ArcaMax

Q: We will be selling our home in the near future, and a neighbor a few doors down has expressed an interest in buying our home. She would be downsizing from a larger multistory home to our smaller ranch home.

If we each have our own real estate attorneys representing us, is it necessary to involve a real estate agent? Of course, an essential first step is establishing the value of our home. If we disclose to a real estate agent that we will most likely sell to our neighbor, will they want to invest their time if there is not likely to be a commission? Would it be simpler for each of us to pay for independent appraisals? Everyone’s new best friend, AI, suggested paying a real estate agent a flat fee for a comparative market analysis.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

A: Well, the AI you used is giving you some good advice. But we suspect you’re only getting a partial picture of the information you need to get your home closed successfully.

We’ll start with whether you and/or your neighbor must hire a real estate agent to assist you if you and your future buyer both use attorneys to close the deal. The short answer is no.

Once you’ve found a buyer for your home, the two real estate attorneys can get together to put together a contract for the purchase and sale of your home. Once the contract is signed, the attorneys can do what is necessary to shepherd the deal through closing.

We note that in some states real estate attorneys are not involved in residential transactions. When attorneys in those states are involved, they’re usually closing attorneys hired by the buyer or buyer’s lender or settlement agents. These closing attorneys or settlement agents do not represent the buyer or the seller but handle the paperwork for the buyer and seller. If you lived in one of those states and didn’t have an agent, you and your buyer could hire an agent for a flat fee to provide you with guidance and to answer whatever questions come up during the sales process.

Since you reference real estate attorneys in your question, we’re guessing you live in an area where attorneys help buyers and sellers close their house deals. Your attorneys can provide you with the documents and other paperwork you’ll need for the deal.

When it comes to value, agents are useful when it comes to figuring out what your property is worth (that’s the comparative marketing analysis), but they’re not the only source of that information. Websites like Zillow, Trulia, Redfin and Homes.com list recent sales prices and offer lots of information about homes that are for sale or have recently sold. Appraisers will charge you a flat fee and provide you with a report outlining how they came up with the value for your home.

In densely populated areas, you might have an easier time making that calculation. In large condominium buildings, homeowner associations, or even urban areas, you could look at comparable units that have recently sold that are in similar condition to yours and make an educated guess.

But if your home is in a development, suburb or rural area where fewer (or few) homes have changed hands, you might need the help of a third party to assist in valuing your property. Of course, you can talk to real estate agents and ask them for their opinion as to the value of your home. The most successful agents in each area possess a lot of detailed knowledge about the local marketplace and are generally thoughtful about how to price homes. You also can hire an appraiser to do the same.

Some appraisers are good, and some leave a lot to be desired. When Sam sees appraisal reports in his practice, those reports tend to support the exact value of the home in the transaction he is working on. The appraisers in those transactions know what the buyer is offering for the home, and the appraiser is there to make sure the values in the neighborhood support the contract price. In a rising or hot market, most homes tend to appraise out. If a market has stalled, or home prices are declining, then the buyer might be at risk of not getting their loan approved (assuming they need financing).

Regardless, you should educate yourself about how your home compares to other, similar properties in the neighborhood. You should know how quickly homes are selling, the pros and cons of your home and how it compares to others that have sold, and any other information in your neighborhood that may impact the value of your home going forward.

Agents like to say that pricing a home is more art than science. Once you’ve done your own research, and you have an idea of what your home may be worth, you can then decide whether you want to talk to a few local real estate agents to confirm the pricing range you have in mind or hire an appraiser. You may ultimately do both.

If you ask a real estate agent to spend the time to construct a comparable market analysis, you should be honest with them about your intentions. They may charge you for their time to do the report or not, with the hope that if your deal falls through with this buyer you may decide to use them and list the home.

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(Ilyce Glink is the author of “100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask (4th Edition).” She writes the Love, Money + Real Estate Newsletter, available at Glink.Substack.com. Samuel J. Tamkin is a Chicago-based real estate attorney. Contact Ilyce and Sam through her website, ThinkGlink.com.)

©2025 Ilyce R. Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.