That’s not advice, that’s the reason home inspectors aren’t going to give you a fraudulent report. Do you think an inspector would prefer to develop a reputation for dishonesty? I suppose realtors might think that way.
And did you even read the rest of my post? I agreed with your conclusion to get a second inspection, but the reason is general incompetence, not fraud.
NM, pointless.
The idea that real estate agents don’t have a black list of “deal killer” home inspectors is hilariously naive.
If a home inspector misses an obvious problem, they will get sued.
So you are doubling down on advice that you should not take simple steps that might help you avoid a major problem, on the basis that it such a problem later arises you could sue someone and maybe get some compensation?
Of course not. I just think that an evil home inspector is unlikely but an incompetent one can happen.
There is a huge gap between the level of incompetence that would merit a successful lawsuit, and the level of diligence that you want from your home inspector.
It is basic common sense that you want to find a home inspector who is unambiguously working for you, and not working for more referrals from a realtor. I can’t believe that people are pushing back against this advice on the basis that people are “usually honest” or that they “can be sued”.
Oh I would love to read a Zillow or yelp review of a Realtor who made it their business to to hide or suppress information about hidden problems in order to make a sale. The referral’s they would get would elevate them to super salesperson of the year.
In reality most Realtor’s want to keep you as a client the next time you need to sell or buy. Most realtors will want to advocate for their clients not shoot them selves in the foot by withholding info that should be disclosed.
A $20,000 commission now, vs the possibility of a bad Zillow review and the fact that I might not use them again the next time I move house in the year 2043.
Right, I’m sure that means we can rely on realtors to be totally honest and act in our best interests.
I am not claiming that all realtors are evil. But it is incredibly naive to not be aware of the massive conflict of interest in the way realtor compensation is structured. When you are looking for a house, your interests are aligned with the realtor - you want to find somewhere, they want you to find somewhere. From the moment you put in an offer, there is a massive conflict of interest, because they get paid a huge amount if the sale goes through, and nothing if it doesn’t. From that point, you should trust your realtor to the same degree that you would trust a second hand car salesman. If you’re comfortable that the prospect of a bad Zillow review and loss of repeat business is sufficient to keep them completely honest, good luck with that.
Well yeah, I’d hire my own person based on referrals and reviews.
I had a fantastic realtor though. Now I’ve only bought one house and it was almost 30 years ago. Also it was a strong buyers market. She totally advocated for me and we used the minor things found in the inspection report to help negotiate. The owner had to agree to fix a couple of things.
Because she did such a great job for me, she got five or six referrals from me over the next several years and I’m sure they led to other referrals. I found out about her from someone else who loved her. Maybe she’s an anomaly.
Of course. But my point is that you need good information about the performance and character of a realtor precisely because of the perverse financial incentive. And when people are moving to a new area they often don’t have access to a local network of reliable information.
There are ethics and laws that discourage Realtors from misrepresentation and deliberately overlooking obvious property flaws. If the agent knows about a “material adverse fact”, he is required to disclose this to a client or a customer. Failure to do so would invite a lawsuit and/or disciplinary action.
As to finding buyer’s agents in Ohio…I just Googled for this, and several Real Estate Brokers showed up. It appears that Ohio offers buyer agency – this is not a separate occupation or license, just an option with any agent who desires to act in that capacity.
Therefore, I suggest you find a broker and inquire about this with them. An agent can be useful in so many ways – we are professionals, licensed and regulated in (all? most?) states.
A note about referrals…due to possible conflict of interests, agents should not recommend any particular inspector, bank, contractor, surveyor or repair person, in spite of being frequently asked to do so. If I am asked for one, I am glad to provide a list of local ones (although Google is just as adequate). I can tell you if my company has worked with a specific one, but that’s about all.
Years ago, we used to say we would provide a map and Yellow Pages, but not recommendations.
There are exceptions. Recently I had a client who did not live nearby, and wanted me to handle many of the details to sell his vacant lot (surveyor, well driller, etc.). He signed a document that gave me what was essentially a very limited power of attorney for this. Even with this permission, I notified him of who I would hire for each item in advance, and everything worked out just fine.
xanthous, I think Ramsey Solutions is a financial consulting company, not a real estate agency. I suggest you look for real estate agents nearby and contact one or more for further info.
Very helpful information.
Depending on no end of things, there’s a general principle to be understood: if the Buyer’s Agent receives a commission from the seller (ie, paid from the Seller’s proceeds, through the Seller’s Agent), then there’s still the appearance of a Conflict of Interest.
Meaning: if the Buyer’s Agent makes more money when you spend more money on the house, then a case could be made that your collective interests are not aligned.
In some states, they deal with this buy ‘neutralizing’ the agent, by being very specific about their duties:
And a case could be made that a few hundred dollars more in their pockets translates to quite a bit more than that out of yours.
I tend to agree with @Riemann about the “economic pressure” or interests involved, here. How much it affects how any individual actor behaves is infinitely variable, but it should be recognized and acknowledged.
There’s still tremendous information asymmetry in real estate. You depend on your experts to represent your best interests.
But it’s still very prudent to go into this process with some research under your belt, and some sense of the market – what things are selling for and which way prices are going.
Caveat Emptor … sadly.
