I beg to differ. If the agent isn’t working for you, the Buyer, then she/he is working for the Seller. Wouldn’t you rather have someone on your side, fighting for your interests?
In my state, by the time negotiations start – i.e., an offer is written – the Buyer must make a choice of his agent’s status. Typically, the commission is paid by the seller anyway, so selecting a Buyer’s Agent costs the Buyer nothing. The exception would be for a non-listed property.
Disclaimer: I am a licensed real estate broker in the State of Wisconsin. Things may be different in other states.
There might be more rentals available than is immediately apparent to you. IME, small-town landlords don’t tend to put up rental listings on Craigslist or other online classifieds. They can rely word of mouth, signs in windows, and newspaper classifieds to find tenants. You might be able to get a realtor to help you hunt for apartments or house rentals – they could have listings that aren’t in any classified. (That’s certainly the case where realtors have much of the Boston rental market locked up, but that might be a regional phenomenon.)
Also, ask for help from your new employer. They might have somebody in HR who keeps track of good ways to find local housing for new employees. At the very least, your future co-workers live in the area and probably know of any places available for rent.
The job is a solid step up. Good pay and signing bonus, which will then become a chunk of the down payment (hence the ambiguity regarding the down payment in the OP - it’s not in my hand right now). Whether renting or buying, the job will provide a significant increase in income, and is pretty much the thing to do. It will also mean that I can work in the same town as I live, which would be a nice change, and see the Attackclan on a daily basis, which would also be worth a lot.
The other rental/purchase issue is that I have the Attackclan, so there’s me, Ms. Attack, Attacklass (13), and Attacklad (10), as well as Attackdog. Which then means I have to worry about schools, and allergies, and getting a place that’s OK with the dog.
That’s a big reason I bought, too. I moved into a small college area, where the vast majority of the rentals were aimed at students. Of course, we’re also going to be here for at least five years, so it made a lot more financial sense for us than it sounds like it does for you. That said, I’m sure I could have found a rental that would have worked if I’d looked.
Also, although buying is usually a lengthy process, as people have said, we flew out and found the house in early July and moved in August 15th. YMMVBAHA. (By a huge amount)
The Buyer’s agent gets a cut of the seller’s commission, no?
Also, as Shodan’s post makes abundantly clear, unless the Agent is exclusively a buyer’s agent (which isn’t probable as that’s not a money-making proposition) they will probably have houses themselves they are acting as sellers agent for, and you may not be getting true, fiduciary-type agency. Point being, if you aren’t sophisticated about it or you’re not going to do independent legwork, then you can get hosed by someone who is supposed to be on your side.
In short, an agent can nominally be working for you, but have conflicting interests. It’s called a principal/agent problem.
I just bought a house about 4 weeks ago (condo actually, whatever).
This was my process:
Called realtor.
Set up buyer’s agency with realtor (we didn’t look at any places that he or his agency represented, otherwise it would have actually become dual agency).
Agency agreement stated that he would recieve 3% commission, paid by seller (this is typcial). Agreement originally also said that if seller did not pay 3%, then I would be liable for the difference - I made him strike that term from the agreement.
Agent set me up with a Bank of America mortgage broker - I checked the rates she was quoting me against what other people were getting and decided that she wasn’t hosing me - so I went with her. I thought it was good to have someone who worked with the agent doing my mortgage as they knew each, communicated well, etc. And, she also seemed to have an incentive to get me approved due to her relationship with the agency.
At this point I went on vacation and didn’t come back for about 3 weeks - but the above only took about a week, and probably could have went quicker.
Told agent what I was interested in (price range, location, etc.). He sent me lisitngs via email and I told him the ones I’d like to check out. We spent two days and looked at about 30 properties (this sounds like a lot, but a bunch were right next to each other or even different units in the same builidng).
I picked out about 3 that I wanted to negotiate for. Made offer and 2 or 3 counter-offers on my favorite and figured out where the price would be. Then made a few offers on the other units. I was happy that the price on my first choice was ‘fair’ so I made a final offer, which they accepted.
From getting the emails until coming to a final agreement only took about 3 or 4 days. We had the paperwork all finished within another day or 2.
Then I had to do all of the mortgage papaerwork (I had done some preliminary stuff). This took awhile - maybe 3 weeks or so. I closed on time, but the mortgage paperwork stuff was a bear - it was a little trickier for me than maybe it could have been otherwise since I was doing an FHA loan and also needed to keep some dates clean to qualify for the tax rebate - but still, this isn’t a simple process.
But all in all, it wasn’t too bad. I closed about 50 days after I really started looking at properties - although I had toyed around a little bit beforehand.
Hope that helps.
ETA: As far as negotiating price, my seller had originally listed at 229 - I started my offer at 190, and we finished at about 215 (she had bought it for 269 in 2008). Make sure you take a good look at what prices places near by have been selling at and what the unit sold at previously.
I totally agree with both points. One thing you can do is write up a nice paragraph about yourselves, what you’re looking for, and your contact info, and ask your contacts at the new job to forward it to whoever might know someone who knows someone. I bet something would come up. If nothing else you just have to be willing to pay asking rent of whatever you do find. But, if you buy and sell in two years then you could loose thousands of dollars, easily, that’s money than can just as well be spent on whatever rental you can find.
Alternatively, you can also move out there by yourself and rent a cheapass apartment for a few months while you do some proper house hunting. That gives you the time to really learn about the area and find a house you can live with for years (or decades!). Then, you can buy it and move the rest of your family out there. Plus if it turns out that you actually hate the job you can back out without uprooting your family twice in short succession.
