Buying a Home in Redding Without a Buyer’s Agent
Yes, you can buy a home in California without your own agent. Nothing in state law requires one. What you give up is the one person in the deal whose only job is your side of it. So it pays to know what you'd take on, where any saving really comes from, and the middle paths most buyers never hear about.
What changed in 2024 and 2025
Two changes sit behind this question.
August 17, 2024: Under the National Association of REALTORS® settlement, offers to pay buyer's agents came off the MLS. An agent working with you now needs a written agreement before touring a home with you, in person or by live video. You don't need one to walk through an open house or to ask an agent about their services.
January 1, 2025: California wrote its own rule into law. A buyer's agent must have a signed agreement with you as soon as practicable, and no later than when you make an offer. It has to spell out the agent's pay, the services, when the fee is due and how the agreement can end. For an individual buyer it can't run longer than three months, and it can't renew automatically.
The good news is that the fee is now in writing up front, and it's negotiable. Sellers can still agree to pay your agent, and you can ask for that in your offer.
Three ways to buy without your own agent
Work directly with the listing agent. The listing agent represents the seller, and gives you a written agency disclosure saying so. Even so, they owe you honest and fair dealing and must tell you the material facts they know about the property. You and the seller can also both agree in writing to let that agent represent both sides, which California calls dual agency. A dual agent cannot tell you the seller would take less, or tell the seller you'd pay more, without written permission from the person whose price it is.
Buy directly from the owner. On a for-sale-by-owner house, you and the seller agree the terms yourselves and open escrow. The escrow company holds the money and the documents and is neutral, so it carries out what you both sign but does not advise either of you. A real estate attorney can review the contract if you want someone on your side.
Hire an agent for a smaller job. The written agreement sets out the services, so it can cover less than a full search. If you've already found the house, you can ask an agent to write and manage the offer for a fee you agree on.
What you take on yourself
On a typical home sale the seller owes you the same disclosures whether or not you have an agent. That includes the Transfer Disclosure Statement and, on homes built before 1978, the lead-based paint disclosure. It also includes the Natural Hazard Disclosure, which shows whether the home sits in zones such as a very high fire hazard severity zone, a flood zone, an earthquake fault zone or an area where the state is responsible for wildfire protection. Reading them and asking the follow-up questions is on you.
Then come the deadlines, and on a sale without agents they're whatever your contract says. On the California Association of REALTORS® purchase agreement, the default is 17 days after acceptance to finish your investigations and remove each contingency, such as the inspection, loan and appraisal contingencies. Book the inspections in the first few days, and if the house is on a well or a septic system, add a well test and a septic inspection.
Get a homeowner's insurance quote before you remove your contingencies too. In parts of Shasta County that quote can change the math, and we explain why in our guide to wildfire insurance in Redding.
Does going without an agent save money?
Sometimes, but not on its own. The seller pays their agent under their own listing agreement, and whether that fee changes when no buyer's agent is involved depends on terms you won't see. So if you buy unrepresented, any saving has to come through your offer, as a lower price or a credit toward your closing costs, and you have to ask for it in writing.
If you do hire an agent and the seller won't cover the fee, that's cash you'd bring to closing on top of your down payment and your other costs. The workaround is to put the request in your offer from the start, the same way you'd ask for any other credit. Lenders cap seller credits by loan type and down payment, so ask your lender how much room you have before you write. Our breakdown of closing costs in Redding shows what else lands in that column.
When doing it yourself makes sense
For most people, not everybody, it comes down to experience and how the house was found. Going without an agent fits best when you've already agreed a price with someone you know, such as a relative or a neighbor. It also fits when you've bought in California before and you're comfortable with the contract, the disclosures and the deadlines. It's harder on a first purchase, on a rural property with a well, a septic system and outbuildings to check, or when other buyers are competing for the same house.
Talk to us before you decide
Before you sign anything, we're happy to sit down with you and go through what we'd do on your search. We'll tell you what our fee would be and how we'd ask the seller to cover it. If you decide to go it alone, you'll still leave knowing what to watch for. You can also read how we work with buyers in Redding. If you choose us, we'll gladly walk you through the process and stay by your side, on your team, the whole way through!