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I'm interested in buying a house as an investment property and am wondering if it's a faux pas to reach out to the seller's Realtor directly, as opposed to getting an agent of my own.

I could hire my own agent easily enough, but I'd hope that if I didn't have an agent, I could negotiate a lower sales price, because the seller would not have to pay commissions to my agent. (In my area, the seller's agent and buyer's agent both typically get 3 percent of the sales price, so if I don't have an agent, then the seller only has to lose 3 percent to Realtors rather than 6 percent.)

I'd be buying the house in cash, and have bought investment properties before without Realtors involved, so I don't have much need of my own agent's guidance anyway.

I know I can contact the seller's agent directly; there is nothing to stop me. But I'm wondering if this is normal, or if would make me look like I don't know what I'm doing. I'm in the United States, for what it's worth.

painter48179
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No, it's perfectly acceptable to contact the selling agent directly.

Normally I'd recommend getting a buying agent anyways, since (to most people, at least) the agent more than earns his/her 3% in the work they do negotiating, setting up inspections, lining up houses to view, etc. Since you have experience not using realtors (and have a specific property in mind), I'll just leave this here for future readers.

D Stanley
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