You make good points, but they apply equally to any agent. With a buyer’s agent at least they could be on your side. You know a seller’s agent is not on your side.
In SoCal, we did not have any problem finding an exclusive buyers agent, but this is a large market (rural Canada is likely very different). Just like choosing any other contract employee, you need to interview and check references of multiple candidates before selecting one. We talked to three before choosing.
I would suggest checking www.realtor.ca for information on the buyers agent agreement and the responsibilities of both sides under Canadian Law.
Since it’s a new town and you’re unlikely to have many contacts to check for referrals I would definitely suggest asking your new employer if anyone in the office has moved recently and would recommend their agent. Then interview any names you get. You want the agent to be able to clearly articulate what they can do to meet your needs, and that they are willing to work within whatever parameters you set (price, schedule, communication method etc)
I’ve already worked there for 3 weeks this summer, so I’m cool with the job. I also trained with 3 of the 4 other people who work there, so I know what they’re like.
The main problem with the plan you outline (and I appreciate your help) is school and kids. We’d be uprooting them after the start of school to cross the country and drop into a new school. Plus I’ve been living apart from them all summer already.
I agree also. Unless the market there is much, much better than here, there may be houses more or less empty that the seller would love to be getting some money for. Look at the Days on Market number for this town. If it is reasonably high, there is a better chance of finding something.
We bought a house on a three day trip, but that was after having already bought two. I’d not advice it for the first house. (The first two we bought in places where we were already renting.) You will make a much better decision if you know something about the town before you buy. You will also likely rent someplace smaller than what you buy, and so will have less furniture, which will make moving in two years much simpler.
At the very least ask to look at rental properties during your trip. You only need to find one, and making a mistake in a rental is lot less expensive than making mistake when you buy.
What I am about to say applies to Wisconsin. It may be different in other states.
Any real estate agent may act as Buyer or Seller’s agent, or a dual agent (for both). The choice is up to circumstances and agreements between parties.
Example: I take a listing for a property. The Seller is now my client, and I am his agent.
If a Buyer walks in to my office, until he asks me to write an offer, my position with him has not yet been established (it is neutral, except for properties my company already have listed). When negotiations begin, he must make a choice. If he wants me to represent him, I hand him a Buyer Agency agreement to sign, and I become his agent; he becomes my* client.*
If the Buyer decides not to make me his agent, I hand him a disclosure form that states that from then on, I represent the Seller in any negotiation leading up to a close. The Buyer is then my customer.
It gets tricky if the Buyer wants me to be his agent, but the Seller of a particular property is already my client. Different companies handle this different ways; some hand one half of the transaction to another agent; ours just has all parties sign an agreement that the agent is now a dual agent and will represent both parties fairly, but neutrally.
A Buyer may make the choice way before negotiations begin. At the initial meeting, he may ask me to be his agent, and from then on, I am working for him. This gives me the freedom to present more properties to him than just the ones already listed.
Notice that nothing I have said addresses commission.
If the Buyer signs an Agency Agreement with me, the agreement states that in any transaction with another Broker who is a party to the MLS (Multiple Listing System), my firm will accept whatever commission is offered thru the MLS. If no commission is forthcoming thru that source (a non-listed or FSBO property), the Buyer will pay it, although we usually write in the offer asking the Seller to pay – it’s all part of negotiation.
So, in my state, Buyer Agents are no different from Seller Agents; they do not have different properties for sale, and they do not cost more to hire.
If you get hosed by someone supposedly on your side, a complaint should be filed with that state’s Board of Realtors and the appropriate licensing agency, but it might be worthwhile to read the contractural language first. Ours lists specific duties owed to customers (fairness, nondisclosure of confidential matters, disclosure of known adverse facts, sales data) plus additional duties owed to clients (allegiance, advice and opinions on request).
Totally understandable. I went through this same sort of situation from the kid’s perspective, so I know it’s not easy to do. But it’s not the end of the world either – hell, I can’t even remember exactly how many months in advance my dad moved ahead of us, so it couldn’t have been too traumatic. Maybe you can live there by yourself long enough for them to finish the fall semester, and move the whole family over christmas/new year’s break. It’s not as ideal as moving over the summer, but still better than right after the semester’s started.
Or if you want to move by the beginning of the fall semester, the whole family could perhaps make due in a smaller two or three bedroom apartment for a few months while you do some proper house hunting.
You know what else you could do is contact a few realtors, and offer a finders fee for a rental. They know people with vacant houses, and in theory all those homes are up for rent if the terms are favorable enough. I know it sounds like unfair and counterintuitive to have to pay a realtor to rent, but people do it. And again, it would be cheaper than what you can loose flipping a house in 2 years.
One option to consider might be making an offer to rent a for-sale house that you like.
In most areas, houses aren’t selling that well right now, so the owners might be willing to consider renting the house rather than leaving it empty. You could also ask for a rent-to-own deal: x% of your rental payments will be applied to purchase if you decide to buy the house at some specified future time.
I don’t know about Canada, but in the US there are many realtors and other agencies that handle short term situations like yours. If there’s no service like that, you just have to buy ‘smart’. Stick to the smallest or least expensive house that will do the job (realtors push you to get the most you can manage, note the results in US house prices). If you end up staying, you can trade up to something better, if plans change, you’ve minimized the potential loss. Also, if you haven’t been living in a house you owned, you will have a lot of new costs to consider. You have to take care of everything. Do you have a lawnmower, ladder, rakes, shovels, and everything else you need to maintain the house and property? Good luck with it all.