I am not an expert on these things. But common sense dictates:
I don’t know if title insurance and a warranty are the same, but you do want the former.
Bigger place, bigger utility costs, bigger taxes. If utility costs doubled, could you still afford?
Is it quiet if on a busy street? If you might get a pet is it suited for that? Is it close to rivers, water, areas with unstable weather, students, schools, parkland, services you will use?
Good neighbours? Or good fences?
The notion that an agent is paid only by somebody on one side of the transaction is a fallacy, it is a technicality. It doesn’t matter who nominally pays the agents. The economic reality is that agents always extract money from the middle of the transaction, and that cost is always met by both buyer and seller.
You can structure the transaction at a nominal price of $100, with a $5 commission taken out of the proceeds; or you can structure it at a nominal price of $95, with the buyer paying an additional $5 commission. The economics are identical, the structure doesn’t matter.
The “buyer’s broker” always has a direct conflict of interest with the buyer with respect to due diligence prior to completion. As a buyer, your economic relationship to your broker is exactly the same as if they were a salesperson trying to sell you something, and as a buyer you should remember that.
I think the exception to this – and I’m not even sure if it’s A Thing in the US at this point (IIRC, it is in Australia) – is a Buyer’s Agent who works on a fixed fee basis, usually predicated on the rough price range of the house you’re looking to buy.
I think the real estate agents showed up under the Ramsey ELP (endorsed local providers). That was the first return (obviously paid ad) from my Google search. Interesting.
Utilities: @Tride has pretty well covered this: I’ll add that, once you’re used to living with your own utilities, you’re not likely to find this difficult and you may find that you prefer it, especially if your well has good water. Again, check the well for both quality and quantity – include both having it tested for contaminants, and tasting the water. Your county probably has a Soils and Water office; they can advise on what contaminants may be in the area and should be tested for, and may have a list of providers.
You’ll have intermittent repair bills, and bills for having the septic pumped every few years; but the lack of utility bills will probably more than make up for this. Just be aware that it happens.
Many municipalities now require the septic be pumped and inspected when a property changes hands; if yours does this, they can probably help you with the process. If they don’t, have it done anyway.
I love my wood stove. Mileage varies on this. If you get one, get a good one, and have it and the chimney professionally installed. If the place has an open fireplace, it’s probably just there for pretty and may even be a net heat loss if poorly enough designed; but you can get a fireplace insert for it that will make it a lot more functional.
Internet: This varies a great deal by exactly where you are. Some rural areas have very good access, others terrible access. This is also true of cell phone service. In either case there may be little or no choice of providers. Consider what you actually need, find out what the specific location actually has available and not just what’s being advertised for your general area, (and I do mean specific, service a quarter mile away may be noticably different).
Independence vs Loneliness: This is very much a person-by-person thing. But I will add that it’s possible to be in the middle of a city and actually know fewer people than most people in small towns and rural areas do. Go hang out at the local diner, bar, library, house of worship, etc. according to your tastes; volunteer for something – there are generally multiple organizations of various sorts looking for volunteers to do a wide range of things; invite the neighbors over once in a while.
There are some communities that are genuinely very hard to get accepted into. There are others that are quite easy. Talking to the neighbors before you buy is one of the ways to get an idea of the particular community.
Safety: I had a distant relative come visit me once who’s a city person. He said ‘Aren’t you afraid out here with nobody around?’ I said ‘What’s to be afraid of? There’s nobody around.’ – to be fair, a better answer to that would be that I have good neighbors. Some of them notice every car that comes up the road, and will check if there’s anything suspicious. I’ve had a neighbor call to find out if the person wandering around my place in an odd fashion with a flashlight was me. (It was.) I’ve called a neighbor to find out whether they knew somebody was loading their horses onto a horse trailer. (They did.)
I read an article years ago by a security expert. He started off with “The best security system is to live on a dead-end road and keep a dog.” (Raises hand.) Good neighbors are even better than a dog; but, if you like dogs (not otherwise!), get a dog. Not a mean dog, a smart dog. The gentlest dog in the world will bite if it’s necessary. A smart dog knows whether it’s necessary. A mean dog is liable to just bite anybody, including you or the neighbor’s six-year-old.
It will probably take you a while to stop jumping at weird noises in the night. Eventually, they’ll become familiar noises. If you find the first nights in the place that you can’t sleep, I recommend getting up and doing something for a while until you’re tired enough to sleep anyway. The spookiness will wear off.
Re nature: Sounds like you’ll love it.
Re convenience: Yes, plan ahead; and yes, get a freezer. The house may have a back hall or porch you can keep it on that’s more convenient than the basement. If it does have to be in the basement, buy the thing from a local store that will deliver to the basement. They may or may not charge you extra, but it’ll be worth it if so. Don’t ask random friends to move a freezer down what most basements have for stairs unless the particular random friends already know what they’re doing; it’s a good way to get somebody hurt otherwise.
And, if you like gardening, start a garden. Fresh produce right outside your back door may be more work; but if you like it it’s not more work, it’s more recreation. And, once produced, it’s a lot more convenient to have your food right outside your back door!
Yes, this is a great idea. Of course, realtors in the U.S. will fight tooth and nail against this, because their outrageous fees expressed in percentage terms are easier to stomach than when expressed in $.