So, I have a couple questions, but I'll give you the situation first so you know whats going on. We have only bought one home, 27 years ago, and bought straight from the owner. So we have like no experience with agents.
A little over a year from know we will be moving from Lyons, CO to Lakeview Oregon. Moving from a small town surrounded my big towns, to a small town surround by nothing!
Anyway, last time we were up there we hooked up with a local real estate agent that a friend recommended. We didn't sign anything, but she was suppose to be keeping an eye out for what we wanted. Planning on buying when we find what we like, even if not moving for a while.
So I've been watching Zillow, and Realtor.com almost every day. We found a house that we think is perfect, everything we want, and in very nice condition. So about a week from now, I'm flying to Reno, renting a car and driving 4 hours north to Lakeview, just to look at this place. We called our agent in Lakeview, and turns out the house is one of her listings.
So, question 1. Is it a problem with her acting as both the sellers agent, and the buyers agent? Or do we need to hire a buyers agent to act as a go between. I mean, her acting as the sellers agent, she wants to get the most she can for the sellers, and her commission.
Question 2. I think I have her talked out of this, but my wife wants to give them a low ball offer, hoping that they will haggle and come down off their asking price. I was doing some reading on-line and think the only time its ok to lowball, is if the house needs work, or hasn't been well kept. This particular house is in excellent shape, has everything we want, and is basically my dream place. So also from reading online, I read that if the home is everything you want, you should be prepared to offer the asking price or more.
To further complicate things, Lakeview is experience a temporary high in housing prices, do to a company building a new biofuel plant on the edge of town. Hundreds of people have moved there, buying up all the houses, and driving the prices up. In about a year when the bio plant is finished, most of these people will leave and only 75 or so will stay to run the plant. Our agent is expecting the housing prices to drop back down to normal (cheap) lakeview prices after this all happens. So, we're kinda buying at the height of an artificial housing boom, and might end up with a price that sounds reasonable to us, but in a couple years the house might be worth significantly less that what we paid.
Any advice ?
