Anyone sell a propery by owner?

[Dakota731]

Is it complicated and would you recommend? No realtors please!

 

[scrapquitler]

Is it complicated and would you recommend? No realtors please!

I have not personally done it, but I have heard enough stories and read enough to know that I would not even think about doing it without the advice of a lawyer every step along the way. The price of lawyer would be a small cost for the peace of mind knowing that I didn't screw up the largest $ transaction that I will ever participate in. Things can go bad quickly and cost a lot if you make a mistake, the lawyer will help prevent that.

 

[Sandy61]

We sold our previous house about 7 years ago. We thought it was fairly easy and took about 4 weeks. We called realtors to look at it and give us a price, did research, asked questions at our bank, and used an attorney just briefly.

Things to consider...

would your Realtor devote enough time to it or are they too busy with other houses

there is a lot to learn, are you able to spend a lot of time and energy learning

is this common in your area or will too many people be scared to buy from owner

can you learn how to stage your home without realtor advice

do you or spouse have the personality to sell it. I could not but my easy-going husband could.

do you have skills to work with many personalities

can you "close" the deal

You could always try it for a month or so and see how it goes and then go with a realtor. Realtors in my area will negotiate with you on their comission.

 

[plummer925]

I would not recommend it - I'm saying this as someone who is currently in the market to BUY a house. If you sell it without a realtor, you will not have an MLS listing and be on all the sites online. I would NEVER, EVER approach someone who has a sign outside of their house, or even an ad themselves. Too much risk, and WAY to scary of a world to do that. Sorry - I do not know you and I am NOT going inside your house without a licensed realtor.

Why won't you list with a realtor? The 6(ish) percent they charge is SO worth the money - and you do not pay unless the house sells. They do ALL the work. You do none (other than getting the house pretty with curb appeal). The paperwork and legal issues is ridiculous with real estate.

We inherited our home with a clear deed and no mortgage - we STILL had nightmare issues with it all and had to hire an attorney to sort through stuff.

I highly recommend going with a realtor or you will scare buyers away.

 

[Disnydad]

I've sold two homes by myself. I did have an attorney draw up the paperwork though.

 

[MissVeronica]

That is incorrect. You can pay a set fee to have your house listed on the MLS. You do not need to use a realtor.


We sold a house a few months ago. We used a realtor, but since the couple that bought just happened to be nearby and saw the sign, and I let their realtor in our realtor wasn't needed to sell. We could have saved so much money had we just used a lawyer to close.

 

[JanaDee]

We won't even consider selling a house without a realtor and as a buyer, would never buy from someone selling it themselves.

There are way too many things that can go wrong in either situation.

 

[Judique]

I believe every seller should do FSBO for the first two weeks. You can hire a realtor if you get a bite, for a small commission to do the paperwork. This sign will also attract realtors with possible prospects. You can give them a one day listing for the client. All kinds of possibilities.

 

[TrulyMadlyDisney]

I recommend it. Every house we have sold, we did ourselves. Last one we only spent $600 on a real estate atty, and that was it! If you have the time to do it yourself, go for it.

 

[Ranger111]

DON'T LISTEN TO THE SCARE STORIES

There is nothing complicated, "special" or otherwise magical about selling a house.

My brother-in-law is an attorney. When my mom died, the local real estate market was on fire (several years ago). I asked him how hard it would be to sell myself.

While he is a bit of a jerk (don't let my wife know I said that), he said the standard forms sold by the big legal publisher in our state were fine and did not leave me open to anymore "liability" than if I used a realtor.

The deal is you do have to know what forms to use (if unsure, it might pay you to spend the $200 or so to consult with an attorney before sale).

The real issue is that the real estate industry has done a great job (as evidenced by some of the responses here) convincing people that it is a magical, complicated transaction and "way beyond any normal person."

And, it is not. Can you be sued if you sell a home yourself -- sure. And you can be sued for the exact same reasons if you use a realtor. Are problems likely -- no.

the real issue is again, the real estate industry has convinced people it is "bad, bad, bad."

When I sold mom's house, it took nearly a year, just because people were scared to buy "without a realtor."

Houses listed by realtor's meanwhile, sold in three to six months.

And, there's the rub...

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

We've found all 3 homes we've purchased with out a realtor. We've sold 2 with out a realtor as well. HOWEVER, we o have a great real estate atty that we had review, draw uo, handle any papers. Much less cost to us than a realtor fee. I also like knowing who is in my home and feel I can tell them much more about it than a realtor.

Give it a shot . You can always list it later. I would have several realtors look at it, give you price advice first. that will also help you decide on one you may like if you want to use them down the road.

