Do you need a real estate agent to buy a house? Here are the risks and alternatives to working without a real estate agent when buying or selling a house.

The Four Steps to Buying a House Without a Real Estate Agent

Step 1: Get Pre-Approved

Real estate agents will often suggested “preferred” lenders. Without an agent, you’ll have to find a lender on your own. Look online and ask your friends with homes who they used to finance their purchase. Be sure to check out reviews and talk to each lender on the phone to verify their knowledge and trustworthiness. When comparing rate quotes, make sure you do it “apples to apples”–that means comparing quotes from the same day (rates change daily) and making sure closing costs are accounted for in each estimate. Remember, the rate is important but it’s the APR that represents the true cost of the loan.

Beware Sketchy Lenders

Not all lenders are created equal and you definitely don’t want to get stuck with some slick salesperson type lender who will charge you hidden fees and/or ghost you when you need them most. A lender can and will approve you for more than you probably want to pay. Make sure to have an idea of your preferred budget BEFORE talking to a lender so you don’t end up accidentally getting pre-approved for an amount that leaves you “house poor”.

Tips and Tricks: A “pre-qualification” is NOT a pre-approval. A pre-qualification is worthless and you should always ignore them.

Step 2: Find The Home

It used to be much harder to locate good houses. Today, however, anyone can hop on Redfin, Zillow, Realtor.com, etc.. and instantly find 99.9% of the houses available for sale. The real challenge comes from making sure

(1) You know what you need & want in a house,

(2) You know what you can afford, and

(3) You do your due diligence.

Let’s focus in on that last one.

Doing the Due Diligence When Buying a House (Expectation vs Reality Check)

When it comes to buying a house, due diligence is absolutely essential. You may see a home online and fall in love with the beautiful listing photos featuring a sunset over the hillside. Then you show up to the house and realize that photo was taken from a drone 20 feet above the property and all you can see from inside is a wall of trees and the neighbor’s kitchen window.

Lookout for Red Flags

Unless you’re a trained housing professional, finding the red flags in a home can be a challenge. When in doubt, defer to the “that just doesn’t look right” rule. If something seems odd or out of place, it probably is. Does the ceiling droop strangely in the center of the room? Do you smell gas in the furnace room? Does the fresh coat of paint on the outside of the house seem to be obscuring bulging or rotted areas? Assume the worst and the worst won’t hurt you. Sure, sometimes things aren’t as bad as they seem, but it’s risky to presume a red flag is no big deal when you’re working without the guidance of an agent who could tell you otherwise.

When in doubt, defer to the “that just doesn’t look right” rule.

EXTRA CREDIT: Be practical when evaluating a home. Houses have been sold to us as these romantic places where all our dreams come true. They can be, but fundamentally their purpose is to provide shelter and security for your day to day living. Make sure the home actually fits your needs, not just your stylistic desires.

Step 3: Make a Winning Offer

Making an offer on a house is the hardest part of working without a real estate agent. The way you write your offers will vary state-to-state and situation-to-situation.

Offer Terms

These include things such as the closing date, the earnest money deposit, and contract contingencies. The faster you close, the happier the seller will be. The same is true for larger earnest money deposits and lighter contingencies. Consider carefully the risks and opportunities when it comes to adjusting the various terms of your offer. For more info on how to write winning offers, check out our blog on the topic.

Offer Price

The man with the treasure gets the pleasure. If you want to get a home, offer as much money as possible. If you want to get a deal, offer less. Sound simple? It’s not.

It’s difficult to say, in a general sense, what the “right price” is for a home. Do your best to compare the home to others that sold recently in the same area, but don’t expect to find any perfect answers. If you think you’re in a competitive situation, one rule of thumb is that you should offer a price that, if someone else were to offer $5000 more, you’d be glad they got the house and you didn’t. The worst feeling in the world is losing out on a house and then realizing in hindsight you would have spent more to get it.

