Get an agent when buying. For sale by owner when selling.

Yep.

Think we are going to get a buyers agent.

If for nothing else we are paying off our house and buying this so the savings account has been squandered and I will feel more comfortable with a known doable cost and security as apposed to a unknown liability if I F-it up.

That and I am interested to see how exactly to me the transaction works and is different with/without a buyers agent.

Word is, Oxbot is selling his house.
He is moving to Florida.
Thats if living in the city of Rosenberg is your thing though

I don't have Oxner kinda money

Most dont

RC -

I have been in your shoes on several transactions and a few stand out; first transaction was a FSBO deal and I downloaded the contract from TREC and closed the sale as a straight-forward and very clean transaction.

Another one I chased, the seller was rep'd by a broker and could barely get her (seller's broker) to talk to me. I question whether or not my verbal offer was even presented to her client. I wrote up the offer and was the backup; missed getting the property even though my offer was slightly higher than what that tract ended up selling for.

I have a friend/brother that is a broker and helped me with other purchases until our firm was bought and I moved.

My current company has a few brokers and agents in-house now and I used one for my most recent transaction. I did all the searching / due diligence / leg work, but he handled contracts and negotiations for us with the seller's broker. Walking through that transaction with him lit a fire in me to get a sales license (after 15+ years of it being discouraged professionally). I figured it can't hurt.

The biggest lesson I learned through all of my transactions was that the 3% (or 2.5% or whatever commission% figured into the list/sale price by the seller) isn't worth missing out on a property you love. From an investment/business perspective, it matters, but if the property is something you are going to hang on to and attach some sentiment to, that commission paid by the seller's side is nothing. If it matters, just adjust your offer with that in mind. With a hot market, that commission can be nullified in a slightly longer holding period. (I know you know most of this; just had to put my out there )

Sounds like you have a plan figured out. My first question would be “what form/how are you going to submit your offer?” If you don’t know, get a buyers agent. If you know what form you are going to use, then represent yourself and offer the price you want to pay. It should not be full price (if not in multiple offer situation). List price minus 3% = full price in this scenario. If offer is accepted, seller (or you) pick the title company, take them contract and tell them to get to work. Maybe play dumb and they take it from here. Earnest money gets paid and you now do anything your agent would. Maybe have real estate attorney review offer before submission? Maybe real estate attorney review contract? Maybe real estate attorney gives you an outline of what you need to do to get this deal closed. Don’t make an offer until you know how to get this deal closed.

On I side note, I’ll share a little bit of good news... as of 1/1/20 Ag rollback is only 3 years! Also if you hear anyone use the term “Ag Exemption” be cautious of the advice they give you. It’s a small thing, but the proper term is “Agricultural Valuation”. You do not get an exemption for owning agriculturally utilized property. You do get to pay taxes on the productivity value versus the market value which is a giant tax break. Many appraisal district productivity values are similar to this: native grass $80-$100/acre, improved pasture $115-$130/acre and dry crop $250-$400/acre. I’m not that familiar with irrigated cropland or timber which is common in some areas.

Hope this is worth what you paid for it.

Only time I have gone through a realtor is a house I sold. On a piece of property I bought I went through a title company and did a title search because I was concerned about a couple of persons involved. On the others I just went through a title company without doing the title search or policy.