Importance of having a Buyers Agent?

Question

There is a multifamily property we are interested in seeing being offered by what looks like a single owner realtor/investor/property management company.  Going by the price and the description, this property will need significant rehab but from what I see has wonderful potential.  Should I make sure to have a Buyers Agent, or if I make sure to get an in-depth independent  inspection would this suffice?

Another factor is we will be using funds from a HELOC to use for our investing.  We are financing through the VA which is s-l-o-w and so the HELOC is still moving through the paper shuffling and likely may not be for another month.  If we see the property now and are interested, I was thinking about talking to this company about lease to own or something creative for just this short term wait period.  At least we could secure the property and get moving on it and pay it outright in a month or so.  I'm not sure if this scenario would make any difference in your opinions of the necessity of an agent.

Thanks for any and all input!

Russell Brazil · Answer

I would suggest getting a buyers agent based on the simple fact that just in what you typed there is a big flaw in your plan. You want to buy a property that needs significant rehab and you want to use a VA loan. VA loans have strict property condition requirements, so a property needing rehab is unlikely to qualify.  Without an agent, and not being aware of that...you could have started down that road with the other side well aware of that, and put you in a position to lose your earnest money deposit.