getting around a realtor to deal directly with the seller
 

when buying property. i'd love to be able to get around those commissions and deal direct on properties. realtors sure try to keep you in the dark with who the sellers are (understandably).

anyone got around the realtor to cut a deal directly with a seller?

I havent personally but a good friend circumvented the real estate agent on a property and ended up getting sued for the $15000 commission.

Its fine to approach a seller directly if you know of a property for sale but just be careful of their obligations if they happen to have an agent.

interesting, and not really unexpected.

Usually when a house is listed for sale the realtor has it in like lockdown for a certain period of time, and during that period of time if the house sells then you pay the commission. The best thing to do would be find out when the owner kills the "contract" with the realtor and go from there. :2 cents:

Yeah.. what he said. Usually the standard period of listing is 6 months. If you know someone in the real estate biz, tell them to get you their copy of the MLS (Multiple Listings). This is basically a giant book of property both commercial and residential that agents use (If the are affiliated with MLS) to find their clients homes. It is a smorgasboard of listings from all agents and brokers involved in MLS and this book also contains the listing's expiration dates.

You might be able to even find one online for your area if you look around.

it's call http://mls.ca here in Canada.

why would you want to go around the listing agent anyways?
the seller pays the commission, not the buyer, so you're not saving any money. And going through the agent like you're supposed to makes for a smoother transaction.

uh, only because you can save the entire comission on a direct sale. the price abviously...
forget it.

In today's market, mostly likely the house will already be sold before the broker's contract expiry date.

The home owner can pull the listing anytime, we have done it for clients a million times with people looking to refinance after deciding not to sell. Not a problem whatsoever. Cant refi while it's on the market:glugglug

Sure the owner can pull the listing, but the broker can also asks to be compensated for his incured expenses (I've done it a few time) and be paid his commission if you sell the house behind his back shortly after...

fuck those realtors biggest fuckin snakes. Incurred expenses? Thats like the lawyer that charges you 300 bucks for stationary and a rubber stamp. There are ways around everything:glugglug

You put an ad in a local newspaper "I am seling my house.....bla bla bla, phone number" and the ones interested contact you...

Is some counties it looks like this :winkwink:

Listing and advertising a property is not exactly free. There're costs that the broker has to paid, plus his time spent.

you advocate their 5% + take on a sale? I hope not, fuckin snakes.

You can't do that, cause the seller will have to pay the realtor's cut anyway ! :2 cents:

you cant do what?

There's more to it than that my friend. There's lot of work/time involved in getting leads, listing/advertising, arranging visit and closing a sale.

In my case it's more like 6%. Don't forget I goto to pay 50% of it to the other broker that find the seller... so I only get 3% which is not alot IMO.

This is all true to the best of my knowledge....and in terms of commission, he can more than ask for it. He can often successfully sue for it.

so what do you exactly do? Are u a realtor?

damn realtors. I am not surprised you want to do this. They want like 5% or 7% in comission. One a $200,000 house thats $10000. Why the hell do they make so much. My suggestion is that just go to the house you want to buy and talk with the owners. Usually there is a contract that expires

people need to get a bit more educated and cut those jokers out. Snakes

I sold my house myself last year. I thought the realtors I spoke with were pricing it too low, so I advertised it myself (local newspapers and flyers at local grocery stores, etc) and got the right offer within 2 weeks. No realtors on either side, closing went smoothly and I saved myself about 20K. Definitely worth the time and effort.

If you are interested in a specific house, it might be difficult to get around a realtor. But you should be able to find plenty of options if you look in local papers for FSBO ads, and also drive around the neighborhoods you are interested in looking for signs. Have you tried this yet?

Among other thing, I'm a real estate agent, a real estate appraiser and a real estate analyst.

use ur brain.

Look up the property deed... they are public record.

As explained, when you list a house you generally give an exclusive contract for a period of time, say 6 months.

If you do manage to screw a realtor out of the commision you would likely loose in court, if he finds out and sues you and the seller, and possibly have to pay triple or so damages as compensation for screwing the honest broker.

6% is cheap. The typical split is, 50/50 listing agent vs. seller. (9 times out of 10 the listing agent does not sell the house, somebody else does). Then typically the person that actually sells the house splits his share with the company netting him or her 1.5%

I have bought and sold a dozen houses and the system is stacked against going outside the multiple list system. "For Sale By Owner" often means the seller is a true asshole with an inflated expectation of what his property is worth.

It can be done though. I've got a pretty good sized estate here and when I move south in 4 years a friend in the business has advised me to sell it myself, but figure about 20K just for advertising and untold headaches and time. Don't know if its worth the pain to save 6%, personally.

figured as much.

Actually big firms that have considerable real estate assets and highly educated staff in the real estate field retain the services of real estate brokers to acquire, sell, lease, sub-lease, expand and relocate. There's a reason for them no to do it in-house!

im talkin about homeowners who dont want to piss away equity earned, not firms who dont give a fuck about 10 grand

i didnt know you could do that

Couldn't agree more with the above statement. :thumbsup

20k :1orglaugh

As stated previously, if the seller has a contract, the seller is in big trouble if they sell w/o the real estate agent.

Waiting for the contract to expire can be dangerous if you really want the property. If someone comes in and makes an attractive offer, then you lose.

A couple of ways to deal with it:

1) Get a real estate license and offer to split the commission with the realtor. At least in GA, it is illegal to get a commission w/o a license. Not sure what it is like in other places, but it's something to look into.

2) Many times the seller is willing to accept an offer that would be equal to the realtor commission in order to sell. IOW, they would lower the price 6-7% if that is what you'd pay in commission.

My brother and SIL bought their last house in an interesting way - they drove around and found subdivisions they liked (they had a very small radius due to the school system). They picked out houses they liked and wrote the owners telling them they were interested and if they ever wanted to sell, to please contact them. A homeowner got transferred to Colorado, contacted them, they agreed on a price (ended up being $25K less than appraisal) and closed within 30 days. :) The only bad thing was that once it was in the open on what they did, the neighbors whose homes they weren't interested in wanted to know why. :winkwink:

The more educated the homeowner is, the more he/she will come to the realisation the time and work/frustration he/she will save by giving the job to a brokers.

Typically those that don't use a broker don't really want to sell their house and ask for a price higher than it's really worth.

Real estate is public knowledge, go to the city/county and ask for who the owners are... this will give you a contact, and then make your offer direct... if they have any sort of obligation contractualy to pay their listing realtor then you have no way of just cutting that amount out.... but you might get a better deal with the person direct, as realtors are capable of trying to circumvent the deal by presenting it in a negative tone to the seller so tat they may hold out for a higher commission, but ultimatly that fiduciary relationship is between them..:2 cents:

what peaches said. It's hard to beat the realtor racket, but it is easy to join them.

You want to do all this work to cut of the broker! Plus closing a sell is not exactly easy neither.

nope not me I see the need for a GOOD broker, (but the crooked ones outweigh the good ones for sure)

I was just answearing the question that was posed by the thread.... you have valid points in this thread, and If you were the thread starter with a question posed, I would comment accordingly...:)