There has been a lot of good information here, both pros and cons of representing yourself. SD-R has a lot of valid points as does Rustico and sdr.
The best advice that I can give anyone is to do their DUE DILLIGENCE. Now is the time to decide weather or not you want to do the due dilligence yourself or pay someone to do it for you. There is a huge amount of time that goes into researching a property before I put together a bid. As a start…
Who owns it, person/trust/entity?
Is it investment property or a primary residence?
When was it purchased?
How was it purchased?
First lein amount? Second lein amount?
Tax standing?
Has it been refi’d and for how much?
What is the true size of the house?
(FYI Listing agents really like to round up)
Has it changed hands many times or been held?
Are there any deed restrictions on the property?
Has the house been remodeled/expanded?
Are there any unusual easements…
ie paper streets, utilities etc?
Zoning?
Setbacks?
Height restriction?
etc… etc… etc…
Now do most of this again for all recent comps. From this information you can start to assemble a true value for the property you are interetsed in.
Don’t underestimate the amount of work it takes to put together a report on a prospective property. While I could do all this myself, in many cases I will use a broker to buy/sell, and I can say that they earn every dollar of their commision.
That said… if you want to go it alone, due your due dilligence. I cannot stress that enough. Heed sdr… if you walk in flying solo without doing your homework you will not be doing yourself a favor. It is the listing agents job to convice you that the flux capacitor in the new tankless water heater will save you millions in energy costs and that the reason that you can’t find any information on the santos mahogany flooring is that the tree is so rare that it’s not even in the bottany encyclopedias.
Assuming that you want to go it alone and have done your homework, that’s great. Open an escrow account and deposit your earnest money for your offer. I suggest a substantial earnest deposit, it demonstrates your intent to purchase. Anyone can open an escrow account for any reason they want. Set the terms of escrow such that the listing agent can verify the funds, and the funds are earnest money for the purchase of X property. You can get tricky and use the same earnest money for several concurrent offers, just spell it out in the terms of escrow, and on each of the offers. Get the official forms from the escrow/title company or use a LOI(letter of intent to purchase). Neither are legally binding, but most agents are farmiliar with the standard forms. The standard forms are mostly fill in the blanks. List the escrow account for verification. My advice is to put a short window of opportunity. All offers should expire in as little as 24 hours up to 72 hours. If this is your best price, put in a clause that all counter proposals are preemptively denied, effectively a take it or leave it. Designate listing agent to handle all contract work, and ask for full closing costs + 3% back at closing for acting as your own agent.
In the end, you need to remember that the listing agent has no emmotional ties to the property, and neither should you. Your goal should be to get the upper hand and the more things you know about the property that the agent doesn’t improves your position. Good luck.
