Soft housing market? Guidance with offer needed... (Howe, Crawford: brokers, how much)

[gwarnecke]

Yeah, get a realtor.

For buyers, the only reason for not working with a realtor is if you're pursuing a FSBO deal and are working with a seller who is realistic and willing to divide any commission savings with a serious buyer.

If you're looking at homes that are listed by agents or by a builder's savvy marketing department, there's really no reason to not work with a buyer's agent (I'm not a realtor).

FWIW, my experience is that the housing market is not as soft as we keep hearing. My wife and I were close to buying a FSBO home (without a realtor), and submitted an offer that was basically comparable to 2014-2015 prices in the area. The seller rejected and, after getting a realtor, was able to sell the home for a price representing a ~10% premium over the price of comps from 2014-2015. Maybe the situation is different in the far suburbs.

[DSL_PWR]

Do not use a realtor and ask for that commission back on your home. We did it and you can too. There is no reason to use a real estate agent to build a new home.

We got $15k back from the builder to utilize as we wanted on our new build.

[jenfarm_]

Originally Posted by DSL_PWR

Do not use a realtor and ask for that commission back on your home. We did it and you can too. There is no reason to use a real estate agent to build a new home.

We got $15k back from the builder to utilize as we wanted on our new build.

Dang. This is good advice. Wish we would known/thought to ask about this before we signed our new build contract. We didn't use a realtor.

[Meyerland]

Originally Posted by DSL_PWR

Do not use a realtor and ask for that commission back on your home. We did it and you can too. There is no reason to use a real estate agent to build a new home.

We got $15k back from the builder to utilize as we wanted on our new build.

Lots of times they give 20k in upgrades if you use an experiences realtor who works with lots of the new builders. If so, they saved 5k right there. Talking to a realtor is free and can save you big bucks. Just ask them which builders offer which incentives.

[ma23peas]

Originally Posted by Meyerland

If you use a realtor for a new home, you don't have to pay for it and it's already budgeted on their end. A realtor is more likely to know how much wiggle room the builders have and how much they can get for their clients. I would never buy a new home without a realtor.

My mother was a realtor/mortgage lender for 40+ years, we bought 7/9 homes without a realtor bc she acted as our guidance...she just wasn't familiar with how Texas posted sales...the two sites mentioned will help a great deal. My mom was with one of the nation's largest brokers and after 40 years has seen it all..grateful to have her wisdom and knowledge.

[crone]

Texas is a non disclosure state.

Sales prices are not public record.

If you want a true sales price, you will need a dues paying member to get that information for you, since the realtors own it. HAR.com wants to agents to post the sales price. MOst times they do, sometimes they do not I almost always ask that it not be posted. That is why sites like Zillow cannot to be relied on in Texas.

You can get the mortgage on a house by going to courthouse records.

I have seen whole subdivisions built a mile up the road from the one built last year, sales prices 10000 less on the same house, but that was in hard times. BUilders are not much into spec houses anymore.

If I were dealing with a builder in Texas, there would always be an agent between me and the builder. Most of the time things are fine. Sometimes, it all blows up. Just reading CD a few weeks tells us that.

[Meyerland]

Originally Posted by ma23peas

My mother was a realtor/mortgage lender for 40+ years, we bought 7/9 homes without a realtor bc she acted as our guidance...she just wasn't familiar with how Texas posted sales...the two sites mentioned will help a great deal. My mom was with one of the nation's largest brokers and after 40 years has seen it all..grateful to have her wisdom and knowledge.

Perfect!

[trbstang]

Originally Posted by DSL_PWR

Do not use a realtor and ask for that commission back on your home. We did it and you can too. There is no reason to use a real estate agent to build a new home.

We got $15k back from the builder to utilize as we wanted on our new build.

When we bought our current home I asked the builder sales rep about this, and they flat out said no, they do not discount for realtor's commissions since they don't want to alienate any realtors. He told me I should get a realtor and come back, then we could write up the deal. Luckily we had a landlord that was a broker who split the commission with us and save me $3K in expenses. We were happy since he let us out of our lease a couple of months early.

[Failed Engineer]

Originally Posted by crone

Texas is a non disclosure state.

Sales prices are not public record.

I'm not disputing your information, but you can get actual sold prices easily on Redfin. I believe you have to sign up for an account, but it's free.

[ToyYot]

Originally Posted by Failed Engineer

I'm not disputing your information, but you can get actual sold prices easily on Redfin. I believe you have to sign up for an account, but it's free.

I use homesnap, same deal, prices are accurate.