A 960 Sq. ft Garage-Shop!!

One other thing I just thought of is something Airstream folks do. People will offer their places for self contained camping, kinda like a home swap without the swapping part. Makes it nice when traveling to meet up with others who share an interest.

I wonder if hobby-machinist folks would like to start a thread where we could do something like that, just a thought.

John
 
mickri said:
When I was searching for a home I did all of my own research. Everything is on Realtor.com and Zillow. When I would find something interesting I would contact the listing agent and make the offer through the listing agent. That gives the listing agent a big incentive to be get your offer accepted. The LA gets both sides of the commission. That's huge. On an $800,000 property that's over $20,000.
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Such an arrangement has a built-in conflict of interest - you'll never be sure your trade was at market, and it opens the door to all kinds of nefarious activity. I've probably done 50 residential transactions the past 20 years, and every time the broker has double-ended the deal (representing seller and buyer), I've gotten screwed.

Maybe that strategy works in declining or soggy markets, but in ascending markets with lots of competition, it sounds good, but can backfire badly. IMO, better practice in hot market is to find the top producer in the particular market - interview, do extensive research, talk to anyone you can to get satisfied that your agent is the best in your marketplace (as measured by dollar volume, days on market, percentage completion, etc.) . Talk to the town - including mortage broakers, the broker office branch manager, contractors, insurance agents, etc.. Then engage the top broker on the sale of your existing home (if in the same market), and sign them on the purchase of your new property and offer them an off-book bonus if the purchase goes through (local laws permitting). In hot markets (like Chico), having the best agent in the area will aid in knowing your offer is above the water line, and that the terms of offer and acceptance are tight, and have a contingency plan if the offer is declined (backup position for instance).
 
I’m with David on this, for a transaction this large, I would want someone representing my interests to the best of their ability and not have any possibility of conflict of interest. I would probably go as far as finding an agent in a different office as well. Here in CT I don’t believe a real estate agent can represent both a buyer and seller. When we bought our house, I recall having to sign a statement that our realtor would only represent us in the transaction, and seller contracts usually have that statement in there as well. So here, if you contact the sellers agent to try and do a deal with just one agent, you would be on your own.
 
We've had our agent represent the seller, not sure I'd do it the other way....

John
 
I would never use the listing agent as mine. Even though, ethically, they are supposed to remain "neutral", I wouldn't trust them. But it's also in the buyer's self interest to get the largest sales price. Screwed no matter what.
 
There is a realtor in a small (10,000 people) nearby town that quite frequently represents both the seller and the buyer. A lot of back door deals are done with this arrangement. She routinely has a buyer lined up before the house is even listed and basically screws over any other potential buyers, and in reality, screws over the seller because she wants the full commission. Yes, she is one of the "top-producing" realtors in the state, but she has no ethics whatsoever.

Sidebar: It does not matter how "good the people are" when it comes to transactions of this magnitude, there must be a contract with all appropriate sections filled out correctly. I hope you don't take that personally Jeff if you read this, but it is important that these contracts are done correctly.
 
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We are talking about California. What may work in other parts of the country probably doesn't apply to California. Especially in today's seller's market. What may have worked even a couple of years ago won't work in California's current crazy real estate market.

In days gone by when an offer would come in on a property the listing agent and the buying agent would meet face to face with the seller to go over the offer. The buying agent got to make their pitch directly to the seller. Even in multiple offer situations you still had a face to face meeting between the agents and the seller. These days everything is digital. Agents won't even write an offer by hand. The offer is filled out on the computer and sent by docusign for signature. Then sent digitally over the internet. No face to face. Sometimes even the listing agent doesn't meet face to face with the seller to go over the offers. It is done on zoom, facetime or by phone. That is why offer letters have become popular. So if you use a buying agent the fate of your offer is left in the hands of the listing agent. That is the only person who has any contact with the seller.

In California all agents involved in a transaction whether listing or buying have to disclose everything that they know about the property to the buyer. The only thing that can be held back is what a seller may sell for. A listing agent can't disclose that to the buyer's agent. So I don't see what a buyer's agent really does in today's market other than fill out the offer.

Prequalifying letters only say that the buyer is qualified for a certain loan amount. Have nothing to do with the property. The property still has to appraise if a loan is involved and pass all of the different inspections that take place.

IMHO based upon a lifetime of involvement in California real estate in today's crazy real estate market your best chance of getting an offer accepted is to go through the listing agent.
 
davidpbest said:
Such an arrangement has a built-in conflict of interest - you'll never be sure your trade was at market, and it opens the door to all kinds of nefarious activity. I've probably done 50 residential transactions the past 20 years, and every time the broker has double-ended the deal (representing seller and buyer), I've gotten screwed.

Maybe that strategy works in declining or soggy markets, but in ascending markets with lots of competition, it sounds good, but can backfire badly. IMO, better practice in hot market is to find the top producer in the particular market - interview, do extensive research, talk to anyone you can to get satisfied that your agent is the best in your marketplace (as measured by dollar volume, days on market, percentage completion, etc.) . Talk to the town - including mortage broakers, the broker office branch manager, contractors, insurance agents, etc.. Then engage the top broker on the sale of your existing home (if in the same market), and sign them on the purchase of your new property and offer them an off-book bonus if the purchase goes through (local laws permitting). In hot markets (like Chico), having the best agent in the area will aid in knowing your offer is above the water line, and that the terms of offer and acceptance are tight, and have a contingency plan if the offer is declined (backup position for instance).
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In Canada when the seller's agent is also representing a potential buyer, the buyer cannot negotiate the commission because commission is determined by the seller not the buyer.
I did this once and would never suggest it as a strategy.
 
@DavidR8 It is now against the REB rules for a realtor to 'double end' the agreement in B.C.

We are still trying to move to BC, but it is getting a lot harder as prices are still going up over 20% in rural areas there every year.
 
Dabbler said:
@DavidR8 It is now against the REB rules for a realtor to 'double end' the agreement in B.C.

We are still trying to move to BC, but it is getting a lot harder as prices are still going up over 20% in rural areas there every year.
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I'm happy to hear they changed the rules because it really was a goofy setup.
Good luck moving...seriously prices are through the roof though I hear property in the Fraser Valley is available so long as you own a boat!
 
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