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Real Estate Advice: Represent myself as Buyer???

LauderdaleLion

Well-Known Member
Sep 17, 2005
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Hey, I just thought I'd get the board's opinion on how you'd proceed. We've been looking into buying a second home in the Destin/30A area in the Florida Panhandle. The real estate market down here is blazing hot. If a home comes on the market, you are competing against anywhere from 5 to 20 buyers and it is gone immediately. Also, a lot of stuff is pre-negotiated and it never hits the market. I have been working with a Realtor down here the past few weeks and he sends me feeds, but nothing yet that I wanted to act on. We also never signed anything formally so I'm not obligated to use him. Well I was able to find a situation where the owner is selling their house and will negotiate directly between myself and 1 other buyer this week. She has made it clear that she is not allowing Realtors as part of the transaction. So if I chose to have a Realtor support me through the transaction I'd have to pay them directly out of my pocket. I asked my existing Realtor and he said he want me to pay him a full 2.5%. These are new homes so I don't expect a ton to come up on an inspection and if it did I think I could handle it. I'm sure there are other things to think of, but the main thing I worry about is presenting a competitive offer and not overpaying. That being said, there are 4 very comparable homes with similar square footage that have sold in the community between September and December of last year. I feel like if I involve a realtor for me to pay directly, I'm going to have to calculate that into what I offer and I'll be at a competitive disadvantage vs. the other Buyer I'll go up against. The market is so crazy down here right now this might be my only chance to emerge successfully in a transaction because I only have to win out over one other Buyer.

Just to reiterate, from an obligation standpoint I am completely in the clear and could represent myself at this point.

Thoughts? Go at it on my own? Things to look out for?
 
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Just from my personal experience, I have always been Leary of a seller that won’t let
a buyer bring a realtor, however to each their own. If you don’t want to lose the home, do what you need to do.

Ask the seller if you can get a home inspection done, at your cost...now. If seller bulks, run away IMO.
 
Hey, I just thought I'd get the board's opinion on how you'd proceed. We've been looking into buying a second home in the Destin/30A area in the Florida Panhandle. The real estate market down here is blazing hot. If a home comes on the market, you are competing against anywhere from 5 to 20 buyers and it is gone immediately. Also, a lot of stuff is pre-negotiated and it never hits the market. I have been working with a Realtor down here the past few weeks and he sends me feeds, but nothing yet that I wanted to act on. We also never signed anything formally so I'm not obligated to use him. Well I was able to find a situation where the owner is selling their house and will negotiate directly between myself and 1 other buyer this week. She has made it clear that she is not allowing Realtors as part of the transaction. So if I chose to have a Realtor support me through the transaction I'd have to pay them directly out of my pocket. I asked my existing Realtor and he said he want me to pay him a full 2.5%. These are new homes so I don't expect a ton to come up on an inspection and if it did I think I could handle it. I'm sure there are other things to think of, but the main thing I worry about is presenting a competitive offer and not overpaying. That being said, there are 4 very comparable homes with similar square footage that have sold in the community between September and December of last year. I feel like if I involve a realtor for me to pay directly, I'm going to have to calculate that into what I offer and I'll be at a competitive disadvantage vs. the other Buyer I'll go up against. The market is so crazy down here right now this might be my only chance to emerge successfully in a transaction because I only have to win out over one other Buyer.

Just to reiterate, from an obligation standpoint I am completely in the clear and could represent myself at this point.

Thoughts? Go at it on my own? Things to look out for?
all I know is, a friend told me how great and explosive that market was ( Destin). property going up up up. I passed. long and short a few years later he lost his ass. Take for what its worth.
 
I have both a Real Estate license and a Banking license...Usually....sellers are required to provide a disclosure about their knowledge of the property. Never buy Real Estate without an inspection. Unless you are paying cash you will need an appraisal to obtain your loan and either a lawyer or closing company for deed and title transfer. It is rare buyers will not utilize a Realtor since the seller pays most of the fees.....however I have encountered FSBO (for sale by owner) that don't want to pay the commissions. I have made agreements to increase the purchase price to cover closing costs (Realtor commissions are paid at closing) where the property will appraise for the needed funds. You are suggesting entering into a transaction with limited experience to fall back on......remember if you offer be sure to include contingencies for low appraisal, failing inspection, discrepancies with title search, discrepancies with code and lot issues. If you do this get a really good title company and ...Buyer Beware!
 
