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Hey guys, just discovered this thread and wanted to offer my assistance. I'm a Realtor in Ohio. I'm not very comfortable answering specific finance type questions. Maybe some general finance questions. Things I am able to help with are: Negotiating tactics Realtor questions Commission questions or concerns Federal housing laws Ohio real estate laws Condo questions and concerns Frequent home repairs or defects in a home transaction Myths vs facts of real estate That being said, I'm of the opinion that 80% of real estate agents are either terrible at their jobs or terrible people and most of the horror stories you hear about them are probably true. The unfortunate thing is that a lot of people get into the business do it because they either think they can make a ton of money doing it or do it effectively part time. For most people, neither of those things are possible. So, anyways, ask away if you have any questions.
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Oct 15, 2014 17:03
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skipdogg posted:Feel free to decline to answer this question, and this may be an inappropriate thread for it, but as a realtor how do you feel about the current compensation scheme of realtors? First off, I don't take offense to anything you said. That is pretty much why I ended my post the way I did. Ask any Realtor about other Realtors and they will be the first to tell you how awful they are. Trust me, whatever your worst experience is with a Realtor, any good Realtor could probably tell you 5 stories worse than that. That being said, you're absolutely right. The lower priced homes require the most work and provide the least amount of pay. And the large homes pretty much sell themselves. Unfortunately, I can't give you a better system off the top of my head. The rich folks in the big houses usually want the best agents selling their homes (not realizing that often times the home sells itself) and the only way to attract those agents is with money. In the end, I think it all kind of evens out. The ease of selling a more expensive home sort of makes up for working so hard to sell the $50,000 home. As for your other point, I think the housing market crash really weeded out a ton of shady real estate agents and other real estate professionals. It's a lot harder to EASILY make money than it was 8 years ago or so. A ton of shady builders have either gone bankrupt or are involved in lawsuits that have scared them straight. Condos are really where the builders got themselves in trouble, but that is a huge can of worms. I want to say something else.....while real estate agents are generally good for home buyers and sellers, many people do not need them. The problem is, the people who don't think they need an agent are often just cheap or cocky and don't do enough homework or have enough knowledge or connections to really justify going without an agent. If you are going to buy or sell without an agent.....call a couple agents anyway and ask for advice. Most of them will pretty much tell you to gently caress off in a nice way, but a good and smart agent will probably give you a ton of free device because they know that the majority of people will not buy or sell a home on their own and they'll want you to refer friends and family to them.
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Oct 15, 2014 17:49
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FISHMANPET posted:On another thought, my mom is trying to sell her house, and she's using a broker where the fee is negotiable (after the sale I guess?) and because of that no other realtors are showing the house because they don't know how much money they're going to get from it. Honestly, this is why you don't want to go with the Realtor that charges the lowest commission. Unless your neighborhood is in such demand that the house will sell no matter what, if you can afford to pay an extra % on the commission, and you know that the agent is good and has a good reputation, you should pay the extra commission. Realtors are greedy and buyers agents will trip over themselves to show a house that they'll earn an extra half a percent on. Now, in my area many agents charge 6%. I charge 7%, both for the reason I mentioned above, as well as the fact that I'm doing marketing that 99% of other Realtors aren't doing. poo poo like listing videos and Facebook ads. That costs me extra money and I charge people for it. But this area is a tough market and houses are NOT easy to sell.
