Should I call the Listing Agent or look for a buying agent?

[Dawn White]

I am a new investor in the Elkin area of NC, never having done any deals. I have found a HUD home that seems to be a very promising deal. I currently have ZERO RE agent relationships. Should I call the listing agent on this home or should I look for a buyer's agent to just represent me? Also, I'm assuming I'll have to do a title search on this...is this a correct assumption or do HUD's usually have a clear title? I live in a rural community that has no local REIA group. I usually travel over an hour to get to a meeting and so far I have found no investors in my area that go to these meetings. Apparently the local investors aren't a very sociable group...LOL. Anyway, I was hoping the BP forum could help me with this one since I don't have any local support yet. The details so far....the SFH is in a market with comps that are from $142K - $157K. HUD first listed the property for 149K in Jan, reduced it to 134K in Feb, and reduced it again in Mar to 119K. I'm thinking, after digging on info about HUD pricings/bids, I can get it for a really good deal at under 90K. I'm familiar with the house & believe it needs very little work, just cosmetics. I'm really nervous about making an offer. Will also be looking for financing. The one company I thought I might could use, doesn't come out this far away from the city...grrr. Any advice, please share!!