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Hey, I just thought I'd get the board's opinion on how you'd proceed. We've been looking into buying a second home in the Destin/30A area in the Florida Panhandle. The real estate market down here is blazing hot. If a home comes on the market, you are competing against anywhere from 5 to 20 buyers and it is gone immediately. Also, a lot of stuff is pre-negotiated and it never hits the market. I have been working with a Realtor down here the past few weeks and he sends me feeds, but nothing yet that I wanted to act on. We also never signed anything formally so I'm not obligated to use him. Well I was able to find a situation where the owner is selling their house and will negotiate directly between myself and 1 other buyer this week. She has made it clear that she is not allowing Realtors as part of the transaction. So if I chose to have a Realtor support me through the transaction I'd have to pay them directly out of my pocket. I asked my existing Realtor and he said he want me to pay him a full 2.5%. These are new homes so I don't expect a ton to come up on an inspection and if it did I think I could handle it. I'm sure there are other things to think of, but the main thing I worry about is presenting a competitive offer and not overpaying. That being said, there are 4 very comparable homes with similar square footage that have sold in the community between September and December of last year. I feel like if I involve a realtor for me to pay directly, I'm going to have to calculate that into what I offer and I'll be at a competitive disadvantage vs. the other Buyer I'll go up against. The market is so crazy down here right now this might be my only chance to emerge successfully in a transaction because I only have to win out over one other Buyer.

Just to reiterate, from an obligation standpoint I am completely in the clear and could represent myself at this point.

Thoughts? Go at it on my own? Things to look out for?
Hey, I just thought I'd get the board's opinion on how you'd proceed. We've been looking into buying a second home in the Destin/30A area in the Florida Panhandle. The real estate market down here is blazing hot. If a home comes on the market, you are competing against anywhere from 5 to 20 buyers and it is gone immediately. Also, a lot of stuff is pre-negotiated and it never hits the market. I have been working with a Realtor down here the past few weeks and he sends me feeds, but nothing yet that I wanted to act on. We also never signed anything formally so I'm not obligated to use him. Well I was able to find a situation where the owner is selling their house and will negotiate directly between myself and 1 other buyer this week. She has made it clear that she is not allowing Realtors as part of the transaction. So if I chose to have a Realtor support me through the transaction I'd have to pay them directly out of my pocket. I asked my existing Realtor and he said he want me to pay him a full 2.5%. These are new homes so I don't expect a ton to come up on an inspection and if it did I think I could handle it. I'm sure there are other things to think of, but the main thing I worry about is presenting a competitive offer and not overpaying. That being said, there are 4 very comparable homes with similar square footage that have sold in the community between September and December of last year. I feel like if I involve a realtor for me to pay directly, I'm going to have to calculate that into what I offer and I'll be at a competitive disadvantage vs. the other Buyer I'll go up against. The market is so crazy down here right now this might be my only chance to emerge successfully in a transaction because I only have to win out over one other Buyer.

Just to reiterate, from an obligation standpoint I am completely in the clear and could represent myself at this point.

Thoughts? Go at it on my own? Things to look out for?
I am an appraiser with 24 years experience in Destin/Santa Rosa Beach, etc.

Here is my email.

Contact me and I can give you a lot of info regarding values.

The last boom here was 2003 to 2005 and then a 7-10 year bust and recovery.

The situation today is similar to 2005, maybe crazier. If you talk to a realtor, they will tell you the increase in values will last forever.

If it is in the city of Destin and you are buying it for seasonal rentals, you need to see if it has been through the Burt Harris process and all of the rental rights are intact.

In Walton County, there are no restrictions.

tom@panappraisal.com
 
You almost certainly will need a lawyer. Two lay people writing a contract on something worth a lot of money can cause numerous problems. Quite often there are contingencies based on financing and the condition of the house which need to be thought through and need to have an end date. You will almost certainly need a property title search. I do a lot of real estate business but not in Fla.
 
