Buying a House from seller ( W/O Real estate guy)- Precautions needed.

[RAKESH15]

What is the name of your state?

Delaware


Buying a House from seller ( W/O Real estate guy ) - Precautions needed.

Buying a house from a seller directly is cheaper sometimes.

However extreme precautions are needed,
if seller has some hidden debts or say.. he is selling house
which he/she does not own / partially own.. etc/.


Can someone list all precautions and care should be taken while buying a house from seller directly.

Thx.

 

[Ozark_Sophist]

For starters, home inspection and title report are must do. You also need to get title insurance (if you are financing, the bank will have title insurance but you also need an owner's policy). From my experience, I would have the closing done at the same place you get the title report (closing company or lawyer's office). In addition, a survey may be necessary.

 

[danno6925]

Pros are pros for a reason...

You're in DE, so find an attorney you know/trust and ask him to handle this for you. Unless you're already savvy in matters of real estate, I would recommend leaving it to the pros. There's no magic formula for a perfect transaction, but at least a realtor who represents you as a buyer knows the area, potential pitfalls, etc. Besides, the seller traditionally pays the commission anyway. Many Realtors are willing to be a transactional licensee for a nominal fee (traditionally 1% of sales price in my market). I would say that 1% is worth alleviating some seriously expensive headaches when you're already involved.

I've seen several people in the past five years end up anywhere between breaking even on what they would have spent on a realtor to losing 10,000 more than they would have spent on a realtor. During the past 8 years, I've worked at mortgage companies, title companies, and a realtor's office, so I've seen some really stupid stuff happen during many FSBO deals.

I've seen just as many go through without a hitch, so you've got a 50/50 chance that things will go perfectly. Just remember that means a 50/50 chance that something will go horribly, terribly wrong and cost you time and money or (worse) the house itself.

Better to hire someone, pay them for their services and have someone to sue when they screw it up, IMO.

 

[RAKESH15]

^^ Thx 4 yr most valuable insights.

I got more Qs.

1. How about if you hire only a lawyer at da time of settlement
and NOT a real estate guy ? Will it cover safety ?

2. If seller has a real estate then who pays him?
Is the price indirectly increased in da house price towards you?

or,**************....Is it paid by BOTH indirectly??


3. If seller has no real estate and you hire one to buy his house, will that guy cost only to you, as an increased house price????

4. What else you can do to offset the price of a real estate guy ? Not hiring him and finding/implementing other alternative precautionary steps ?

Pl. eloborate.

Thx.

 

[lcannister]

All of the who pays questions can be answered in one word, NEGOTIABLE.

You need an agent or a REAL ESTATE Atty with the kinds of questions you are asking.

This is not a snide remark but with your posts you would be well served to get your OWN buyers agent to assist you in a real estate transaction. There are numerous pitfalls you can fall into before you have the keys to the home and your inexperience and someone elses savvy puts you in a vulnerable position.

 

[LindaP777]

All of the who pays questions can be answered in one word, NEGOTIABLE.

You need an agent or a REAL ESTATE Atty with the kinds of questions you are asking.

This is not a snide remark but with your posts you would be well served to get your OWN buyers agent to assist you in a real estate transaction. There are numerous pitfalls you can fall into before you have the keys to the home and your inexperience and someone elses savvy puts you in a vulnerable position.

Agreed. I've sold several houses FSBO (for sale by owner), but we always used professionals for the title search and to handle the closing.
If the buyer is getting financing, chances are the bank will select the professional for you. The bank will definitely want to insure it's done correctly.
Real estate usually has to much money involved to take a chance that it's not done correctly. Ask yourself if you are OK with losing the amount of money in the transaction. If you're not, hire a professional!

 

[nextwife]

^^ Thx 4 yr most valuable insights.

I got more Qs.

1. How about if you hire only a lawyer at da time of settlement
and NOT a real estate guy ? Will it cover safety ?

2. If seller has a real estate then who pays him?
Is the price indirectly increased in da house price towards you?

or,**************....Is it paid by BOTH indirectly??


3. If seller has no real estate and you hire one to buy his house, will that guy cost only to you, as an increased house price????

4. What else you can do to offset the price of a real estate guy ? Not hiring him and finding/implementing other alternative precautionary steps ?

Pl. eloborate.

Thx.

If you don't know what you are doing, you have no business writing or accepting an offer WITHOUT first getting an attorney/RE professional to review. Many problems can be avoided by the offer language. Best bet is to address everything in the offer. You can't demand certain things after the fact- best bet is to have a thorough, well written contract addressing all inclusions/exclusions, occupancy, disclosure, financing, title defect, closing date and other issues.

A real estate purchase agreement is far more than an agreed sales price.

 

[danno6925]

Looks like you've gotten some pretty solid advice there. Little more I could add to that.

If you'd like to speak to somone in your area about hiring someone to take care of the paperwork, shoot me a PM, and I'll help you find someone in your area to lay out what they can do and what they'll charge.

I should probably mention that I work with a Century21 office in Southeast PA. I wouldn't be able to handle the paperwork for you during this transaction, but I could refer you to someone in our network who can. Coldwell Banker, ERA and Century 21 all work with what used to be the Cendant (now Cartis - think I speeled that right) Relocation Network.

We work together to make sure that if we can't help someone find a home, we find them an agent who can. Whether that agent works for our company or not. Pretty cool stuff, IMHO.

Even if all you needed was someone to handle the paperwork (transactional licensee), you'd probably be better off having someone doing all the legwork for you. Things like home inspection reports, appraisals, mortgage pre-arrpovals, home warranty coverage, homeowner disclosure statements regarding material defects, getting the taxes certified as paid, along with the sewer, water, & electric bills, the patriot act searches, domestic relations lien searches for you and the seller, judgment searches, a title abstract for the home, ensuring you know what the exact payoff figures will be for the seller's mortgage on settlement day, you know - the real estatey stuff, can slip through the cracks if you're not carefully monitoring each and every step of the way.

 

[RAKESH15]

^^ Thx 4 yr kind advices and I completely agree to that,
ther's much more in it than one may think of
and it's not wise to avoid a lawyer/ real estate guy,
or it may cost a bigtime fortune.

Thx. all.