How to Submit an Offer Without an Agent

Make sure you let the seller agent know that you are unrepresented BEFORE you submit an offer. They will likely help guide you in how to write the offer. If you have access to state approved offer forms, use those, and try to get them from the listing agent if you can. If not, make sure that your offer is in writing, signed (electronic signature works fine in most states), identifies the property by both its address and its tax parcel number, clearly states the price you are offering as well as any other terms, and includes both your full legal name(s) and the sellers name. The rules of a valid offer are strict and you will not get the house if you do not meet the requirements.

THE SELLER’S AGENT DOES NOT REPRESENT YOU.

Tips and Tricks: If you take nothing else away from this article, let it be this: THE SELLER’S AGENT DOES NOT REPRESENT YOU. No matter how nice they seem, no matter how helpful they are, their primary duty is to the seller, and they will absolutely protect their interest above your own.

Step 4: Closing the Deal

Closing a real estate transaction is a long and complex process. The professionals involved in the transaction generally don’t get paid unless the deal closes. For that reason, entities such as the escrow agent, title insurance company, etc.. may be willing to help guide you through closing. This isn’t a guarantee, however, so you have to advocate for yourself at all times.

Here are the big deadlines to keep in mind during the closing process.

1. Deposit Your Earnest Money – The escrow company should give you these instructions ASAP once you have a signed contract.

2. Do Your Inspection – If you have an inspection contingency, make sure to hire an inspector and arrange access to the property before the contingency period lapses.

3. Finish Your Loan Application – Loan officers don’t get paid unless the deal closes, so they should help you here.

4. Clear the Title – You’ll want to reach out to the title company (usually the same as the escrow company) and make sure the title to the property is clean; you’ll also want to shop for title insurance and home insurance at this time.

5. Sign Your Closing Papers – Get in touch with the escrow company and make sure you sign the closing documents prior to closing day; the timeline will vary state to state.

6. Do a Final Walkthrough – If your state and/or contract allow it, make sure you walk the property prior to closing once the sellers have moved out; you don’t want to walk into a disaster zone or find out too late that all your new appliances were stolen.

7.Make Your Down Payment – Have your down payment money ready in time for closing; if you need to sell stock or wait for a gift, etc.. make sure this is handled well before closing day or else you’ll be in for a nasty surprise!

There are certainly more steps to closing than I have noted here, but these are the basic ones. My main advice is that you ask for help from everyone along the way. Don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t know. Screwing up the closing process is a fast way to lose not only the house, but possibly lots and lots of money as well.

Tips and Tricks: Document everything. If you call your lender and they give you a quote or advice over the phone, immediately send them an email summarizing your call once it’s over. Put everything in writing and you’ll be better protected if (and when) something goes wrong.

That’s it! Follow these steps and you too can purchase a home without a real estate agent.

Alternatives to Buying a Home with a Real Estate Agent

Buying a Home Using a Real Estate Attorney

If you’ve visited Reddit, Quora, or any other online source, you probably already heard the advice “you don’t need an agent to buy a home; just use an attorney and save a bunch of money.” In most states you can use an attorney to purchase a house rather than an agent. What this really means is that an attorney can review your contract for you and provided an opinion on whether it is legally sound and advisable to sign.

If you hire an attorney that works for a flat fee, make sure you understand what that fee does and does not cover. If you hire an attorney with an hourly rate, BEWARE and ask for constant updates on how many hours are being billed, lest you suddenly find yourself spending more money than you are “saving” by working with an attorney in the first place.

Tips and Tricks: Not all attorneys are created equal. Don’t go to a DUI attorney for real estate advice. Make sure any attorney you consult with is in fact knowledgeable and skilled in residential real estate transactions. They may be harder to find, but they are far more worthwhile.

Fun fact: I (Ryan Palardy) happen to be a fully licensed attorney in the State of Washington. While not my common practice, I have helped facilitate real estate transactions for a flat fee in the past. Feel free to reach out if you’re curious about what it might look like to partner with the team and I on a deal. (CLICK HERE)

Other Professionals to Keep in Mind

An attorney can be helpful when buying a home by yourself, but they are far from the only source of help out there. I strongly recommend calling home inspectors, contractors, title and escrow officers, and other real estate professionals in your area to develop mutually beneficial relationships. You’ll appreciate these people when the time to buy comes and questions arise, as they always do.

