You’ve decided it’s time to buy a house! One of the first steps is to pick a real estate agent to work with. But what if you decide that you don’t want to work with a buyer’s agent to buy your home? How do you go about buying a home without a Realtor?
Chances are, if you’ve decided that buying a home without an agent is the best choice for you — and you’re reading this — you need some guidance on how to go about the process on your own.
Well, welcome to your step-by-step guide to buying a home without a real estate agent. We’re going to walk you through all of the steps you’ll need to take to act as your own agent — from finding a home, to submitting an offer, to signing the final paperwork.
To really understand what it takes to buy a home without the help of an agent, we talked to Geno D’Angelo, a top agent in Petoskey, Michigan, who shared his insights on striking out on your own. And to cover all our bases, we asked James Rhyne, a real estate attorney in Charleston, South Carolina, for his legal perspective.
We’re going to walk you through everything you need to know to buy a home without a real estate agent.
1. Find a lender you can trust
Finding a lender that is trustworthy and easy to work with is the first step in the home buying process. Your lender will tell you how much you could be preapproved to borrow based on your credit score, income, liabilities, and assets.
It’s important to shop around with a few different lenders and find the lender that offers the best rates and terms — with the lowest fees. Without a real estate agent, you will need to rely on your own research and reach out to your network for recommendations. Pay attention to online reviews to make sure your potential lender is trustworthy and that former clients have positive things to say about them.
Once you’ve zeroed in on a few different lenders, apply for preapproval or prequalification with each and compare the loans they are offering to see what works best for your situation.
You can check to see how much you could qualify for in just a few minutes with a mortgage loan calculator, but it will take some time to gather all of your information and submit it to a lender when you’re getting a preapproval or underwritten preapproval. Luckily, preapproval can take as little as one business day after you’ve submitted your completed application.
2. Research your ideal neighborhoods
After you’ve gotten your preapproval letter and know how much you could qualify for, it’s time to start doing your research and shopping around.
As you research neighborhoods in your area, pay attention to local amenities such as parks, access to walking trails, neighborhood schools, walkability, restaurants, coffee shops, libraries, and more to determine if you will have all you need to thrive there.
You can do a lot of this research online, and websites like Great Schools, Area Vibes, and local websites and guides are a great place to start. However, because you don’t have an agent who can answer specific questions about the neighborhood, it’s important to get to know the area and check it out for yourself.
3. Find a home
When you find a neighborhood you love, the next step is finding a home that’s for sale and in your price range. You can set up search parameters on real estate platforms and spend hours combing through photos and property descriptions, but you can also get more proactive.
Spend some time in the neighborhood where you want to live, make friends at a coffee shop or favorite local restaurant, discuss your home search, attend open houses, and even send letters to homeowners asking if they’re willing to sell.
Oftentimes, especially in a seller’s market, finding a home takes more than setting up notifications on your favorite real estate app. Agents have a network that they can tap into to find off-market properties or pocket listings, and they use these connections to best serve their clients.
You can take a page from their book and leverage your network as well. Tell everyone — literally everyone — that you’re searching for a home. You never know who may have a friend of a friend of an aunt whose cousin is looking to sell their home.
While you’re searching for the perfect neighborhood and ideal home, you can get working on the next step!
4. Hire a real estate attorney
Some states require that a real estate attorney be involved in every home closing, while other states allow real estate agents and title companies to handle it. South Carolina, where Rhyne practices, is one of the states that requires a real estate attorney to conduct real estate closings in person. “You cannot conduct a real estate closing legally in South Carolina without an attorney being involved pretty heavily,” he says.
Regardless of whether or not your state requires it, if you’re not working with an agent, hiring a real estate attorney will almost always be in your best interest. A real estate attorney can advise you on the legal aspects of buying a home and review contracts for you.
An attorney, however, will not be involved in negotiations with the seller. Rhyne points out that he only sees transactions from the legal perspective, “I don’t know how agents are drafting contracts and how those negotiations are playing out. All I see is the end result when the contract hits my desk.”
5. Request disclosures from the seller
When you find a home that you want to tour, you’ll request disclosures from the seller. A seller’s disclosure is a list of issues with the home (foundation problems, electrical issues, and so on), remodeling that was completed and the year it was done, and any repairs that have been made.
Basically, anything that a homeowner is aware of that is wrong with the home should be listed on the disclosure. But required disclosures vary from state to state, so you’ll have to do some research or talk with your attorney about what disclosures you should request from the seller or their agent.
Knowing exactly what is wrong with the house will help you in crafting your offer and negotiating any repairs to be made before closing. If you decide that you are not willing to proceed with the sale because of the scope of the problems, then this will be your first chance to walk away.
Depending on your state, the state of the property, or the date the property was built, you may want to request additional disclosures, such as a Lead-Based Paint Disclosure for older homes. Sellers are legally required to inform buyers of any known lead-based paint in a home and its location.
6. Tour the homes you are considering
This is where things start to get serious. After you find a home that you love in a neighborhood that meets your criteria, it’s time to set up a home tour. You can connect with the seller’s agent (or the seller if it’s a for sale by owner home) to schedule a time to tour the home.
Some agents can schedule a tour over the phone, and others may want to use a scheduling app, so it’s best to contact them first to see which they prefer.
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) found that in 2024, buyers typically viewed 7 homes and viewed 2 of those homes online only. Scheduling home tours can be difficult as you’re working around the seller’s and agent’s schedules, as well as your own.
For the tour, you should bring a checklist that encompasses all of the things that you need to pay attention to once you enter the home, such as bedroom count, storage space, and the size of the kitchen. It’s easy to get into a house and get swept up in it’s amazing features or bogged down with the issues that need to be fixed.
A checklist will keep you focused on the attributes that really matter and will help you remember what you liked and what you didn’t when you think back on the house later — you’d be surprised by how much the houses blend together. Take notes or pictures, if you can, so you can keep track of each home you tour.
