Many real estate transactions are done FSBO. You are not required to have an agent. Ute provided some good advice as to what to look for and do, and yes many FSBOs are overpriced, as are many agent listings. If you do not plan on using an agent, the advice to have an attorney review the contract is good, so is having a home inspection. For dealing with price, you should contact an appraiser for a consulting assignment to help in determining an offer or agreed upon purchase price. A consulting assignment would be less than an appraisal and could be done in a way to help determine which of the two would be a better deal. If you are financing, your lender will order a full appraisal after there is a signed agreement.

AJ,
As everyone answered no you do not have to have an agent but, if you could have licensed professional help and it didn't cost you a thing would you not want it?

Larry Story
Coldwell Banker Triad

AJ,

Ute gave you the best answer, but I don't want you to think that you can't do it on your own....because you can.

If you want to buy the most important and expensive investment in your life without representation, have at it!

Caveat Emptor: Buyer beware.

Hi AJ:

I wonder why you are not looking at getting a buyer's agent? If it is issue with commission, Most often than not, the FSBO sellers will co-operate with a buyers agent, meaning they will pay the buyer agent commission and you will not have to pay that out of your own pocket.

However, I suspect it might be more from your previous question. Seems to me you are not too crazy about the agent you had. If so, you can always get another agent. See if you can get recommendations form your friends or if you are from out of town, referral from the agent in your own town.

Using a good agent to represent you provides a lot of benefits - we keep current with the market (meaning day to day from what's happening now, rather than reading statistics and trends from the paper), the reasonable pricing of the specific property you are looking at, the local real estate requirement, current real estate law, pros and cons of a certain area and the property in relation to the area, how to read and interpret and negotiation from an inspection report; what's customary and not, etc.

A good Realtor is also a good negotiator, understand the psychology of the sellers/other buyers; both from offering price, counter offer and negotiating repairs; a good organizer to make sure the escrow (once you are in) in on time, a service / referral source for all other real estate related needs (loan, inspection, title, etc).

This list goes on and on. And this does not even touch the issue of two FSBO's properties. If you use the professional help, then you will be well taken care of. Otherwise, my assumption is we will see you on Trulia a lot. :-)

Good luck,
Sylvia .

Hi,
I'm Donna Bruno, Owner/Broker of CENTURY 21 North Star Realty in NY.

My best advice is to hire a buyer's agent who can negotiate on your behalf. Many buyers today do not know how long the seller has been trying at the current price, nor whether the listing price is correct or not.

In addition, there may be environmental issues that Realtors know about that you may not. It pays to have someone looking out for you. What's better is that you can build your Realtor's fee into the negotiated price, so you won't pay more than the true market value and still have someone looking out for you.

Hi AJ. No, you are not required to have an agent. The problem is that we don't know what know and what you don't know. There are so many things to consider when you buy real estate and trying to cover it all in a post here on Trulia is really impossible. A few things that come to mind are: How will you determine how much to offer for the house? Many FSBOs are overpriced. You may also want to ask the seller(s) to provide you with the disclosures before you even make an offer as this may help you in coming up with a fair price. Failure to disclose material defects is probably the # 1 thing that gets FSBOs into trouble. I am not saying that FSBOs intentionally hide things, but sometimes they don't know what they have to disclose. As the FSBOs to list all repairs that they have made and who made the repairs. Also ask them whether all work was performed with the necessary permits? You definitely want to have a sufficiently long inspection period and the right to cancel the agreement if you find conditions during the inspection that you are not willing to accept. The contract should also provide that you'll get your deposit money back should you cancel the agreement within the inspection period. You may also want to consider paying an attorney to review the contract. I hope this helps.

Feel free to come back with more specific questions.

Do you have to use an agent? I do not have a buyers agent and was not looking to get one.

AJ,
Well you need to have your agent discuss this with you. Your agent will need to approach them first to make sure they are willing to pay their commission. That way there is at least one real estate professional in the arrangement that can make sure all the bases are covered and also make sure you are legally taken care of.