OP with follow up of my post about selling our house of 33 yrs. I posted it 7 weeks ago.
Lots of very rapid developments have happened in the last 7 weeks:
The house next door to us, similar to ours but not as good in several ways, sold 3 weeks ago for $5.9 M after a bidding war. A Realtor (friend of a friend, but not our friend) approached us and related that one of the parties who offered to buy next door (but did not succeed) wanted to buy our house.
We hired a real estate lawyer, but we never hired a seller's agent.
We agreed to sell the property if the price was right.
The buyer presented a written offer, we countered, and we reached a final agreement on price and terms.
All docs were carefully reviewed by our lawyer.
We signed a Purchase and Sale agreement 2 days ago, which included very favorable terms for us (the buyer really wanted the house).
No staging, no Form 17 (except mandatory environmental disclosures), sold AS IS, no open house, no financing contingency, no inspection at all (except sewer).
Our lawyer said he had never seen such an easy and seamless transaction.
The price of the sale was favorable to us.
We never paid a real estate commission. At all. All assumed by the buyer.
My conclusions:
I was so comforted that we had a lawyer, and not a Realtor, advocating for us.
As a seller, "my Realtor" would have conflicted incentives, and would obviously be driven partly by commission and quick sale. (We all would be if we were wearing the same shoes! It's human nature.)
If you are selling a house, go ahead and hire a seller's agent to find you a buyer. The Realtor can assist with inspection, sewer, staging, etc.
But after the buyer and seller (you) are ready to negotiate price and terms, you don't need a realtor, you need a lawyer.
Because of the truncated responsibility of the Realtor, state in advance that the commission will be proportionately less, because you have a lawyer.
Our house was unique, so what worked for us may not work for others.
Lots of very rapid developments have happened in the last 7 weeks:
The house next door to us, similar to ours but not as good in several ways, sold 3 weeks ago for $5.9 M after a bidding war. A Realtor (friend of a friend, but not our friend) approached us and related that one of the parties who offered to buy next door (but did not succeed) wanted to buy our house.
We hired a real estate lawyer, but we never hired a seller's agent.
We agreed to sell the property if the price was right.
The buyer presented a written offer, we countered, and we reached a final agreement on price and terms.
All docs were carefully reviewed by our lawyer.
We signed a Purchase and Sale agreement 2 days ago, which included very favorable terms for us (the buyer really wanted the house).
No staging, no Form 17 (except mandatory environmental disclosures), sold AS IS, no open house, no financing contingency, no inspection at all (except sewer).
Our lawyer said he had never seen such an easy and seamless transaction.
The price of the sale was favorable to us.
We never paid a real estate commission. At all. All assumed by the buyer.
My conclusions:
I was so comforted that we had a lawyer, and not a Realtor, advocating for us.
As a seller, "my Realtor" would have conflicted incentives, and would obviously be driven partly by commission and quick sale. (We all would be if we were wearing the same shoes! It's human nature.)
If you are selling a house, go ahead and hire a seller's agent to find you a buyer. The Realtor can assist with inspection, sewer, staging, etc.
But after the buyer and seller (you) are ready to negotiate price and terms, you don't need a realtor, you need a lawyer.
Because of the truncated responsibility of the Realtor, state in advance that the commission will be proportionately less, because you have a lawyer.
Our house was unique, so what worked for us may not work for others.
Statistics: Posted by bwatts849 — Thu Mar 28, 2024 12:06 pm — Replies 88 — Views 9970