Sally Redux

Interesting that it can be a genuine buyer.

MsElui

we still dont know if the relo will happen, and the realtor has made no contact since his initial call. (this either means it was a line - OR hes showing his clients everything else he can before resorting to trying to get us to decide to sell). we cant do anything until the relo i sorted so its no real hassle to us to wait it out.

MsElui

well we are still waiting to get final confirmation about the relo- but have been told to expect paperwork from HR this week so its fairly certain.

In the meantime we have had another call from someone who saw the house on zillow. This time though its a potential buyer. they came and saw the house yesterday and loved it. They may come back to us in a few days with an offer (or not??)

Anyways - my QUESTION now is:
if we do get an offer - should we hand it over to the potential realtor (we still haven't signed as its still not officially on the market) or just negotiate ourselves and hire a lawyer for the closing parts.

The commission isn't really an issue here for us - as the costs are going to be paid by the firm either way. so they will pay the realtors fees or the lawyers fees. So what is better - a realtor who is very used to the local market or a general lawyer? who would do a better job or be fastest? The realtor would handle it ll for us, i'm guessing the lawyer would just do the finalizing of what we agree upon.

Michael

From my experience, an experienced real estate agents along with the title company probably works better together than a real estate attorney and a title company since few home sales are handled by real estate attorneys. Since an experience real estate agent probably handles many sales yearly and works with people that handle many more, I would probably go with a real estate agent over a real estate attorney.

MsElui

THANK YOU. You expressed what i thought might be the case. I appreciate the response.

lansbury

Don't let them charge you their normal comisssion. If they haven't done any of the work to actually sell the house, they should substanially lower % commission. Even if someone else is actually paying the bill.

MsElui

yes, good point!
The people have not rang back yet so i'm assuming they wont be making an offer this time and we will be signing up properly with the realtor as soon as the paperwork comes through.

RalphJolly

Just two points to make. First of all, how can a 'buyer's agent' really be acting in your interest? Sure they can provide some due diligence and useful info, but in truth all that info is freely available and the onus should be on the seller's agent to provide this. The so called buyers agent is only motivated by the commission generated by a sale.
I asked an American friend of mine what the point of having a buyers and sellers agent is, because I think that it is just a duplication of service and of commissions. He buys and sells and owns several properties so I thought he might set me straight. He said there is no point and he has never used a buyer's agent. Just one guy's view, but maybe there's a good reason why this doesn't happen in the rest of the world.
Point 2. The commission is a very real issue, (especially to the buyer). It is the amount of money that is being intercepted by the agent in the transaction between the buyer and the seller. Don't get me wrong, I have no problems with a good agent getting paid his due (though 6% comm seems excessive -my agent in London took 1%), but as a buyer I would insist on knowing the market value of the house, ie the price before commissions that I paid.

I find the property market here is so unmodern and manic and I find it to be quite difficult to get involved in. Recently, I found two properties that I was genuinely interested in. With the first the sellers agent absolutely refused to reveal the commission structure from the outset so I walked away -like I said if I am making such a big purchase then I really need to know it's market value. With the second house I approached the sellers agent, told him I was very interested in making an offer, but backed away when he absolutely insisted on taking the full 6% comm himself. The house is still on the market...

Anyway the housing market is certainly manic here in Chicago. I haven't seen so much building in IL ever, and it's all top end stuff. & yet the McMansions built 5 years ago are still unoccupied. Prices rise in general and yet we have at the same time seen new lows in prices this year. Crazy market... Good luck to anyone who has to /wants to get involved...

MsElui

yes, i think that first guy was just blowing smoke- the new contact is not a relator though so we will see.
They did actually contact us again to say they have not made a final decision and are seeing something else tomorrow (to compare) so sounds like they are interested just have to see if we fit their budget

I think they expected us to jump at the offer of 'no realtors' so they could discount any offer accordingly - so when we said we wouldn't be paying for the realtors ourselves it has priced us lightly above their budget. If they make an acceptable offer then great (saves us the hassle of keeping the place spotless and makes things quick). but if they don't then fine- its not even been listed/advertised yet so i'm positive we will get some interest when it does.