Ok, just a couple of updates. 100% that I would definitely have an attorney involved to represent me from a contract basis and we would go through the normal process of inspections. I would have a mortgage so there would have to be an appraisal. I did speak to the owner earlier this evening and based on the advice of a couple of realtors they suggested I should ask for a starting point (an asking price). She didn't want to give that to me. She asked me to take a look at the comps and put my best foot forward which is frustrating.
 
She didn't want to give that to me. She asked me to take a look at the comps and put my best foot forward which is frustrating.
Unfortunately, for you, I think she is being smart for herself. In a hot market, prices can go substantially above the asking price. My guess is that Fla. counties have a dept. that keeps track of real estate sales for property taxation purposes. (Later edit -- turns out that there is an official called property appraiser in Florida counties) You should see if that is the case and check out what the county's valuation/appraisal of the property is. Zillow will give you something to start with on comps but is not very good.

I am guessing there is an online clerk of courts in this county. It is worth 5 or 10 minutes of your time to check out the seller online and see if there is anything really worrisome in her background. (Wouldn't expect that but this a little bit of due diligence)

Good luck.
 
Everyone has there own situation but if it were me I’d be evaluating my situation. Is this property a want or a need? As a buyer, unless necessary, you never want to be buying in a sellers market. You always pay more than you should. It sounds like the seller has done a great job of creating a sense of urgency and making you feel like they have you by the short and curly’s. These are the times in my life when I’ve regretted my decisions. Do you really “need” this place right now? You may end up with a beautiful house that you absolutely love, but you’re certainly going to pay top dollar for it. Not judging and certainly don’t care what you do. It’s your money. Just my thoughts from the peanut gallery.
 
Hey, I just thought I'd get the board's opinion on how you'd proceed. We've been looking into buying a second home in the Destin/30A area in the Florida Panhandle. The real estate market down here is blazing hot. If a home comes on the market, you are competing against anywhere from 5 to 20 buyers and it is gone immediately. Also, a lot of stuff is pre-negotiated and it never hits the market. I have been working with a Realtor down here the past few weeks and he sends me feeds, but nothing yet that I wanted to act on. We also never signed anything formally so I'm not obligated to use him. Well I was able to find a situation where the owner is selling their house and will negotiate directly between myself and 1 other buyer this week. She has made it clear that she is not allowing Realtors as part of the transaction. So if I chose to have a Realtor support me through the transaction I'd have to pay them directly out of my pocket. I asked my existing Realtor and he said he want me to pay him a full 2.5%. These are new homes so I don't expect a ton to come up on an inspection and if it did I think I could handle it. I'm sure there are other things to think of, but the main thing I worry about is presenting a competitive offer and not overpaying. That being said, there are 4 very comparable homes with similar square footage that have sold in the community between September and December of last year. I feel like if I involve a realtor for me to pay directly, I'm going to have to calculate that into what I offer and I'll be at a competitive disadvantage vs. the other Buyer I'll go up against. The market is so crazy down here right now this might be my only chance to emerge successfully in a transaction because I only have to win out over one other Buyer.

Just to reiterate, from an obligation standpoint I am completely in the clear and could represent myself at this point.

Thoughts? Go at it on my own? Things to look out for?

was in same situation on a home for sale by owner. Just hired a local real estate attorney and they charged me $1000 to review the contract and sit at the closing. Well worth the money as they noted a few things in the contract that got changed and also at the closing the seller tried to stick me with some fees that my lawyer said 'no way, that is always seller cost' and the seller agreed right away such that the lawyer paid for herself on the closing alone.

As for your real estate agent you were working with, sucks to be them but that is life. If it is a hot market down there, don't feel bad as that agent is making huge money right now.
 
You almost certainly will need a lawyer. Two lay people writing a contract on something worth a lot of money can cause numerous problems. Quite often there are contingencies based on financing and the condition of the house which need to be thought through and need to have an end date. You will almost certainly need a property title search. I do a lot of real estate business but not in Fla.
Buying into a really hot housing market can be great if the rally continues, but it is nonetheless a risky endeavor. The OP need some professional assistance in order to mitigate that risk.

