To use an agent, or not to use an agent
The Motley Fool has been a tremendously helpful resource for years to individuals investing in the stock market. Even though their primary focus is on stocks, they bring common-sense perspective and analysis to wisely managing all aspects of personal finance. One of these is real estate, and your home.
They hint at the analogy of selling “By Owner” (and some of the FSBO assistance companies out there) doing for the real estate industry what E*Trade did for the stock-trading industry, which is pretty accurate. Here are some links directly to pages on The Motley Fool s website (www.fool.com) which are very relavent to you if you re in the market to buy or sell a home:
I would like to personally add a note of strong agreement with the premise of this page: the government really does look out for you in real estate, these days. It used to be that you had to use an agent to avoid “being had” on a real estate purchase, or getting sued on a real estate sale. However, that was a long, long time ago. As in decades. There is so much built-in governance from mortgage companies and lawyers these days, along with new legislation, that today you have to pretty much TRY to “be had” or get sued.