Real Estate the Ramsey Way - How Do I Buy a House Without Using a Realtor?

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

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Dave Ramsey here and welcome to another episode of Real Estate, the Ramsey Way, where you'll learn how to make smart home decisions, avoid costly mistakes, and navigate homeownership with confidence. Let's go to Debbie. Debbie's in Phoenix, Arizona. What say you, Debbie? Hey, thanks for taking my call. I have a question about how do I buy a house without a realtor? Do I go up and just knock on the door? What? Why would you do that, Debbie? You're going to get arrested for, like, stalking somebody. Well, that's what's kind of weird.

It's like, hi, I just saw your house on the MLS and I thought I'd come up and have lunch with you. Yeah. Why do you not want to use a realtor? Well, it does cost money. And like Madison says, squeak, so if I can find a deal and save some money, I'll do it. Are you a realtor? No, I'm not. I got to tell you, Debbie, I don't like this plan for you.

I don't like the plan. What do you mean it saves money? It costs money. have to pay a percentage when she buys the house. Yeah, like $17,000. Yeah, I don't know that you walking up and knocking on somebody's door, that they're going to drop their price for you. They've probably got it. They've probably got an agent or would want to use an agent.

Yeah, most of the homes have agents, the ones that I look at. But what I'm trying to do is we were going to start paying our house off. It's our only debt left when the kids left college. And we spend about $3,500 a month. on getting them through school. And in December, they graduate. And so I figured it'd take me about four to five years to pay out the house. But I told my husband, if we buy a cheaper house and sell our house, which is worth about 900,

we would be out of debt even before they're out of school. Yeah. Yeah, I like everything about your plan except for you walking up to somebody and knocking on the door going, hey, I'm Debbie and I'm charismatic and I'm going to cut a deal. Like, it just, I just don't think that works. It doesn't. Unless you have a camera crew with you. Okay, okay.

Well, I don't have a camera crew, and I'm not on YouTube, so I guess I'll get in a realtor. You need to. I think you should. And we can help you out with that. I mean, you just go to our website and check out the real estate. What's the real estate? It's the real estate hub. Ramsey Solutions.com slash real estate.

There it is. There you go. Debbie, think about this. This is your house is your biggest asset. And whoever you're going to, their house is their biggest asset. You need to make sure that this deal is the best deal it possibly can be, that you're getting the best price, that when you sign on the dotted line, you know all the ends and outs of what that deal entails. And, I mean, think about when you bought your current house. Think about how many times you went back and forth with a realtor and they sent you the little sign now documents and all of that stuff.

You need, like you need somebody to make it clear and make it plain. Okay, Debbie, I got to ask because I can't help myself. why wouldn't you stay in your current house now that you got that big pay raise with the kids coming off the payroll and pay that house down? What would be the reason other than getting out of debt to move out of your current house?

Well, I have a neighbor that I don't like and her dog bit me. Oh, well, wait a minute. And I ended up with PTSD and anxiety. Oh, gosh. You buried the lead on us, Debbie. Where was that information? I was told to give you the question first.

What kind of dog was it that, did you? Well, first of all, did the dog bite you because you don't like the neighbor? Which happened first? No, no. I actually offered her something and she didn't want it. So she said, I have something you might want when I went over the dog bit me. And then she turned psycho on me. She sick the dog.

She sick the dog on you. She said, I got something for you. No, she didn't sick the dog on me. No. No. You made a leap on that one. I understood that. Slow down, rescue 911.

I understood that in a different way. Get him, Fido! I thought she said, oh, I got something for you. No, no. Get him Fido. Okay. So you already didn't like the neighbor prior to the dog biting you? No, no, no.

I went over to offer, I earlier had offered her something and she didn't want it. And then she wanted to offer me something. And that's when her dog bit me. Got it. So it was just a friendly exchange. Right. You said you didn't like your neighbor and I was just curious. I don't now.

Got it. So we did like her until the dog bit you. And are you okay? Yeah, what kind of dog was? Well, now I have PTSD and anxiety. Oh, so. He won't take responsibility. Oh, now we get the rest of the story.

I want to know more. What kind of dog was it? Oh, I don't know, 30 pound dog. Okay. Well, that's not a type of dog. That's just a, is it a boss? No, I don't know dogs. Oh, okay, okay.

Oh. And where did it, can I ask you? Where did it bite you? Oh, boy. It bit me from behind on my leg. Oh, girl. I'm sorry that happened. So you're like, this whole situation is giving me anxiety.