The OP needs help in a couple of areas. First, in getting a good handle on what the property in question is worth right now. The services of someone like nit777 (i.e., an experienced appraiser familiar with the specific housing market in question) would be helpful. Particularly if the subject property is not in a residential tract where there are plenty of similar homes, and a ready supply of comparable sales data.

The services of a decent transactional real estate attorney. would be similarly useful. (I say "transactional" real estate attorney , because a real estate litigation attorney who spends most of his or her time suing HOA's, developers or contractors rather than structuring contracts is not the ideal choice in this context.) Dailybuck is correct. Unless the OP has significant experience in negotiating contracts and Florida real estate law, a Florida transactional real estate attorney will be a virtual necessity if he does not have a real estate agent. It is helpful even if he does have a real estate agent.

Is the seller of this property insisting on it being sold in its present physical condition, "AS-IS?" If so, the OP would be crazy not to reserve a physical inspection contingency. (In California, the seller must disclose known defects in the property to the buyer, even if the sale is on an "AS-IS" basis. Query whether that is the law in Florida.)

The fact that the house on this property was recently built does not mean it is free from flaws. If the home was recently built, what use was the underlying real estate put to before the home was built? Any possible environmental contamination issues there? If prior uses were industrial, automotive, or pretty much anything but residential, I would have at least SOME concern about that.

In a hot real estate market, the seller may be able to insist on totally "clean" (i.e., all cash, minimal contingency) offers. But if the OP intends to finance some of the purchase price, a (mortgage) financing contingency should be reserved., and the prospective mortgage lender will usually insist on a physical inspection of the property, but may not provide its prospective borrower (i.e., the OP) with a copy of the inspection report. There are firms that specialize in doing home inspections for both prospective lenders and prospective buyers. The OP should consider retaining one if he enters into contract and has (hopefully) reserved a physical inspection contingency.
 
You almost certainly will need a lawyer. Two lay people writing a contract on something worth a lot of money can cause numerous problems. Quite often there are contingencies based on financing and the condition of the house which need to be thought through and need to have an end date. You will almost certainly need a property title search. I do a lot of real estate business but not in Fla.
Agree, I would get an attorney/title company for help on the legal side. The realtor fees are essentially sales/marketing and customer service for the buyer or seller. There are some outstanding realtors out there, but most are not that helpful on legal or process issues. Realtors connect buyers and sellers. If you’ve already done that you just need someone to advise of the contracts/title search etc.
 
Why buy into a hot market? Don’t follow the lemmings off the cliff during a bubble. Rent a condo for a year or two, let the bubble pop (this currently looks like 2005-2007), and buy when you have the leverage.
 
I was in the role of a seller, not a buyer. And I can tell you that it is not always that simple. It is not always possible to negotiate. Some realtors buy out houses and then they auction them off at 10 times the price. But remember, in the pursuit of a cheap price, you can get poor service and trouble. You should therefore not trust agencies that promise everything at once for ridiculous money. At https://highestcashoffer.com/ I was immediately shown the contract and a list of services. And yes, I sold my house in 3 months. It was not a quick deal, I won't say why. But the buyers there are not very stupid either, they like to think.
 
Buying into a really hot housing market can be great if the rally continues, but it is nonetheless a risky endeavor. The OP need some professional assistance in order to mitigate that risk.

The OP needs help in a couple of areas. First, in getting a good handle on what the property in question is worth right now. The services of someone like nit777 (i.e., an experienced appraiser familiar with the specific housing market in question) would be helpful. Particularly if the subject property is not in a residential tract where there are plenty of similar homes, and a ready supply of comparable sales data.

The services of a decent transactional real estate attorney. would be similarly useful. (I say "transactional" real estate attorney , because a real estate litigation attorney who spends most of his or her time suing HOA's, developers or contractors rather than structuring contracts is not the ideal choice in this context.) Dailybuck is correct. Unless the OP has significant experience in negotiating contracts and Florida real estate law, a Florida transactional real estate attorney will be a virtual necessity if he does not have a real estate agent. It is helpful even if he does have a real estate agent.

