Well as the buyer you dont pay the realtor’s fee- the seller does. So its almost always in your best interest to have a buyer’s agent. If you had bought and sold at least one home before then I would say sure, try to do a private sale with just a real estate attorney,and maybe the seller would be more likely to negotiate on price to save themselves some money. And to answer your question, anyone can go on Redfin and study comps to help determine market value for a private sale. But- If you’ve never gone through the process before though I truly think buyers agent is in your best interest.

That being said. Even with an agent, I still think you should study the comps. Educate yourself because you are often going to be your own best advocate. For example in the negotiation recently, we’ve bought and sold several homes before. I was pretty obsessive about studying the comps myself for the home that we were focusing on. We got to the point in negotiation where our agent was really pushing us to just split the difference. Remember that even a buyers agent of course has an interest in getting you in a house, and they won’t be the ones paying your mortgage ;)

I held out, because I felt firm in my knowledge of the comps and I didn’t want to overpay. Happily, the sellers relented. Now, not every story will work out that way, but all I’m saying is – I think a buyers agent is essential for a first time buyer but I also think gathering some knowledge for yourself is key is well.

Find a similar home (as best you can) that has recently SOLD. That FINAL price would be a good barometer against which to measure the house you are interested in.

ASKING prices are not necessarily a good measurement. After all, sellers can ask whatever they want for their house. The price they actually get, though, is good information to have.

In my area, tax figures have next-to-nothing to do with sales prices. And Zillow can be notoriously inaccurate.

You can go to Zillow. They have a button that only shows you the houses that SOLD in the area and for how much. It will help you with comps.

Unless you have a lot of extra money a mortgage company will only lend a certain amount on any property. Anything above the actual value will have to come out of your pockets. A buyers agent could give you a more accurate valuation.

In our area tax assessment is 70% of actual resale value. If yours was 70% they figure value is about $245,000.

Does the sale of a house affect tax value? So if the house is currently taxed at $170, but I paid say $240 for it, does the tax office notice this and raise the tax value? Obviously the low tax value does have some appeal and value as that would mean lower taxes for me if I buy the home.

Well, that depends, mattaggle. In my county, we didn't have any reassessments until the Missouri State Auditor forced our local officials to do so last year. We went at least 10 years without a change in assessed valuations. Then we had painful increases, county-wide.

Yours may vary, obviously.

Our tax assessment on our last house was all wrong. You can't go by tax assessments

mattaggie - two things. First off, in Texas no one is REQUIRED to post/tell/share/advise anyone the selling price of a property so it might not be easy for you to find SOLD comparables on your own, and second of all, when you purchase a property the county will send a form asking you to complete WITH THE SELLING PRICE! DO NOT respond, because if it sold for more than the tax record value, the county will promptly set the tax value at the new selling price. Of course, if it sold for LESS than what the county has an appraisal, certainly feel free to respond!. I live about an hour South of Aggieland.

Agents are not allowed to be hired for "appraisals". Not even for Market Valuations, unless listing the home.

But the owners can call 2 or 3 realtors to do a competitive market analysis. For free. Without listing.

^^ Isn't that usually done for sellers listing a home and not buyers?

Yes, she can ask the sellers to do that. The sellers might refuse, too.

Huh...I did not know that.

A first time buyer, with no representation, buying an old home, that used to be a rental? What could possibly go wrong in this scenario?

Are you a contractor that can handle all of the potential issues that a home of that age will have? As in all new electrical and plumbing? Foundation work? New roofing? Insulation? New HVAC?

Or, do you have double the price of the house in cash to take care of all of those issues by paying Professionals to do it for you?

Living in an an old house is a lifestyle, not a residence choice. There will always be something that takes your time and your money. And that is the best case scenario.

Just join all of the Old House Facebook groups and read about the $900 winter heating bill and the 30K bill to deal with the frozen pipes bursting that weren’t kept warm enough by the $900 heating bill. And that the insurance that begins to cover that is more than the heating bill because there’s a trace of knob and tube. And you have to deal with lead and asbestos abatement in the Reno as well. Read about the scam artist contractors who do the 203s and leave the homeowner holding the bag and out of funds to deal with the massive problems.

You (or the seller) could hire an appraiser for a few hundred dollars to run comps and provide you a market value.

