realtor or no realtor

Hey gurus,
My question is do you deal with realtors when looking at homes that could be deals?
Seems there are more homes for sale with a realtor then by owner in the neighbohoods im working.
My experiences have been that the realtor is harder to make things happen through.
So for a begginner do you have advise weather to deal or not deal with the realtors?

Is there a wise way to deal with them? Or should i keep looking for sale by owners?

Thanks again for all you do.

I think you can use a Realtor as one of your sources. The key is that you give your specific criteria to you Realtor. It helps if the agent has invested in RE personally.I would think that a property from an agent should lower to offset the commission.

Some of the best deals probably aren’t even for sale yet. Start looking for people in situations where they might need to sell soon. (Pre-foreclosures, probates, divorvces, out of town owners etc.) There can be good deals on the MLS but dealing with an agent can limit you. First of all, you are using the agents contract not your own and most agents I’ve met do not understand any kind of creative financing or techniques. It all depends on the agent, the deal and what you are trying to do.

Seems there are more homes for sale with a realtor then by owner in the neighbohoods im working.

Those homes are being marketed for RETAIL sales, not wholesale prices. IF you’re starting there and making offers, thru an agent, or not, then I bet that it’s harder to make things happen.

In some cases, you may be able to find an MLS property that is NOT a REO and is still a good deal, BUT in most situations you’ll need to be able to act FAST to get it, as it will be stormed by offers.

you’re best deals, in general, will NOT be on the MLS, though they will require you to work much harder at actually finding them.

Raj

Is there some reason that you are not permitted to do both?

I’ve found some good deals that were listed. I occassionally get a good deal that is a FSBO.

Probably the best deals are from desperate sellers who don’t know what to do and so do nothing. You have to go out and find them on your own.

While I have purchased a couple of good deals FSBO, that is not generally a great source of deals. Most FSBOs are over-priced and not in good repair, because they are being sold by tightwads who refuse to spend money that they should be spending. They usually aren’t taking the cost of the commission off the top for the buyer; they want to put the commission into their own pocket. Often, they are fixated on what the y"need" to get for the house and not what the house is worth.

I check out the FSBOs, but rarely buy one.

The properties that I buy that are listed are not usually found by my agent. Agents don’t really understand what makes a house a good deal. So I take their information, find the house myself, and then they get the deal through escrow for me. My agent, bless her heart, really tries, but she just doesn’t get it, and the properties that she thinks are a good investment aren’t ones that I would buy. But she can sure present an offer and ramrod a difficult deal through escrow and make it work.

No, tot. In fact, you should be doing both, just doing it correctly.

Point was, if he is simply finding retail deals and throwing out lowball offers, it’s largely a waste of time. You need to find good potential deals, negotiate to make them better, then buy.

Raj