Okay, legal/ethics real estate question. We have discussed with a seller's agent, and our agent, a property probably going to be listed this week, on X street, at about $X price, and seeing it the evening before it lists (or day of). Today I heard from a friend that her coworker is selling her house on X street, and it will be listed at $X price, but she'd be open to selling it at $X-30K before it lists. It's clearly the same house, but we heard about it completely independently from any agent (ours or theirs). Can we do a private deal - legally, and ethically?

flea, it depends on the contracts you have with your agent and that of the seller's agent. If the seller has already signed a contract with an exclusive right to sell, the seller can't make that deal. There's usually a clause in there that says they can't find another buyer during the contract and wait out the contract to try and avoid the commissions.

I'm much fuzzier on buyer's agent contracts, but the seller's are usually quite strong (since all the commissions come from there), and I'd be concerned about getting tangled up in a dispute between the seller and his/her agent.

I have now spoken to the seller, and she has not yet signed a contract with an agent. Was planning to do so Wednesday.

What's the language of your buyer's agent contract?

Do I have a copy? No. Can I find a copy on the agency's website? No. SIGH AT SELF.

(I think I must have accidentally gotten rid of my copy when I got rid of the copies of the offer we made that was not accepted due to the sellers working with another offer. Ooh! Maybe it is sitting in the unshredded shredder pile!)

Dang, good luck, flea. Is $X-30 the 6%? Or more? Maybe you could work something out Ben with the agents? Also, even if you do it without agents you'll still probably need some lawyering.

Okay, found the unshredded paperwork and no contract there. Honestly, I am sort of unsure if I even signed a contract with the agent. Why do they let me call myself a grownup? This is probably a sign that we should use an agent.

Flea, you can still use your agent if you want to pay his/her half of the commission. I've done that and it worked fine. The agent gets to do all the paperwork in order to earn the commission, which was more than worth it to me.

There is a buttload of paperwork, especially for the buyer.