Writing an offer? Can it be done without an agent?

Question

Hi,

I have been looking into the Brrrr strategy and I hear about people finding off market deals etc.  My question is... say I do a letter campaign and someone wants to sell me their house.  How do you write up an offer?  Do you always have to have an agent write an offer for you?

I've googled it on the internet and all I get are how realtors write the offers, make a nice letter etc, but I am concerned with the nuts & bolts of what I need to put in the offer for protections etc.  Are people presenting these homeowners with their own written contracts?  Is that a good idea?  Thanks for any advice.

Tom

Russell Brazil · Answer

Hire a real estate attorney

Bjorn Ahlblad · Answer

@Tom Nellman as others have said yes you can write up an offer. The fact that you are asking suggests you should not do it until you are more experienced and a lot of things can go wrong. I suggest you engage an experienced RE agent and for 2-3% have them handle the transaction from front to completion. All the best!

Ben Sears · Answer

@Tom Nellman I've made purchases both ways. For purchases without a realtor, I use the Virginia state realty contract and simply fill it out how the realtor does. You only need basic information that can be found at the local courthouse along with any stipulations. If you're not comfortable with this, any real estate attorney can draw up a contract for you for a fraction of the cost of a realty commission. You should have a good real estate attorney in your pocket anyways so why not give them a call and let them walk you through the first couple.

Mike Cumbie · Answer

Hi @Tom Nellman

Anyone can write up an offer. It could be a cocktail napkin saying "I agree to buy 123 Main street for $250,000" and signed. The obvious problem is that all sorts of things aren't covered (What type of title are you getting? Are ceiling fans included? Who gets rights to drill for oil? How current does the survey have to be? Is there an inspection period? What  type of financing and is that an out? What is the deposit?) In general our forms are done up by a board of lawyers who argue with each other over the wording "It says shall not duty to"!! for months before it gets changed. We also all pretty much use the same form in an area (in general) so it's been argued and fought over thousands of times.

Everything is always great right up until it is not. Trying to design your own should at the least be done by an attorney who does RE law. I wouldn't recommend downloading and using a form from the internet because any local lawyer will end up chewing that up the first time something goes wrong.

Good Luck!

Writing an offer? Can it be done without an agent?

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