Is the seller of this property insisting on it being sold in its present physical condition, "AS-IS?" If so, the OP would be crazy not to reserve a physical inspection contingency. (In California, the seller must disclose known defects in the property to the buyer, even if the sale is on an "AS-IS" basis. Query whether that is the law in Florida.)

The fact that the house on this property was recently built does not mean it is free from flaws. If the home was recently built, what use was the underlying real estate put to before the home was built? Any possible environmental contamination issues there? If prior uses were industrial, automotive, or pretty much anything but residential, I would have at least SOME concern about that.

In a hot real estate market, the seller may be able to insist on totally "clean" (i.e., all cash, minimal contingency) offers. But if the OP intends to finance some of the purchase price, a (mortgage) financing contingency should be reserved., and the prospective mortgage lender will usually insist on a physical inspection of the property, but may not provide its prospective borrower (i.e., the OP) with a copy of the inspection report. There are firms that specialize in doing home inspections for both prospective lenders and prospective buyers. The OP should consider retaining one if he enters into contract and has (hopefully) reserved a physical inspection contingency.
The environmental issue is a great one to raise. I bought a lot in Wachapreague, VA in a hot market in 2004 for $55k. Multiple bidders, bought over ask. Nice little 2/3 of an acre at the edge of town in the Flounder Fishing Capital of the World. Marshy, some mosquitoes, but a quick Skiff ride to Cedar Island which is unbuilt and on the ocean. My future retirement fishing shangri-la.

Life changed, decided to put on market. My realtor suggests $95k. My old man told to dp it as quickly as possible. Should've listened to dad. Thing sat for over 10 years. Sold it just before covid for $26k. Grateful.

What I didn't know until well into my tenure as a land owning "local" was that not only was the edge of town a great place for the town park and Little League field, but it also used to house the dump....directly behind my property. Everyone but newbies understood that. You definitely need a local guide or must do your own research. There are red flags here...
 
I'm not for realtors by any stretch of the imagination, even though I am technically one, but I have a hard time seeing an individual with little to no experience securing the winning offer on a listed property in this housing market without either vastly overpaying or securing a deal with an individual owner off market.
I get it, a lot of realtors ain't great but they do in fact have skills and knowledge necessary to make deals happen. Their services are valuable, this is your home, the place you spend the vast majority of your time or vacation time or whatever, not really something you should cheap on over a professionals fee.
 
Hey @LauderdaleLion - since this thread was dug from the graveyard and resurrected 14 months after you posted any chance you can give an update on what happened? Obviously you're not still looking for advice and it would be interesting to find out how you handled it.
 
I am an appraiser with 24 years experience in Destin/Santa Rosa Beach, etc.

Here is my email.

Contact me and I can give you a lot of info regarding values.

The last boom here was 2003 to 2005 and then a 7-10 year bust and recovery.

The situation today is similar to 2005, maybe crazier.
If you talk to a realtor, they will tell you the increase in values will last forever.

If it is in the city of Destin and you are buying it for seasonal rentals, you need to see if it has been through the Burt Harris process and all of the rental rights are intact.

In Walton County, there are no restrictions.

tom@panappraisal.com
I was going to say something similar. By all accounts, we are in an asset bubble. The currency inflation we've been experiencing has caused anyone with liquidity to throw their declining dollars at hard assets, driving up demand. We see it in real estate, precious metals, even ammunition. We all instinctively know this. Real estate does not appreciate 20% in a year.
Who knows when the correction will come, but a correction has to come. With interest rates increasing and the fed forecasting more, it is making it more expensive to buy real estate with debt and it is beginning to price those on the bubble out of the market. Demand has to soften.
If you want a property now and this is the property you want, it might be worth the risk of buying at the top, but it's also possible that the asset bubble deflates, even if it doesn't full on burst like 2008 (which is more likely b/c we don't as much of the crazy sub-prime, interest only, ARMs, and overly leveraged buyers that caused the bottom to fall out). If this isn't a must-have for you or if the seller gets even more ridiculous, you'll need to decide how much risk the property is worth to you.