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Oct 15, 2014 17:56
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baquerd posted:What are the questions you would ask, or pointers you can give, to determine if a real estate agent is going to legitimately work hard for you and do a good job? The answer to this question probably varies by state. Real estate laws regarding licensed salespeople are vastly different from one state to another. (Which is hilarious because my license is useless in like 45 states) I can only speak for Ohio. In Ohio, it is illegal for an agent to collect a commission. So here, if you're negotiating with an agent about commission, either that agent is a broker (who is the only person who CAN collect a commission) or that broker has probably given permission to the agent to negotiate, with the difference coming out of the agent's pocket. What you're talking about, I would never ever do personally. The minute I start devaluing my work and my career to clients, it begins a slippery slope where they pass it on to friends and family that "Hey, go use Mahoning as your agent, he'll cut you a deal." That's the last thing I'd want, and if I run into those people I'll just refer them on to someone else and collect a referral fee. Again, I can only speak for my state and my area, but anyone who is performing a discounted service isn't giving you their all. Specifically, I've never heard of a fee rebate like you're talking about. I've heard of agents giving a cash gift after closing to the buyers or sellers and writing it off on their taxes as marketing. Then again, the discount and minimum fee brokers are few and far between around here. edit: I realized I didn't answer your first VERY IMPORTANT question. Ask what an agent is going to do SPECIFICALLY to help you. If they answer with some typical things, ask how that is different from anyone else. Like I said before, I do a handful of things that other agents around here would never dream of. And I'll have examples ready to show my prospective clients. I have an iPad where I can pull up my Facebook ads as well as my listing videos on YouTube. Also I have examples of mailers I send out to step-down areas (an area where people live before moving into the area the home is marketed in). MOST IMPORTANTLY, you need to find out how open the lines of communication are with the agent. It is the #1 most important thing. One of the biggest complaints from buyers and sellers is that the Realtor is impossible to get a hold of. That's a huge red flag. It is not always easy for me to answer phone calls but I almost always answer an email or text within the hour. I've talked to sellers that had an agent plop a sign in their yard and they literally never talked to them again until the contract expired. Mahoning fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Oct 15, 2014 |
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Oct 15, 2014 18:09
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baquerd posted:How do you feel about buy-side Redfin agents? This doesn't exist in Ohio yet and so I can't really speak much on it. It sounds intriguing and like an interesting business model, but I'd like to know more before commenting.
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Oct 15, 2014 18:21
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:This makes me angry. Yeah, Columbus is a whole different animal. I should move there and sell houses because people trip over themselves to buy houses there. But I hear you on being angry. The fact of the matter is that money talks and most people are greedy...ESPECIALLY Realtors. It's why a majority of them got into the business, because they thought they could make easy money. It's just the way it is. And when NAR says that 92% of home buyers use the internet in their search, and 90% of home buyers who use the internet to search for a home ended up using a real estate agent.....you can see why appealing to Realtors is a good idea. Mahoning fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Oct 15, 2014 |
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Oct 15, 2014 18:58
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Elephanthead posted:So if I want the most showings I should pay a flat listing fee and offer the whole 6% commission to the buyers agent? You'd probably have agents busting down your door to show it. The problem with that is finding a listing agent willing to do that. To expand on what I said before, in Ohio it is illegal for anyone except a licensed real estate broker to either collect OR PAY a real estate commission. So if you were selling in Ohio the seller can't offer poo poo to anyone except the listing broker and the broker then turns around and offers a portion of that to the buyer's broker. And if that commission is being split unevenly it must be disclosed to the seller in the Consumer Guide to Agency Relationships which every brokerage is required to have their client sign. edit: To do this, your best route would be to go For Sale By Owner, then email and send fliers to every real estate brokerage in the area saying you'll pay a buyer's agent 6% of the sale price. Which brings up another great point: FSBO people are dumb if they don't market to agents Mahoning fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Oct 15, 2014 |
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Oct 15, 2014 20:44
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Spermy Smurf posted:What you just described is 100% exactly the same as listing it with realtor as far as I can tell. Sure, instead of splitting the commission, you're giving it to one person. So the entire reason of listing FSBO (save the commission) is gone, you might as well just list it with the realtor. Hey, I didn't say it was going to save you money, just that you might generate more showings that way. Believe it or not, some people go the FSBO route for control (like I said before, many of them are arrogant and think they can do it better than a professional) , not to save money.
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Oct 15, 2014 21:47
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MH Knights posted:What percentage of Realtors(R) do you think actually know how to use a camera? Or just have a basic idea of what a good picture should look like? How much say in the listing pictures do the sellers usually have? Is this why I see all sorts of listings with four or five pictures of the dining room from slightly different angles but no pictures of any of the bedrooms, HVAC/basement, and/or bath rooms? 1) I'd say about 30 to 40% 2) Maybe less than that 3) The client has 100% control over pictures and other information about their listing. Realtors have a duty of obedience to their clients. What that means is that as long as its legal, the agent has to do what the client asks, within reason. Now most agents will act like they know better and in many cases they do. But I look at other agents' listings every drat day and I see awful awful pictures over and over and wonder how in the hell they are justifying what they are charging the client. Now, there's a theory in real estate that you want to give as little information as possible because you want create phone calls about the listings. So SOMETIMES when you see maybe only 4 or 5 pictures and wonder why they haven't posted more, that's why. BUT, its MORE likely that they're just lazy and don't give a gently caress.
