Realtor or No Realtor?

[Cody Jensen]

Is there a significant need to use a realtor when purchasing a muli-family property?

Have you purchased a property from the owner directly? If so, how did the process work? 

Thanks

[Julie N.]

As a Realtor myself, I would recommend that you use a Realtor in your Real Estate transactions. Realtors know the laws and timelines in your state for the contracts as well as coordinate with inspectors, loan officers and Attorneys to make things run smoothly for you. As a Buyer's Agent, the seller pays the commission for the Realtor's involved so it won't cost you anything to hire one whereas it could cost you a lot if you don't hire a professional.

I'm sure you can hire an Atty to walk you through every step of the transaction- but why would you that when you can hire a Realtor. In my state, Attys do the closings- they typically come in on the end of the home buying process and wrap things up to head towards the closing table.

My most recent purchase was a 2-family that I bought off of craigslist. She was clueless on the process of buying and selling real estate. It didn't really matter since I was a realtor - she needed to be guided through the transaction since she didn't know what she was doing. Had I not been a Realtor and we were two novices- I think it would have been tricky.

Residential realtors in my state can handle units up to four - anything over that is considered commercial.

Good luck.