Your Opinion: Should I Use A Realtor For Buy And Hold or Should I Find The Deals On Zillow and Give The Listing Realtor 6%?

[Chris S.]

So I'm looking to buy and hold (first time since 2007.. ha) and I'm trying to decide if I should use a realtor and have them get us in to the houses on the MLS, etc.. (I'm not really sure what the other benefits are, b/c I know every house that's decent in my market.. any insight would be awesome)

Or should I give the listing realtor 6% and have them work double hard to get a lower bid accepted.. give us the bottom line, etc..  I've been leaning towards this b/c it's worked in the past in a few transactions I've been a part of.  They hinted towards the lower number b/c they get 6%..

I saw this link and description and I wanted to get your opinion.  Thanks for any help!

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2009/08/13/ways-reo-offers-irresistible-bank/

3) Give the Listing Agent Both Sides of the Commission

Many listing agents will go the extra mile to get your deal pushed through when you are giving them both sides of the commission.

It took me awhile to catch on to this strategy, but once I started implementing it, my acceptance rate improved remarkably.

Many people believe that it makes no difference whether or not the agent gets both sides of the commission- the agent, after all, is supposed to have their client’s best interest in mind, and such things shouldn’t matter when they are presenting the offer to the seller. While that sounds great in theory, I can tell you from experience it is not the case in most instances.