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Oct 16, 2014 01:24
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Bloody Queef posted:People who find the home online and then get a buyer's agent aren't doing it because they want an agent. They're doing it because they can't loving see the house without one. RE agents won't let you look at a house by yourself. What do you suggest they do? And if you skip the buyer's agent, do you save 3% on the house price? gently caress no. The seller's agent will get the full 6%. Buyer's agents are worse than useless in the Internet age. Seller's agents sort of have a purpose, but many states prevent private individuals from adding to the MLS so they've lobbied to prevent obsolescence. This is a silly rant and shows a huge lack of understanding of how the entire business works. First of all, when you're represented by a buyer's agent you basically get the services of an experienced professional for free. If you're paying a transaction fee or administrative fee or whatever the brokerage calls it, go find someone who doesn't charge it (I don't) or tell them you won't pay it. Everything is negotiable. Second of all, it very rarely happens that people know which house they want to see and buy and just start calling buyers agents because they can't see the house without it. In fact, that has NEVER happened to me. I wish it did, it would make my job a lot easier. On the contrary, probably 80% of the time the buyers want me to find them homes that fit their criteria. I'm doing a hell of a lot more work as a buyer's agent than as a listing agent. With a listing, there's a bunch of work up front and then basically you sit back and wait for someone else to sell the house. With buyers, you're driving all over the place at all hours. Half the time you have to drop what you're doing because they just drove by a house they want to see and they can't wait til tomorrow because of course Jim is going out of town tomorrow morning and he won't be back until next Sunday. Then you have to be there during the home inspection, and talk them down off the ledge a million times. Representing buyers sucks rear end and most highly successful Realtors won't even do it. So excuse me if I completely disagree with your "buyers agents are useless in the internet age" because it is a much harder, much more time consuming job than being a listing agent. The only reason I am even willing to do it is because I get a higher broker split on the buyer side than on the listing side. Also, on what planet would a home owner want "prospective buyers" coming into their house unsupervised? Realtors can be awful people or be awful at their jobs, but at the very least we are very respectful of the homes we show. If you knew how many people went in to open houses to search for prescription drugs there is ZERO way you would be saying that any Joe and Jane Schmo should be able to view a house by themselves. Half of the older home sellers I talk to don't even want to let OTHER AGENTS show the house without me there. And why the hell would any buyer save money by not using a listing agent? The agreement to pay a commission is between the listing agent and the homeowner. It has ZERO to do with the buyer at all. What you're basically saying is that a buyer should be able to save 3% on the purchase of their home simply because they didn't use an agent. But it is not as if the buyer would be paying that otherwise. The seller already agreed in writing to pay 6%, the buyer doesn't get to decide poo poo. Anyways, it sounds like either you had a really bad experience with a Realtor, or you just have a complete lack of understanding of what Realtors actually do, because what you said is so far off base that I didn't even know where to start with it.
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Oct 16, 2014 02:28
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baquerd posted:For a $500,000 house, you're looking at $35,000 commission, of which you may have to split with a buyers agent, so let's say you only get to keep $17,500. I'd estimate that if you're really working your balls off for these people, you put in 120 hours of serious work. That's $145/hr. My broker takes 50% of my listing commission. So in your example I would only actually take home $8,750. Conversely, if I sell a $50,000 home, that's $875 for MORE work than the $500,000 house. Everything evens out. And your services are worth what people are willing to pay for it. Nobody is twisting anyone's arms to pay this poo poo. People willingly do it. They are willing to pay for somebody who knows all the dumb little poo poo so they don't have to do it or think about it. And it may seem like its impossible to buy or sell a house without an agent but the fact is, everyone wants to do it without an agent yet isn't willing to do the (sometimes very easy) poo poo that Realtors do to get homes bought or sold. If you want to buy a house without an agent, call the owner and tell them you would like to sit down with them and their agent and negotiate. Don't let the listing agent represent you. The listing agent would probably love to sell to you, collect the whole commission, and not have a single obligation to you at all.