I really don't want to live next to her anymore. Yeah. Listen, that's your prerogative. I don't, this is a big decision for a dog bite. I'm not going to sit here and try to say how big of a deal it was. I don't know. Are you seeing a professional about the PTSD? Yeah.

Yeah, I am. And the way that our property is configured, I'm going to, kind of stuck in the back. Okay. So I have to go through her yard to get out of my yard. You've got to be kidding. Oh, man. So I'm landlocked.

And the dog is, is the dog roving around where you're walking? It has been. And if I'm not in my car, I can't leave. Did you report it? I reported it to everybody and I have a lawyer. And what happened? What do you mean? What happened?

Is there going to be some resolution as to the dog and the lady who owns the dog since you're literally blocked in your driveway? She tends to keep the dog behind another fence, but not always. And she legally can because it's an easement. But the authorities didn't think that the dog was dangerous? I didn't think the dog was dangerous. All her dogs barks. She doesn't train them.

She doesn't help my leash and she doesn't walk them. Dang. People yell at them and they'll stop what they're doing. So you're like, I want to get out of this situation. It does sound awkward that you have to walk through and kind of relive this every time you leave your house. I hate it. I get it, and I hate to add insult to injury here, but gosh, I would want to get out of this house. Yeah.

I don't know why you, who's going to want to buy that house, though? You're stuck? You're like on her property? Another reason to get a realtor. Yeah, it'd be another reason to get a realtor and get out of that house. Well, I would definitely get a realtor to sell mine. And after talking to you, I'll get a realtor to buy one too. Yeah, you should.

You really should, Debbie. Listen, Ken and I both agree that getting out of this house is going to be the best move for you. I feel like every day you're relieving that. I'd also get a bag of dog treats just in case. You know? Oh, keep a little handbone in your pocket. A little distraction. She's literally trapped.

Well, yeah, you don't want them to come to you because they don't sniff it out. You throw it away, you throw some food away, and they go over there. So you're telling her she's got to keep a ham sandwich in her pocket every time she walks through her neighbor's yard. I don't know how you went from doggy treats to ham sandwich, but sure. metaphorically, yes. I'm dead serious. You're traumatized. You got dogs everywhere. If the dog were to make a move on her, I would want my wife to have, okay, I got a little treat. We're going to throw it 10 feet the other way so I can keep going. Of all the solutions, this is yours. That's like saying, you know what? What she should do is train for track running so that she can sprint fast. I think it's a pretty good solution. I don't think it's crazy. I'm saying it's an emergency. Got you. It's like, okay, you could have mace and spray the dog. Well, she could get sued for that because it's not her space. Which is why I said have a little baggy of doggy treats.

The dog is going to go to the treats and you just whistle right by. Okay. I'm trying to solve problems, Jade. I'll be honest. I'm not a animal control expert. You could wear one of those. What do the law enforcement wear that the mesh that guards them? Well, no, that doesn't help because that's like encouraging the dog to bite you.

You're the one coming out with these ideas, Ken. I know what you made fun of mine. and that's the one you came up with is if they bite you, you've got a three or four inch pad on you. That's what you came up with. Here's the best solution. You just move out of the house. You go find another spot where you can enter and exit on your property. There's no 40-pound dogs tracking you down.

Can you imagine? No. I've never been bitten by anything. Me either. Maybe a spider. I get a little upset when a mosquito gets me here in the Nashville area. Yeah. That's enough to take.

you over the edges. Hey guys, thanks for listening to Real Estate the Ramsey Way. Now, if you're here, you're probably thinking about buying or selling a house. It's exciting, and one of the biggest financial decisions you'll ever make. But you don't want to do it with an inexperienced agent who will rush you into costly mistakes, like the ones some of our callers find themselves in. You need a pro who knows what the flip they're doing and will keep you on track with your financial goals.

That's why we only recommend Ramsey trusted real estate agents. These are vetted, hand-picked pros who actually listen to your needs, guide you through the process, and fight to get you the best deal. To find a Ramsey trusted agent near you, go to Ramsey Solutions.com slash trusted agent. That's Ramsey Solutions.com slash trusted agent. Mason's in Sacramento. Hi, Mason. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, thanks. I can't take in my call. Sure. How can we help? So my partner and I just, we're about to close on a house in early May, our first house.

And we want to know about how much we should expect to be putting into renovations. We plan on selling in about five years. How much work needs to be done? So not a lot. It's in pretty good condition. There's a couple things. The roof needs to get done, but the seller is doing a credit for that. The other thing that is pretty imperative is just the, there's a little bit of pest eradication to do,

and I don't expect that to be super expensive. So what renovation are you talking about doing? Neither one of those are even renovations. Those are just repairs. Yeah, you got to do that. Yeah, those are just fixing it up. Yeah, so we wanted to make it, the kitchen is pretty small. We want to maybe make the kitchen more appealing, at least appear bigger.