Should You Try to Buy a Home Without a Real Estate Agent?

Ok, so you can, but should you? For most people, the answer will be no. Here’s why.

It’s hard buying a home, now more than ever.

The Seattle times (link) recently posted an article describing the obstacles home buyers face when they try to buy a home without a realtor. The Times found that most of these unrepresented buyers struggle to be taken seriously by home sellers and very few have had their offers accepted. Why would that be? Sometimes it’s for technical reasons such as a poorly written or legally invalid offer. Other times it’s due to more general concerns from sellers that don’t feel comfortable working with self-represented buyers and see them as inherently risky.

In an age of multiple offers, lightning quick list-to-pending times, and ultra low affordability, buying a home on your own stands as a fraught proposition even for the most intelligent and self-reliant of buyers.

A good real estate agent will make the process easier.

The home buying process is hard. Working with a real estate agent makes it easier, more streamlined, and takes much of the stress of the unknown off the buyer’s back. (CLICK HERE to Read More About the Process of Working with Our Team)

You don’t know what you don’t know.

You don’t know what you don’t know. Even if this is your second, third, or even fourth home purchase, a good agent buys and sells more homes in a month than you will in a lifetime. We do this everyday and our entire job is to help guide you through the process in a way that makes it as simple as possible (it usually ends up being fun as well!). We have already vetted the best local lenders, inspectors, contractors, etc, so you don’t have to. We can analyze each home’s value and give you the pros and cons of each Seattle neighborhood so that you feel confident in your decision when the time comes to make your purchase.

You’ll likely end up saving money by working with an agent.

The common misconception is that working with an agent costs the buyer money. This is wrong on several levels. At least in Washington State and particularly the Seattle metropolitan area, home sellers are still the ones who ultimately pay the buyer agent commission. This means that the price of an agent is already baked into the price of the home.

The price of an agent is already baked into the price of the home

Many people think they can “get a deal” by not working with an agent; however, this is rarely the case. Sellers set the price with the expectation of providing a buyer agent commission. As the Seattle Times noted, sellers are wary of unrepresented buyers and the discounts they expect almost never actually materialize.

How an agent can save you money.

A good agent will make sure you do not overpay (or under-offer) for a house. Note that I say agent, not salesperson. Some real estate buyer agents are just that: salespeople. But the good ones put your interests first and foremost. They aren’t concerned with if or when you buy a house. Their only concern is that, if you do buy, you get the right house for the best possible price.

The Get Happy at Home Team prides itself on protecting buyers from bad or unworthy homes. We’re here to protect you, not sell to you. We will 100% steer you away from at least 9 out of every 10 homes you see, because the cost of buying the wrong home is astronomical, both in terms of dollars, time and energy.

How an agent can help you win.

In a competitive market, learning how to write a winning offer when the house actually is worth your money is valuable. It’s no fun to spend months writing offer after offer only to keep losing out on homes that you could have won due. And no one wants to through away money on endless home inspections just to not get the houses, all while watching the price of homes slowly creep up over time!

These are just some of the reasons why working with a great agent is valuable. If you want to here more, or if you disagree with our take, please shoot us an email and let us know!

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If you have questions about the home buying process, with or without agent involvement, or anything else having to do with Seattle real estate, do not hesitate to reach out to me and the team directly! Check out our post on the Seattle Times article about troubles buying without an agent, here!

About Ryan

Ryan attended law school at the University of Washington. He obtained his WSBA bar license in 2018 and practiced law in Washington prior to joining Get Happy at Home. He is currently licensed as WSBA #54185.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The information provided in this blog post is for general informational purposes only. We do not intend this blog as legal advice and it should not be relied upon as a substitute for consulting with a qualified legal professional. While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, the law is constantly evolving, and the content of this post may not reflect the most current legal standards or interpretations. Always consult with a licensed attorney or legal expert for advice specific to your situation. Any reliance you place on the information from this blog post is strictly at your own risk. We do not accept any responsibility for any loss, injury, claim, liability, or damage of any kind resulting from the use of, reference to, or reliance on the information provided in this blog post.