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Oct 16, 2014 02:42
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baquerd posted:This is only because of the real estate cartel. You are paying the entire broker's commission because you are paying more for the house itself. If the seller's agent wasn't corrupt and would pass on a fair offer of $price - buyer's commission, this would look identical to the seller's pocketbook while saving the buyer thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. I see how you received your custom title. No matter what I say, you'll come back with this vitriolic bullshit. You're putting way too much faith in the average buyer. Because you're savvy and feel like you could go view homes by yourself doesn't say poo poo about the average person. So congratulations on all the poo poo you know or think you know. The average person doesn't and needs someone that will help them through it and are willing to pay for it. I'm not going to sit here and defend an entire industry to you. I offered some loving help and advice to people that might want it, not for an inquisition.
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Oct 16, 2014 02:52
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baquerd posted:I guess the real question then is how do I become a real estate broker and collect half of all of my agents' commissions, hire staff to do the rest of the work, and then sit back and profit off of the agents' labor? There's another term for this, it's called being the owner of a business.
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Oct 16, 2014 02:56
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Spermy Smurf posted:^^^ he really isn't the first one to think this, a lot of our generation is pretty internet savvy and could call or text a number on a website to follow a homeowner around a tour of their house. Sorry you are taking your ball and going home. I'm not going anywhere, just saying I don't appreciate the attacks when I came in here with the best of intentions Spermy Smurf posted:Yes, the seller agreed to that. Not me (the buyer). If they had listed it online and shown me around the house I would be able to offer them a starting negotiation price 6% less than I normally would. If I want to buy a $200,000 house, that takes into account the realtors 6%. So the real price I should be considering is $188,000 before I make an offer. So my offer of $175,000 looks ridiculous to the $200,000 number but isn't too far off from the $188,000 number and we could begin negotiating at that price. Instead they won't even respond to my offer of $175,000 and I will need to offer more like $188,000 to get noticed all because someone else decided the price should be raised 6% for doing nothing the seller and I couldn't have done with a google search and a phone call. Don't forget that most people have ABSOLUTELY no idea how a real estate transaction works and many online articles are either outdated or completely irrelevant to the local market. They also have no idea how to negotiate because there are very few things you can buy anymore that don't have a set price. I'm not disagreeing with you in principle. Your math and logic are correct, but it is so unrealistic and that has less to do with the power of the Realtor lobby and more to do with the general lack of knowledge from 99% of home buyers and sellers.
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Oct 16, 2014 03:08
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Dik Hz posted:It's not free, dude. You're paying 3% of the biggest purchase of your life to the buyer's agent, albeit indirectly. But if magically Realtors ceased to exist tomorrow, home prices would still be based on fair market value. So in a world where Realtors exist, if my home is worth $250,000, it's not suddenly worth less now because the owner (or as you said the buyer, indirectly) is no longer paying a commission. Look at it this way, a smart and informed FSBO seller would price their home the same whether they had an agent or not. They would just keep the extra money that they saved on the commission. So either way, the buyer is paying fair market value for the home.
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Oct 16, 2014 03:18
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I am not in a place to resolve every grievance that you guys have. I can tell you that the majority of the people I talk to generally want the assistance of an agent because they have absolutely no idea what they're doing. There are some lovely things about the real estate world (just like literally every other industry), and I actually agree with a lot of these things you say. The problem is that SO MANY people are willing to pay exactly what a Realtor charges. What do you suggest I and my colleagues do? I can start NOT charging anywhere near what I'm charging now, or maybe Realtors disappear tomorrow. But there is still going to be need for real estate assistance regardless of whether or not this perceived or real collusion exists. And at that point, if the entire model collapses then we start a business model where you pay up front for the service or get billed for hours of service whether or not a home is bought or sold. I'm just curious what you guys think is a better real estate business model. And before you answer that just remind yourself that you are not the average home buyer or seller and that most people will want some form of assistance.
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Oct 16, 2014 03:33
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Also, let me say that the National Association of Realtors is the largest trade organization in the United States and one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington. You're barking up the wrong tree if you think poo poo is gonna change any time soon. I agree with you guys, I really do. (Although, the fact that salaries are based on cost of living, which is in turn based on property values, I think its a bit naive to think that if Realtors ceased to exist that all property values would suddenly drop 6% and there would be no negative ramifications) But like I said before, I came in here to help and you guys all seem to know a lot about the real estate transaction process and I am offering free advice to further your knowledge so the next time you buy or sell a home you can properly gently caress over any agent that tries to pretend you don't know what you're talking about.
