Treat it like a private sale instead of public sale with a realtor. Shouldn't be too complicated as long as you haven't signed on with a specific realtor.

I agree, just do a FSBO transaction with the realtor/buyer. Get an attorney to assist you for a few hundred dollars. No commissions involved, because no one will do the listing agent work.

If it actually comes about, of course. Why would they wait to make an offer to see if you find a home to buy? There's nothing stopping them from making a formal offer now.

On commissions, its silly to treat buyer as if this is a FSBO and then pay both sides of the commission. It seems fair to treat as FSBO, with 3% reduction in sales price since seller's "agent" (buyer) will not incur any marketing, showing, contract negotiation costs. Prospective buyer/agent would never see the buyer commission side anyway (probably).

Give this person/agent a specified period of time to make an offer. Tell them that you will not need to find a replacement house first. Rather, you will go to a rental. This way, they won't be trying to sell you a house and confuse the issue of selling your home.

Be clear that no commission will be paid from the agreed purchase amount. There is no reason for a commission, no listing has been signed and no work performed. If you agree on a price that is satisfactory to both, get yourself to a real estate attorney to do a private sale.

Chances are it won't be a cash sale. The potential agent/purchaser will need financing resulting in the appraisal process, which only protects the lender. And, they will want to conduct inspections.

If this person doesn't present you with a purchase offer within the deadline, continue your interviewing of other agents. By interviewing other agents, you will get an idea of the market and the appropriate price.

This agent may be playing a game with you. They would not be a serious purchaser. You won't know this unless they make the offer. Be a little suspicious of this person until they make the offer. It may be a scam. But, it could be the real deal. Find out.

Contact multiple agents!!!! Make sure that you have multiple opinions as to what to price your home at.

Homechef59 makes valid points. I find it strange that the agent hasn't made an offer yet. I am an agent and have purchased a couple of my listings but that was after the pricing analysis and marketing of the home to others to maximize the seller's price. In other words, why hasn't the agent put his money up if he is truly interested in your home? I also agree that getting unbiased pricing is warranted before you sell your home - to anyone.

Time to put a postscript to this. The potential buyer shifted the terms and conditions of her offer so many times, we gave up and have now listed on MLS. First, she was going to purchase at list price, "without fees." When her written offer arrived, it was to purchase the house at the "list price LESS the fees," i.e., about $40K less than the agreed to list price (all three agents we interviewed arrived at the same number for list price). Plus, she wanted us to pay all her closing costs, another $14 or $15K. On that issue, we said no. She accepted that counter, and her contract proposal still looked attractive, as it contained no contingencies on sale of her current home, which she maintained she would retain as a rental. Verbally, she said her lender was fine with that. She had another property which she said she would sell, not because she needed to, but because it would no longer be needed.

But her offer had a specific close with a thirty day rent back provision. As we had yet to identify even ONE house we wanted to live in, we said we weren't yet able to commit to any date which would have us move from the house, but as soon as we found ONE, we would enter into her contract to purchase. The parties agreed to keep each other informed, which is what I did.

Over the next several weeks, we found not one, but two houses we could afford, and would relocate to if everything worked. I reported all this as it happened. For her part, her previous story started to fall apart. At first, she was going to retain her current home and sell another smaller property; however, in an email she said now the family had decided to sell both properties. That prompted a back and forth about her ability to deliver on her prior promise to present us with a "clean" non-contingent on sale of house contract. Although she had claimed at one point selling her current family home would go quickly and not be a problem (providing all the expected Real Estate language why this would be so), now we learned that both properties she owned were going to get some significant upgrades --- whole house painting, new kitchen counters, etc. before they would be listed for sale. It was unlikely that could happen before 1 April (this development took place around 1 Mar).

Finally, pinning her down, she said that they would be unable to make an offer that wasn't contingent on the sale of BOTH her properties. But she asked that if we did list, could we name her as an exception for a FSBO sale?

We did sign a listing agreement yesterday without naming her as an exception. There was just way too much shifting of the goal posts.