long it takes them to respond. Personal references from people you know and trust is also a good source IMO as most people don't want to suggest someone they don't feel comfortable with.

As with any profession, there are good and bad, and Real Estate is no different. There are many posters here that obviously have a negative opinion about Realtors, but not all of us are bad people, devious or solely looking out for their own pocket book. Personally, I would rather have a happy client who didn't buy a home as opposed to an upset one who felt they bought the wrong one through some underhandedness on my part.

Auld Yin

Your naievete appears to have no bounds.