Need some feedback on buying a condo without agent.

[Nicholas Clark]

Hello everyone, I wanted to quickly say this site is great. Very helpful info I have picked up here since my first visit.

I live in Fountain Valley, Ca. We rent. My neighbor is going to be selling his condo right next to me next Jan. It is the same square footage and layout as ours. 3 Bd, 3 Bth, with outstanding upgrades throughout the unit. Basically he did everything that could be done.

My current rent is $2,500.00 a month. I will be getting a rent increase soon from my landlord in the next few months when our lease expires. My new mortgage if I buy the condo would be around $3,400.00 per month with property taxes, etc. It is a bit of a jump in cost for me monthly but I could do it.

I expressed interest in buying it without an agent to save on the fees. I have a close friend in Seattle that handles loans so that part would be taken care of.

The owner is asking $650K. The units that have sold recently within this community have been only two bedroom 2 bath, they sell quickly for $550K. The comps in the area show me based on square footage and similar layouts do go for $650K average for 3 bedrooms.

My question is should I negotiate and ask the owner if we can just split the agents fee we saved and split the closing costs? Say $30K saved from the agent fee's, we split it and the sale price reflects that.

I know we have to do comparable sales and get the appraisal before this gets wrapped up. So that may change his asking price as well.

Really looking for good advice on doing a private deal and things to be aware of before I jump in. This is new to me.

Thanks again for any help on this. :)