3. Is it possible/difficult to buy a house without a realtor?

Is it possible/difficult to buy a house without a realtor?

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”

I'm a recent first time buyer and seller of a home, I used a realtor to purchase and did not use a realtor to sell. Like many things it's intimidating at first when you don't know anything and Realtors try to reinforce that illusion... but when you peek behind the curtain it's really not that complicated.

Not know anything of the process and blindly entrusting your realtor to have your best interests at heart is naive... ESPECIALLY as a buyer. I'm sadly seeing people on here agree with the "Oh the seller pays the realtors not the buyer"..... THAT IS BULLSHIT. Know where they are getting that money? The realtors (listing agent/brokerage and buyer agent/brokerage) typically share 6% commission from the final price...which YOU (THE BUYER) ARE PAYING!

There is a fundamental conflict of interest with buyers agents because their commission is directly tied to the amount you pay. The more you pay for a house the more they receive... the quicker you buy a house the quicker they get paid and can move on....

For that same reason it's a bad idea to have your realtor handle pre-sale inspections with full autonomy. Do you think they are going to recommend and have relationships with inspectors that frequently scare off buyers on borderline issues? Independently research all inspectors they recommend, independently research inspectors of your own.

Am I being cynical? Yes. As you SHOULD be. This is likely the largest purchase of your life thus far...you should ABSOLUTELY be cynical.

There are tons of online housing resources at your fingertips that are far more valuable and informative than anything your Realtor could provide since YOU are working full time for YOURSELF with YOUR best interests at heart.

In terms of paperwork liability you can have all documents of a typical home sale reviewed by a real estate attorney for no more than $500.

For people that really want a real estate agent I'd highly recommend using Redfin since they partially refund part of that typical 3% commission buyers agents receive.

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