Quote Originally Posted by Lookout View Post
Brian,

George brings up some very valid points but the information is not totally accurate. (no offense George) You can hire a real estate broker to represent you. Its called buyers brokerage. It works very good, especially when buying a for sale by owner home. A real estate broker will make sure all your bases are covered in every aspect of the sale. They will be current on all the new real estate laws and will make sure you are very well protected. They can also sell you homes that are listed. At that point it may become an issue of both buyer and seller being represented. Either way, all parties must be honest and disclose any and all adverse conditions. You may also find that hiring a real estate broker may be cheaper than an attorney.

The second point is about a home inspection. More often than not, the buyer hires the home inspector. Its true, the home inspector does not want to jeopardize the deal but he does have a job to do, and I can’t imagine he would overlook a defect. If he does, he may become liable. If a defect is found, the deal is open for renegotiation. Everyone wants the deal to work out so typically a compromise is reached between buyer and seller, sometimes the realtor gets involved too. No one should ever get stuck with a large repair bill unless they were uneducated about the situation.

I hope all works out for you and you find yourself a property. I too am looking for some property in the Mercer area, but do not want waterfront, taxes are too high! Vacant land from one acre up, or an existing home under the $80,000 price range, also outside of the village of Mercer. I also think its okay to post on here if your looking for real estate. There is alot of other non fishing info discussed on the site. All is good and yes, since Don P is not a regular poster, the reports have been few and far between.

Home inspectors can mention observations but at times will not mention cures. That is the problem, that is where an Attorney can draft and encorporate in the offer responsibility to cure the defect. If the seller does not want to cure the defect and walks away from the offer he has now been put on notice of the defect or defect's and now has to encorporate them in the Real Estate Condition report. So any one buying the home will now also have to consider the defects in their offer. If the seller is not willing to listen to that, then in essence the listing broker is getting screwed and the property in esscence is not for sale. Unreasonable terms to say the least. No Broker wants to spend money on advertising on a property that has real problems, the seller.

If some one wants to contact Scott from the Turtle Flambeau Assn I am sure he can offer some help on finding a good real estate attorney . Try him he is one of the most helpful people in the area. He him self of course is an Attorney ----. Find the Attorney first, then go looking, ask him how the firm charges for their services and their experience in real estate.

Brian
Brian, when you hire a Broker to look for a house for you , you will be paying him a fee. He by law cannot offer you any, not any legal advice so right away your dead in the water. Letting a listing broker hunt for you is the smart way and finding your self an Attorney who can give you legal advice and also draft the offer to purchase with your terms and also special conditions that a listing broker, selling broker or individual broker representing a buyer CANNOT DO. So in the end you still need a competent Attorney to represent your interests.

Many , many buyers have bought the cat in the bag. A good inspection by a state Certified Contractor also will reveal items not of interest to a property inspector. The Contractor also can give you a cost to cure the deficiencys BEFORE you write the offer. I also always advise individuals to have the inspection report done by both individuals BEFORE you write the offer and then the offer is drafted with the buyers best interest being taken care of by his paid representitive. Buyers may have to get permission from the seller to have these individuals do their inspectins. The Contractor can do a walk through with the buyer and they can discuss each observation by the Contractor and its cure. The Seller should never be present when this is done for obvious reasons. Open conversation with out having to watch your commentary is best done with out the seller present. His realtor can be their of course . Be very carefull when buying real estate anywhere. The offer to purchase is 9 or 10 pages long right now and then add the adendums created by your Attorney written with your best interest up front. Good Luck.