The question is how to buy a house but I am using the internet to look. So I would like to know how to go about it, step by step. Also if there are some sites you would suggest or other tips, that would help too.
Start by contacting a realtor and they will guide you through the process.
In at least some areas, make sure you know whether you’re dealing with the realtor as a buyer’s agent or as a seller’s agent. Many people assume the realtor is working for them because they contacted the realtor, but the realtor may well be working for the seller. There’s nothing wrong with that, and no reason not to discuss things with seller’s agents, but you do want to understand whether that’s what’s going on.
Apparently having lawyers involved (usually but not always in addition to realtors) varies state to state in the USA. When they are, the seller and the buyer should have different lawyers.
Yes I would and actually it makes alot of sense if you instead had a buyer representative go thru the house who has an eye for things and knows what to look for. For example, leaky roof, bad wiring, bad hvac systems, sagging concrete, etc…
Many a buyer gets duped because of a fancy kitchen or something and doesnt look for such things. Now granted the actual buyer would want a virtual tour or something but I dont think it would hurt to have a professional look it over also who knows what to look for and knows their client.
Hate to say it but sometimes people have little choice if its a hot real estate market like California. I read about people there having money ready to go and realtors on standby and will frankly take the first thing that comes up in their price range.
I know we were able to “sign” some documents online when we just refinanced. But others we met up with the lawyer in an empty real estate office.
You think a buyer’s agent is the right person to look for those things? That’s what the inspection is for, and the contract should be written to allow the buyer out with no penalty if a certain amount of crap is found, or the price reduced to fix them.
Water stains on the ceiling are a giveaway, but the lack of them hardly means the house is good.
I just bought a house during quarantine and most of the process was online. We browsed for houses online, and Zillow eventually figured out what we wanted and started sending us emails when houses we might like went on sale. Which is good, because the houses we wanted were going fast. We put in an offer on one the day it went on sale, and someone else had already put an offer on it, and they outbid us. For the house we ended up buying last week, we also put an offer in on the day it went on sale, and we paid a little over asking because there was another offer and we didn’t want to lose this one.
We did go visit the house in person. First before we made an offer, then again during the inspections, and later, right before we closed, for the final walkthrough. All the up front paperwork was filled out and signed online (mostly through a website called dotloop), but the final closing was in person at the title company. I didn’t even meet the lender or the sellers until closing.
There was remarkably little human contact during the process, but I wouldn’t call it entirely online. I suspect the only way to buy a house without meeting people or signing paperwork is to hire another person to act as your agent to do those things for you.
When I bought my apartment, there were 5 attorneys required at the closing. And this was a private sale (I was buying a place I had rented for 10 years).Thats NY, I guess - my attorney cousin in FL was flabbergasted by this.
My attorney
Sellers attorney
My bank’s attorney
Sellers bank’s attorney
Attorney for the apartment building - coop apartment.
This happened 15 years ago and I don’t know if the bank attorneys would have to attend in person these days. I got the impression they were there to hand over the very large checks involved and to make sure these checks weren’t distributed unless all the paperwork was in order. These days. I think it’s all direct bank transfers that don’t happen until the bank vets everything post-closing.
I’ve dealt with several sales in NY on various dates over nearly 50 years and never had more than two lawyers at the closing. The buyer’s lawyer brought the money, and these were all individual houses, not coop apartments. Not very expensive ones, as these things go, which might also have had something to do with it.
My daughter and her fiance recently bought a house. First they contacted a realtor via email and discussed what they were interested in. The realtor sent house listings as she became aware of them, so that they could do their shopping from home.
After looking at dozens of listings online, they found one they really liked and did a walk through. The seller was very motivated and had just dropped his asking price significantly. Before even having an inspection done, they made a calculated low-ball offer which was immediately accepted. They closed a month later.
If by “buyer’s representative” you mean the buyer’s realtor, then this is very bad advice.
The way it works is that there’s almost always a seller’s realtor marketing the property, and you may or may not have a buyer’s realtor who is nominally working for you to give you advice on the market, help you find a property, accompany you on viewings, and guide you through the process. If there are two realtors involved, they split the (huge) fee.
But it’s very important to understand that the realtors get paid only if the sale goes through. This applies just as much to the buyer’s realtor who is nominally on your side. Your own realtor has a strong financial incentive to minimize problems, not to point them out to you. Of course, there are some honest and responsible realtors. But it is not the norm for people to act against powerful financial self-interest. The fact that the industry is structured this way is… fucked up.
The people who you should be trusting to point out potential problems are the building inspector and your attorney. Building inspections are not that expensive - consider how much their fee is compared to what the realtor is getting. I favor getting two building inspections. And never ask your realtor to recommend a building inspector, find one independently. (Think about how many referrals an exceptionally diligent building inspector will get from a realtor who has a strong financial interest in NOT find problems that might disrupt completion of the transaction.)
All good points.
I was just thinking about a person you could really trust who could look at a property, see its issues (good and bad), negotiate a price, and give you (the buyer) a recommendation. No it might not be a realtor.
There were a couple of times I brought along an “expert” to help me look over some property and they gave me a recommendation if I should buy it or not.