Pitfalls buying direct from owner ?

[geester]

Depends which country, by mainly he will not have any insurance if anything goes wrong...If he tells you its got a damp proof course and say it doesnt.

Your then out on a limb.

[prettypiggy]

Originally Posted by strategicgrouprealty

Well, in the US, realtors, estate agents as you call them, are governed by the same regulatory committee as lawyers.

When we talk about buying property in Bulgaria the Bulgarian legislation applies. And under it there are actually not real estate agents in Bulgaria. The word used is ‘посредник’ which means ‘middleman’ or ‘go between’ And this is not merely linguistic argument as it goes to the core of why agents are so unaccountable. Those that call themselves agents in Bulgaria are not liable as representatives under Contracts and Obligations Act as in fact they are no representatives. But the English people buying in Bulgaria always talk of agents.

[prettypiggy]

Originally Posted by oregon woodsmoke

My answer applies to the USA only.
However, an agent is valuable. If you have a buyer's agent, he should make sure that your offer contains enough contingiencies that you can get out of the contract if you discover something wrong with the property.

Nothing of the kind in Bulgaria. No securities are ever used. No letters of credit, no mortgages to secure buyer’s rights, even the simplest security is rarely applied: paying the price to the notary instead of direct to the developer. The reason is that the middlemen operating in Bulgaria, who you for some unknown reason call agents, are not liable if something goes wrong. Lawyers are liable under certain conditions, but in Bulgaria the buyer expects the agent to find him one. The result of this is that agents find tame lawyers who are more loyal to them, than to those who pay them. Thus corners are cut.

And the result of all this is so fantastic, that still a lot of buyers can not comprehend it: using a middleman (called ‘agent’) makes buying more risky, not less!