I’ve been warned by real estate agents to stay away from private land sales but the reasoning provided hasn’t really been made clear to me.
I understand that the real estate agents act as a buffer to absorb liability for the seller and answer questions for the buyer, but are there actually less protections as a buyer when purchasing through an individual?
Also, what qualifies as a “private sale” ?
There is a property I’m looking at which is being represented by a local real estate agent/office, but the agent made a specific note to mention that the current owner was a private individual (ie. not a developer/etc.)
Does this actually pose any specific challenges vs. a more typical transaction?
I feel like the fact that a real estate agent is involved means that it should run fairly smoothly?
3 comments
I felt like I lost nothing in moving from agent to private sale but you do risk a loss of communication further on if you have questions while the realtor may help you after the sale. A multilingual scrivener was much more valuable than paying a realtor since they explain laws to you as your property lawyer, being the “true” intermediary.
Your question has a weird semantic rift around the word “individual.” At first it seems you are talking about a buyer or seller who doesn’t use a realtor. Then you seem to switch to a distinction between an individual owner and a developer. I’m wondering it an AI that is writing this question.
But to answer the question I think you are asking, you are free to make contracts with whomever you want so long as they are not a minor or someone under guardianship. You can buy a piece of land from a neighbor with a handshake, yes, but you won’t have a carefully crafted contract to protect you if things go wrong. Such a contract needs a licensed broker to read the official warnings.
Once you try to buy tons of real estate for resale, etc., without a licensed broker on your staff, or you try to make a business of negotiating deals repeatedly, you may end up practicing real estate without a license. That brings hefty fines.
What it means is that you aren’t buying land from a construction developer who has purchased a big chunk of land, subdivided it and wants to sell you a plot on the condition that you use their construction company and their general financial ecosystem so the maximum amount of revenue streams leads back to them.
Rather, you will be buying a piece of land directly from a regular person who will be a regular human being, so you will have more choice in how you buy, what bank you go to etc. That said, the realestate probably thinks it’s ‘easier’ for them because they can try and push you towards their bank of choice.