OK, this is kinda embarrassing to ask, but how do i actually go about making offers and making sales and purchases on my own without the use of a realtor?
Im sure i have to learn about a slew of paperwork and legal guidelines…
Ive never really had experience in any real estate and any help you guys offer would be MUCH appreciated!
Thank You.
So why don’t you want to use a Realtor?
Well, its not so much that i dont want to, its just that i have heard so many investors talk about how they handle their own contracts and stuff and contact sellers directly and what not and i was just curoius about how all this works…
You can use a Real Estate Attorney or Title company to help you thru the process. Realtors are not absolutely necessary to conduct the transaction. If you were going to do it on your own, you would have to get a contract from the atty or Title company and then fill it out and have the seller (and you) sign it. Then the atty or Title company could then check the title to make sure there are no liens or encumberances on the property.
Sounds like you have some reading to do…
Yes i do…like i said im just getting started in all this and i am a lil overwhelmed by all the information.
Thanks
You can get the appropriate forms from your state real estate board. You can do all the parts yourself you just can’t represent another without a license. My philosophy is that you should conduct your business without making mistakes. The learning curve to buy and sell houses is pretty steep if you have not done it before. Each transaction is different for a while until you get your cookie cutter working. What I would do is find an investor grade agent. That is an agent that makes his living dealing with investors. He won’t mind dealing with houses that sell for $30,000. Ask him for help and let your professionals do their job at least on the first one or two.
Brush up on your negotiations skills and find FSBO homes or houses from wholesalers and build a great relationship with a title company that does mobile closings also a attorney would help and a lot of lawyers have people that need to sell there house and some even have funding for your deals.
Benign
I know the answers you have gotten so far are not the greatest help. So as a first step let us know exactly where you are and maybe you will get more specific answers.
Secondly, go to your local library and start reading every book twice with related information.
Third and last start reading all the archives you can stand and keep current reading the posts on each forum, your education is about to begin and it is not a weekend course.
you can check wholesale, or foreclosure listing which is easily available on internet. than find good and appropriate deals, investigate about them, make good relations with the people who are already in your business. with the passage of time you will get command on it!
can you please list these resources to find these homes…I see one in your signature but are their others?
benign - you absolutely do not have to use a Realtor, but I would suggest it in the beginning. It’s important to note here that a Realtor will not cost you (the buyer) anything. Their commissions are paid by the seller and they are almost invaluable when you don’t know how to comp properties, search for properties, etc in the beginning. If you are purchasing FSBOs then it’s a little harder for them to get paid (and therefore be motivated to help you) but it still would be very beneficial to help you learn.
But, to answer your question, an offer is made when you sign a contract and send it to the seller or seller’s agent (if the seller has an agent do not try to send an offer directly to the seller. Also, if they have an agent I would recommend getting your own Agent. An agent intermediary - representing buyer and seller - will be of little help to you in answering questions, coming up with an offer amount, etc … unless that agent is me then I will be glad to represent you and a seller :)). If they sign the contract then congratulations, you bought a house! (Well, not exactly. There is still the whole funding process, but you’re close). So what you will need to do if you want to avoid using a Realtor is find a copy of a purchase contract. I am sure there are plenty online you could use that are suited for investors. As somebody suggested you could also look into getting copies of them from the state real estate board. These should basically be fill in the blanks forms, but you most likely will need to know legal property descriptions (Lot X Block Y Section Z, etc) and some other information that I can see being pretty overwhelming for a beginner (which is why I would recommend a Realtor on the first couple and have them extensively explain what the contract says and take notes).
After you have the property “under contract” then you will want a title company to handle the transfer of title, run a title search against liens, encumbrances, etc against the property. This will cost you a little money but is necessary.
Bay Area Brian has a good point too. Give us more information what you are looking for and it will help everybody steer you in the right direction of what you should be looking for.
If you are talking about listed properties there is no reason not to use a realtor. The seller pays for it not you, if you talking about deals that you find on your own then I suggest that you read and learn as much as possible and maybe start with just an option contract until you are comfortable. Remember, if someone is honest then it dent matter if the contract is two lines on a napkin. If the person is going to be dishonest then it doesn’t matter if the contract is as thick as phonebook they will still be dishonest.