In market for SFH in Southwest Minneapolis

[Jackie Sladky]

We will be looking to purchase a house in the low $200k range, in the Lake Harriet, Linden Hills, Southwest area. Uptown is of course a great area but besides location, we want decent square footage, good size lot...  My husband has a friend who is a real estate agent. He is not a very close friend but worked with us before.

Now I have two questions, the market has been very hot lately especially in the area that we are interested in. Should we wait and see or move forward using the analysis when we find a house as though we were to rent it out? And should we work with the real estate agent that we know again? He charges premium price, but he knows the market and does care for our interest.  That is, we trust him.

[David Barnett]

@Jackie Sladky If you are the buyer and not buying off market, why would you be paying the real estate agent, outside of the brokerage fee for his agency?  Usually the buyer's agent fee is paid by the seller.  Are you looking for it as an investment property or as your primary residence?  In reading your message, my first thought was this was a primary residence and not an investment.  An investment is an investment, a primary residence is a primary residence.  Unless you are going to be renting out rooms, I wouldn't analyze this as an investment.  There are different principles at play here...