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Oct 16, 2014 03:42
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baquerd posted:I want more choices, perhaps with clearly defined tiers. Some tiers might be commission based, some might be an hourly fee. There might be optional add-ons too! Take more advantage of the people who make you work and make your job suck and work with the people who just need a club membership card that takes an hour of your time. Start getting paid for your work and what you accomplish rather than for closing deals. I actually like this idea, to be honest.
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Oct 16, 2014 03:58
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slap me silly posted:Bring it, you know we want the inside scoop :> The bolded question is a very good question. In Ohio, an Agency Disclosure Statement is required by law in every transaction involving an agent. It clearly spells out who represents who in the transaction.
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Oct 16, 2014 04:01
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I'd suggest many of you that have had terrible experiences with Realtors, find a licensed broker in your area that will deal with you directly and is willing to negotiate. It might take a bit of work to find but I think you'd be surprised how much is negotiable when you're dealing with a broker who can do whatever the gently caress they want. An agent won't be much help in the negotiable fee department because they are largely bound by what their broker requires them to charge. I mean, I know if I were allowed, and one of you guys came up to me and asked me to simply do a few things for a flat fee and you'd take care of the rest, I'd be absolutely thrilled. edit: My other suggestion would be to find this person long before you actually need them. Mahoning fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Oct 16, 2014 |
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Oct 16, 2014 04:19
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kitten posted:Finally closing today (mine got delayed two weeks to fit in with the theme of the thread). Somebody said before that home depot honors Lowe's coupons, anyone know if that's still true? From everything I've heard, yes they do. Also, as to not poo poo up the thread any more than I already have, I won't be commenting or responding to complaints about the real estate industry. But feel free to ask me whatever else.
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Oct 16, 2014 15:40
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Keyser S0ze posted:We get charged 5% here in California for commissions. I did have a good experience with my last sales agent and used her to buy the next place. I do feel she did get pushed around by a broker that played us along* on a place I really wanted, but overall felt I was served well. You can file a complaint against that broker. Agents are required to present all offers as soon as possible and they don't get to decide on their own (if that is indeed what happened) when to present the offer. You file a complaint with the state division of real estate. If that fails, file an ethics complaint with the local board of Realtors. Doesn't cost you anything.
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Oct 16, 2014 18:20
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canyoneer posted:
Yeah, people get fined all the time. If they broke real estate law, the state does not gently caress around and they aren't afraid to strip someone of their license if they have multiple complaints. I'm pretty sure that in Ohio it's a state law that offers must be presented as soon as possible. Filling a complaint with the board might not do much, but if they've had enough complaints about a certain agent they'll kick them out of the board. That pretty much fucks them because they can no longer access the MLS.
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Oct 17, 2014 00:02
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PDP-1 posted:Mahoning, thanks for your comments so far - having subject experts always makes these threads a ton more interesting to read. Try to find an agent that will sign a limited service contract with you. Keep calling or asking around until you find one that knows what it is. Basically you both sign a form where they waive their duties. Then you'll have to sign some sort of separate agreement to compensate him or her. Whatever you're comfortable with. Maybe $150 or 250 upon closing? No idea, just thinking about what I'd probably accept. The only real work they'll be doing is setting up a saved search for you on the MLS and letting you know of any upcoming or pocket listings they might have. It's an easy job so they shouldn't collect a full commission, but they are providing you a service where you'll receive new listings at the same rate as people represented by agents. I wouldn't necessarily consider the listing agent your friend in this circumstance though. While you're right in that they want you to buy it because they'll collect the whole commission, being a dual agent is a nearly impossible thing to do fairly. In that instance they are not looking out for your best interest. The best thing I can tell you is to stay informed. Most realtors are idiots and if you know the law and you know how to negotiate, you'll probably walk all over them. But you don't want to piss them off obviously. Always ask to present all offers in person to the seller. Make sure the agent isn't poisoning your words before feeding them to the buyer. After you've seen it, if you want to make an offer, stop by the house while the seller is home and introduce yourself. Tell the seller how much you love their home and why you're buying it. If you knocked up your girlfriend and you want to raise your kids there, tell them. That poo poo sounds cliche but it works. You never want them to think you're just a name on a piece of paper.