So we want to, like, lighten it up. And then we were thinking of doing the bathroom as well, like retiling and maybe the floor. We don't have a lot of experience with this kind of thing. Okay. So the homes in a five-block radius of that, do their kitchens look like you want the kitchen to look, or do they look like the kitchen you're buying? I think they're a little bigger. The houses are not super nice right there.

So they're not, you know, they're not super big. It was a $315,000. our house. It's our first house at the three-bedroom, and it's not very big. I'm really glad you're buying this house. Yeah, good for you, man. This is a good, this is a good, a good, modest purchase to get you started. I really like that, Mason. Here's the thing. What you're looking for on repairs is if you're doing repairs for you to enjoy, but they don't increase the value of the home, that's not a repair or a renovation you're going to do if you're only holding the home five years.

But the reason I asked about the kitchen or the bathrooms in the area is if most of the homes in the area have gone through a renovation and have a nice kitchen and have a nice bath, then you probably will get your money out by doing your kitchen and your bath. If most of the homes in the area have a bath and a kitchen the way yours looks today and you go make yours nicer than the rest of the area, you will not even get your money back on that renovation cost. It will not increase the value of your home equivalent to what you spend. And can I tell you something just to put in your back pocket?

Five years ago, I was the chief academic office, I mean, student affairs officer at a university. Five years before that, I was two cities away in another state. Why do I tell you that? Me being a YouTuber was not on my radar. And so I always hesitate when people say, we want to do a thing, but we're going to sell in three years, we're going to sell in five years. because, dude, none of us know what's coming in three years or in five years. And so if you've, if, yeah, Dave, let me ask you this, if you have an outstanding mortgage and let's say, you know, Mason bought it in the right way, financially, and you've got cash, does it matter? Do you have a ratio for that?

Or do you want to pay down the house a certain amount? Or do you want to get the house paid off before you start renovating stuff in it? No, I think if you're in babysat four, five, and six and you want to fix up your house, that's fine. Okay. But anytime you're doing an improvement to the property, you've got to ask yourself, does it increase the value of the home equal to what I'm spending? Okay. And so I feel like if I'm going to redo my bathroom and it's not. The bathrooms and kitchens are the most expensive things to do in a house.

But I mean, I want it paid off if it's going to outsize the market and it's just something. You don't want to outsize the market. That's what I was just saying. Yeah. But if I want it just, it's my house, me and my wife live in and we just want to make a cool bathroom, I need to have the house paid off and just have some extra. money to burn in the living room, right? Yeah, if you're doing it and it's not increasing the value of the home equal to what you're spending, it should be, you should have it paid off first. Right. Okay. Yeah, whatever the renovation is. So I want to add 6,000 square foot of garage because I want to click,

no, you're not, you're not going to get your money back. Right. And that's a, that's a luxury purchase and you're going to, you know, I want to put the only pool in a six block radius behind my house. That pool is not going to add a diamond value to that house because pools are not normative in your neighborhood. And so you're about to drop, you know, literally bury 50 grand in your backyard. Yeah, at least at a minimum. And you're not going to get it out. It's not going to increase the value of the home. Yeah. But if you have a paid off house and that's where your kids live, that's where your schools are, and you guys want a pool, fine. You're not, okay. And you're going to pay cash for it. I like that. But don't do it and call it a return on investment because you're not.

it's a consumption item. Do you have a gut feeling on how many people call the show and say, I'm going to do X in three to five years and they don't? No, because I never hear back from them. You never hear back from them? I don't know what they're done. I'm with you, though, on that idea because the average home turns every 5.6 years in America, five and a half years.

That's how long. That's the average. That's the average. Okay. But this first time home purchase for them, they're buying something modest. They're probably not going to stay five. That's fair. They're probably going to move up. People that do a move up generally do it faster than that. And we are talking California real estate here. Yeah, so 315 is a small house in California. Oh, it's a tiny modest home. Yes. It's a wonderful entry purchase. In other places it might be a big house, but it's certainly not in Sacramento. So, wow. The median house price in America this week is $412,000 for those of you that don't know.

You can check out all this stuff. The stats on real estate at Ramsey Solutions.com. Check out the housing, the home website that we've got within our site. I don't even know what you call the stupid thing. But, okay, so there are all kinds of stuff. I'm looking at the stats on it right now. It's pretty impressive. This is cool.