Do it yourself through comps. They are all online and anyone can figure this out. Knowing the area well is a big plus. Get an attorney to review the paperwork for closing. Insist on an inspection, of course. You do not have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to a Realtor when you have a willing seller and buyer. An attorney is much more reasonable -a few hundred, or maybe a thousand, depending on what negotiation help you might need - and can actually protect you legally.

by the way Matt, if you are looking East of Hwy 6, make certain your proposed home is NOT anywhere near the High Speed Rail (boondoggle) that is planned for trains both directions every 15 minutes 18 hours of the day.

The house is in Navasota, so not near the proposed rail. I think owners are basing price on College Station real estate, where they own rental property. They are starting with $100 a sq ft as their baseline. The house is up to date in terms of plumbing, electrical. New metal roof. I know the owner who redid the house in the 80's.

How about paying a realtor some money for their time in just pulling all sold in the area that fits this house. Only way in Texas to get comps is access to a listing service.

Property taxes is not a good estimate either if the house is older as in this case since taxes assumes depreciation of the house based on age.

For those telling the OP how easy it is to get comps online -- not in Texas it isn't. Selling price does not have to be disclosed. I don't live in Navasota but not all that fair from the area. If I was buying (and when I did buy) I had a buyer's agent. As an inexperienced buyer I think it is foolish to not have your own agent.

That said -- if you are insistent on not having one I would pay for an appraisal of the house to figure the value.

So Texas is a non-disclosure state then since selling price isn't disclosed in the public records. That is even more reason for the OP to get a buyers agent.

Finding a buyer's agent isn't difficult. If you have friends and family in the area, get a recommendation from them first. If you don't, then research agents online and INTERVIEW them. An interview will tell you a lot about the person. Don't sign a buyer's agency agreement without having met them. Each buyer's agent is different. Check references. Stay away from a noob agent. The mega agencies are filled with noob agents (for the most part).

One of the best ways to find a good buyer's agent is to ask your listing agent for your current home to find a good buyer's agent for you in the new place. That agent can refer a couple of agents to you to interview and if you don't want any of those, have the agent find more for you. An important part of a buyer's agent skill set is being able to communicate effectively with you.

Personally I think you should use a CRS (new name of the organization is RCC, Residential Real Estate Council). I say that because members have to have much more real estate education and experience (which must be proved to the Council). I can not emphasize enough the importance of actual experience, not just length of time the Realtor has had their license.

Denita- yes.

That's why Zillow/Trulia-even Redfin- are fairly useless in determining fair price. In areas with huge growth- they aren't keeping up. LOL- a home that I removed from our lot 3 years ago is STILL the one that Zillow uses as it's valuation starting point. While they don't have the land value too wrong. they apparently have no idea that this home has been completely replaced. Out-of-area or first time buyers who don't know would get a completely skewed idea of what property values really look like in my neighborhood, if they tried to use my home values (or my neighbors) in their own calculations.

OP should also understand a few other things:

1. Homeowners-everywhere- tend to overvalue their properties. Setting the price without a buyer's agent makes a buyer vulnerable.I can't tell you how many neighbors, looking to make an over-inflated buck off their property, have offered me "first shot, friends/family price" that was way, way too high.

No different in TX than anywhere. But Navasota isn't comparable to the College Station market- OP's potential sellers are offering a bad comparison.

2. The County Tax Appraisal Districts in TX- don't get me too riled up. :) Valuations are ballparked, and often have little to nothing to do with true valuations, compared to even your neighbors home. That's why we get "proposed" tax valuations every year, and why anywhere from 30%-40% of all homeowners fight it. WE win, too.

3. Homestead Act means a lot, in terms of stopping huge valuation increases. Need to live in the home 2 years. before it applies, though, and so those two years you're left vulnerable. A good tax protest agent (for #2 and #3) is essential here. Even for those who are homesteaders, to avoid running up against the limit of increased valuation (10%) when your home may not have appreciated even close to that.

4. This is an old property, so if any improvements are made (permits must be pulled) the County will know, and that, also increases valuation which increases taxes.

Many areas have the same things in place, but since TX' tax base is missing state income taxes and because the whole state seems to be in a "revitalizing mode", the County Appraisal Districts feel free to grab as much increase as the law will allow.

I had a local realtor give me an opinion. They said if they were advising a buyer, they would start at $230 ($85 sq ft). Said its a buyer's market right now. Sellers are having to come way down from asking. I'm going to get a few more opinions from people involved in real estate.