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Oct 17, 2014 03:44
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The crazy thing is, if you ever go in a house with real wood paneling instead of that faux stuff, it looks really nice. The thing is, I've probably only ever seen it twice ever while I've seen faux wood paneling twice this week.
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Oct 17, 2014 18:53
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MickeyFinn posted:Well yeah, his house just lost in value the cost of those repairs (if that is even possible) because he has to disclose it all future prospective buyers. Funny story, in Ohio there's a loophole in the property disclosure law. Basically the law says that the property disclosure form must be accurate at the time the form is filled out. If anything happens while the home is on the market, the seller is not legally required to change, update, or fill out a new property disclosure form. Now, that isn't to say that they are legally shielded from lawsuits or anything, because obviously it's still a really good idea to disclose absolutely everything possible. The Ohio Association of Realtors is lobbying to close that loophole.
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Oct 17, 2014 20:16
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Pryor on Fire posted:How current is zillow? Realtors are trying to tell me everything is like a month out of date on there but the info always matches their lovely websites so I'm skeptical. That's not true. But I have seen problems where changes to an existing listing didn't show up at all. That and their price estimates are dumb and can be way off.
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Oct 19, 2014 15:53
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Just an FYI, the home websites don't pull from the MLS. That's not allowed since those websites aren't members of the MLS. The brokers sign up with a service that distributes that brokerage's listings to all the websites like Zillow, Trulia, etc.
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Oct 20, 2014 05:22
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Dik Hz posted:Can you think of any reason why a broker would put a listing on the MLS and not a publicly available free database, if they represent in the interests of the seller? Mostly the MLS exists so that the brokerages can share compensation information. Also, the MLS is still miles and miles ahead of nearly every consumer search website in terms of search power. Not just current homes for sale but sales going back more than a decade. The consumer search sites are also skewed toward whatever agents and brokerages pay those websites to be featured and have their listings featured. And considering they only allow so many agents and brokerages per zip code, what you're getting from search results from a Zillow or Trulia is not always the most relevant to your search. Obviously the MLS is biased towards its members, but once the information is entered, there is no manipulating results on the server end. To specifically answer your exact question though, I can think of no reason why a brokerage would do that, no. Unless they're cheap and don't want to pay the listing service. Some smaller brokerages might be more inclined to do it.
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Oct 21, 2014 05:30
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rekamso posted:Redfin pulls from MLS, unlike Zillow, etc. https://www.redfin.com/definition/Multiple-Listing-Service Yeah I should have clarified that each MLS can be wildly different. Which is dumb.
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Oct 21, 2014 05:41
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slap me silly posted:That realtor sounds like an idiot but... if you are that serious about avoiding lead you should maybe not buy an old house. Yeah I agree on both of these points. There's very little danger from lead based paint in a home anymore. When it used to be on every surfaced in the house it was certainly a danger, but unless you've got young children walking around licking surfaces that haven't been painted in 40+ years, it's pretty hard for it to have any effect. I'd be more worried about radon, and even that is normally hugely overblown. Now, if you replace lead based paint in his little tirade with mold, I'd be more inclined to agree with him. (That it's in every home and you shouldn't worry about it)
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Oct 22, 2014 06:20
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1977 was the year it became illegal, FYI.
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Oct 22, 2014 15:25
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As far as lead based paint goes, its a federal law, not state law. Some states might have more strict laws when it comes to LBP, but the disclosure requirement, as well as the requirement that a LBP information booklet be given to prospective buyers is definitely federal.daslog posted:You are braver than I am. I wouldn't even consider living in a house with knob and tube. Most electricians I've talked to said its not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. It should be replaced, sure, but not something that's unlivable unless you change it. Same with Federal Pacific electric boxes.
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Oct 23, 2014 19:28
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Queen Elizatits posted:I have a question about Credit Reports from TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. We have started mortgage loan paperwork twice. The first time we backed out of the sale during the options period after doing a home inspection. For that loan our lender was able to pull my credit scores and see a credit report which I know was mine because it had a loan that went to collections and then later was removed (or I guess partially removed I think there was a mention of needing a final piece of paperwork from the collections company). The one mortgage broker I work with that does credit counseling gets those disputes taken care of In about two or three weeks max. But he's not asking them to do it on their own. He does it for them. This is where individual mortgage brokers can be superior to loan officers at large banks or credit unions.
