07-16-2010, 11:48 AM
.RJ Wrote:Since this thread is at the top - I'm thinking about buying a house sometime soon. Say... maybe the end of the year? I dont even know where to start. Do I call a realtor? Do I find the house for sale and then talk to the realtor that the sellers have hired? Who pays for the realtors? Are they scumbags?
Keep in mind, you are the only one bringing money to the table, so you are paying for your realtor. (and technically the seller's realtor too but you cant fix that)
At 3%, you pay a realtor $12k off of a $400k house for just a few hours of work. This is why 90% of a realtor's time and energy goes into promoting themselves and marketing. After you have latched onto a realtor they consider most of their work already done.
realtors are scumbags (or pretty close anyway). I had a good friend of 10 years who was a realtor so I used her the first time I went looking for houses. She clearly only wanted me to buy something...anythign without any concern whether it was what I wanted. Then when I didnt buy she gave me guilt trips every time I talked to her. So I stopped talking to her. After she found out that I bought (2 years later) without her, she was no longer interested in being my friend (apparently she hadnt already gotten the hint).
with online IMDB/zillow/homesdatabase searches, you are much more likely to find your own place anyway.
Anne's realtor was worthless too, Anne found the place herself, and her realtor didnt even show her the place, she had an assistant to do that. All she did was show up to coach anne through the paperwork for 45 minutes. $10k+ is a hell of a price to pay someone for 45 minutes of advice.
I used redfin.com
I got $9k back after closing, you still get a real realtor, and my realtor was sharp and had his stuff together. It ended up being a messy sale, with some bids, and a clusterfuck of a idiot selling agent who didnt know what she was doing and multiple big screwups.
unlimited house showings, and you do it with a lackey who just lets you in the door so you dont get the hard sell from your agent.
Quote:How do I make sure the house isnt busted? I'll probably be looking in the reston/herndon area, but still considering a move to Charlottesville.
you get a home inspection. ~$450, and anything wrong with the house you can usually negotiate with the seller to fix or bring the price down.