FWIW, I'm currently interested in buying a vacation property. I'm trying to weigh whether inflation or the asset bubble is a bigger risk. My gut says it's better to own a hard asset. Real estate will never be worth zero. Fiat currency has no floor, but who knows. The last time I bought a vacation property was in 2006. The 2008 crash devastated the value. It took until 2021 and the current market for the value to equal what we paid for it 15 years ago.
Good luck!
 
Hey, I just thought I'd get the board's opinion on how you'd proceed. We've been looking into buying a second home in the Destin/30A area in the Florida Panhandle. The real estate market down here is blazing hot. If a home comes on the market, you are competing against anywhere from 5 to 20 buyers and it is gone immediately. Also, a lot of stuff is pre-negotiated and it never hits the market. I have been working with a Realtor down here the past few weeks and he sends me feeds, but nothing yet that I wanted to act on. We also never signed anything formally so I'm not obligated to use him. Well I was able to find a situation where the owner is selling their house and will negotiate directly between myself and 1 other buyer this week. She has made it clear that she is not allowing Realtors as part of the transaction. So if I chose to have a Realtor support me through the transaction I'd have to pay them directly out of my pocket. I asked my existing Realtor and he said he want me to pay him a full 2.5%. These are new homes so I don't expect a ton to come up on an inspection and if it did I think I could handle it. I'm sure there are other things to think of, but the main thing I worry about is presenting a competitive offer and not overpaying. That being said, there are 4 very comparable homes with similar square footage that have sold in the community between September and December of last year. I feel like if I involve a realtor for me to pay directly, I'm going to have to calculate that into what I offer and I'll be at a competitive disadvantage vs. the other Buyer I'll go up against. The market is so crazy down here right now this might be my only chance to emerge successfully in a transaction because I only have to win out over one other Buyer.

Just to reiterate, from an obligation standpoint I am completely in the clear and could represent myself at this point.

Thoughts? Go at it on my own? Things to look out for?
September through December is when interest rates were below 3%. As of yesterday interest rates are hovering about 6%. You should soon see competition start to dwindle and prices will follow.
 
Interesting to see this thread come back from the dead. Here is an update on this particular house and my property search as a whole down there. I did engage with a realtor down there and we presented what we thought it was a fair market value for the property. Owner wanted like $50K more than what we were offering and asked for all kinds of crazy terms on top and claimed she had another offer. We politely bowed out and to this day I can see she never sold the home. I personally think we were being jerked around and question whether she had much of an intention to sell. In hindsight, the $50K over what I wanted to pay would have still been a good investment as these homes are now going for over $300K more on the market.

I ended up losing out on a few properties down there as the competition was immense with a lot of all cash buyers so I decided to take a different approach and eliminate some of my competition and buy land and look to build on it. I ended up buying a piece of land and it turned into a good investment. Last week someone presented me an unsolicited offer for my land for $200K more than what I paid. Now we are faced with the decision of when to build on it as building prices are at an all time high. I can wait for build prices to come down, but then whatever savings I get out of that would very likely get washed away from rising interest rates. We are leaning towards going through with the build believe it or not as we have protection build in with the lot appreciation. However, the big carrot is a completely built home on the lot combined with my lot my appreciation based on current market conditions would represent appreciation in the $500K range so even if the market does drop that is quite a nice cushion.

A lot of tough decisions ahead for me but so far just my purchase of the land has seemed to be prudent.
 
Why buy into a hot market? Don’t follow the lemmings off the cliff during a bubble. Rent a condo for a year or two, let the bubble pop (this currently looks like 2005-2007), and buy when you have the leverage.
Depends. If you live in Austin like me and are waiting for the market to cool off to buy, you've been waiting for decades. This market isn't cooling off anytime soon, tech companies are moving here in droves every year. Twitter is probably next with Elon planning to buy it, he has already brought Tesla and Boring Co. here.
 
...I have a grandson and his wife who worked in D.C. for almost 10 years and then decided to move to Florida during the pandemic - with the full blessing of both of their employers. They leased a home in Destin (with dock access to the Gulf) for a year but have decided the weather and surrounding communiy were not as attractive as they had expected. They have spent a few months looking farther south in Florida and have decided to relocate to the Tampa/ St. Pete area. If you would like I can put you in touch with them for another opinion on the area.
 
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