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Oct 24, 2014 22:36
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Unless that Realtor has any first hand knowledge of how or why that house sold for that price, don't listen to them because they're just guessing or talking out their rear end. Get the property disclosure statement, that should tell you if the house was poo poo in January and was fixed up. If it wasn't, just proceed with caution. Maybe get a title attorney to look into it and make sure there's nothing crazy going on with any liens or other poo poo (there shouldn't be if the title transferred 9 months ago, but I've seen stranger poo poo happen). Tax records are often wrong at the county level depending on the relative competence of your county auditor's office, so don't discount that as an explanation. If you like the house, proceed with caution. Do your due diligence. And never trust the Realtor unless they're giving you definitive answers from first hand sources. Any good Realtor is going to defer questions that they don't know the answer to to experts in a specific field (home inspectors, contractors, title attorneys, etc) and not bullshit you.
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Oct 28, 2014 06:05
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Alas Boobylon posted:Ya I figured as much, and were definitely doing the due diligence to absurd levels with this. We've already secured the HOA disclosure and seller's disclosure and nothings amiss, its really a very nice house in a nice neighborhood and I was willing to buy it at $110-$120 until I dug up the sales records and was like, wtf is this now. My uncle is a contractor that's basically coming in with a spoon to tap the walls tomorrow to see if there's some sketchy stuff going on but I doubt it. To echo what was just said above, don't let what that person may or may not have paid for the house affect your offer. Offer what you are willing to pay for the home based on comparable sales and that is also reasonable compared to the asking price. Home buyers often drive themselves nuts wondering if they could've gotten a home for substantially cheaper but it is almost never the case so its just wasting energy worrying about nothing.
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Oct 28, 2014 17:42
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I just want to warn everyone to make sure any advice you take from this thread is relevant to your area/state. In all my years, I've never even heard of anyone getting or even recommending a sewer inspection, nor have I had a home that had evidence of termites or wood destroying insects. But that's just my area of Northeast Ohio that I can speak for. Moisture in basements is a HUGE problem here because of the type of soil and the amount of rainfall we get here. So maybe everyone could be more helpful when they're giving advice by just mentioning what area of the country or what state you're speaking about. Real estate laws and practices are wildly different from one area to another. I'll try to do the same obviously.
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Oct 30, 2014 00:56
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couldcareless posted:Not to sound like a jerk or anything, but in what scenario do you not want to have a video pipe inspection? I guess a home with no plumbing? I can't really think of a reason that you'd just skip it aside from feeling absolutely confident that you're not hosed with some sort of obstruction, break, or roots messing it all up. I'm not saying its not good idea. I'm saying that I've never heard of anyone around here doing one. I don't even know anyone who does that kind of inspection. And trust me, if any inspectors around here do it, I would know it because every contractor/inspector/loan officer/etc drops off literature at our office. It could be that this area is behind the curve in regards to that, but I honestly just didn't even know it was a thing.
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Oct 30, 2014 15:48
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:It's bad that they lied and it's fraud if proven that they did it with intent to deceive you for gain in a real estate transaction, but hard to prove and didn't cost you anything (you were going to inspect the house anyways in your diligence). If you walk away from the sale they and their agent are ethically and legally obligated to update their disclosures with your findings of material defects but how that is enforced varies. I said this earlier in the thread, but the bolded part is not true in all states. In Ohio, the property disclosure statement only has to be accurate at the time it is filled out and the seller is under no obligation to update it. Also, you need to check your state's property disclosure form, but in Ohio the form only goes back 5 years and the sellers are under no obligation to disclose anything that hasn't been a problem in the past 5 years.
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Nov 5, 2014 20:04
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Not really, because he surely would have paid somewhat more than the starting point of negotiations his agent suggested that was higher than his eventual offer, and he cut commissions and closing fees out of the deal by making an end run around the agents trying to get the seller under contract. All the things you mentioned though are so atypical of the average home buyer and so, while a great story, it is hardly proof or an example of how to do things typically.
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Nov 8, 2014 01:14
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