 

[CopperWife]

The home that we currently live in was purchased from the previous owner as a FSBO property ten years ago. Everything that was in our price range that the relator showed us was just horrible. Dirty, dated, needed work. We started looking in the paper for FSBO homes and they were much better. We called about two houses, both were lovely, and we bought the second. We made a verbal offer on the house, then we both contacted lawyers to deal with the details. Went smoothly.

Now we are in the boat where we need to sell. Once again, we've been here ten years. When we bought the house, it appraised for $5000 more than we paid. We had a relator come in to see what he could list it for and he told us that he could realistically sell it for X dollars - which meant that we lost a third of the value of the home in ten years. The margin was so slim - are we going to come out a head, break even, or owe at closing?!!? - that we chose to go the FSBO route before turning it over to the relator - that 5% commission could make or break us.

We did some work on the house - fresh paint and new carpet - and put a FSBO sign out front. I listed the house on some of the area Facebook Garage Sale groups. I had a lot of interest and we had 4 people from the facebook groups that wanted to come see the place. The second set of people that came through the door made an offer less than 6 days after we posted it. We haven't closed just yet - but we've made it through the appraisal and the inspection.

Yes, we have a lawyer that is going to handle all of the paperwork. I will gladly pay her to handle all the important details and make sure everything goes the way it is supposed to. Yes, there is a obviously an element of risk with allowing strange people to come tour your house. Not that it makes any bit of difference, but we only allowed people to come inside the house that had pre-approval letters.

Good luck

 

[MillauFr]

We won't even consider selling a house without a realtor and as a buyer, would never buy from someone selling it themselves.

There are way too many things that can go wrong in either situation.

I agree if you try to do the legal yourself you are asking for trouble. I would consider selling our house without a realtor and just using a lawyer. Why should I pay a realtor $50,000 to sell my house? I could list it on a Wednesday and as long as it was priced right I could have multiple offers by the weekend. The realtor would have to do little or no work.

 

[Narnia_girl]

We've sold three houses by ourselves and would definitely do it again. As others said, make sure you use a lawyer.

And I use a book, "Dress Your House for Success" that I follow word for word when getting my house ready to sell.

 

[seashoreCM]

Yes I have sold property by myself, more than once.

One hint: Have the needed paperwork (offer letters and purchase and sales agreements) on hand so the buyer can make an offer right away if he wants to.

Now if you don't know how to fill out that paperwork, then selling the house yourself will seem to be more complicated. You should be able to answer the buyer's questions about items in the paperwork, too. I could very well say that if you need to refer the buyer to a broker for advice then you should have used a broker to begin with.

One of the more time consuming aspects of selling it yourself is conducting the home visits by prospective buyers.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) We have rental properties and have bought/sold many.
2) In almost every case, we sold without real estate pros.
3) The only time-consuming part is scheduling appointments to show the house.

LEGAL STUFF:
. . . we hired a "title attorney"
. . . he prepares the Sales Agreement and does the transfer work
. . . he also does all the legal filing work (titles, taxes, etc)
. . . he accepts the check/mortgages and pays off mortgages and other costs(water, electric, etc)
. . . in our case, his fee is $375 per sale
PAPERWORK:
. . . there is specific paperwork the Seller needs to give to the Buyer
. . . these can be downloaded for free from your county appraiser office
. . . lead-paint-disclosure form
. . . property description
. . . covenants, if an HOA is involved
. . . general property disclosure (structural issues, water leaks, etc)
LISTING
. . . pay a small fee to have the property listed in the MLS (they cannot refuse)
. . . advertise in any local papers you feel are widely read
PRICE:
. . . go to your county title website
. . . view the comparison properties to get an idea for sales price

 

[abolanwoski]

A lot of your success will have to do with your location and your market. Also if you are willing to work with (and pay) buyers' agents. You will need to hire a lawyer for the legal paperwork and pay for closing (often with the same atty or an affilitiated title co) but it is only a few hundred dollars, so way cheaper than a realtor. You can make your own Zillow listing for free and may get bites from that, as well as MLS paid listing. However, be prepared for buyers who come to you with their own agent in tow - they (the agent) will expect to get paid and the perspective buyers will NOT be interested in paying that commission. They will expect it to come from your proceeds…

 

[Dakota731]

The article I read in a woman's magazine said you use a title insurance company then you don't need a lawyer and they do all the paperwork. Was that anyone's experience?

 

[Darcy03231]

The article I read in a woman's magazine said you use a title insurance company then you don't need a lawyer and they do all the paperwork. Was that anyone's experience?

The title company is hired by the bank who is financing the buyer's purchase. They do not represent the seller or the buyer, they represent the bank. There is no way I would be selling one of my largest assets without someone looking out for me and my interests.

 

[sherreis]

I say it's worth a try if you want to do it. We sold our first house on our own and ended up having the buyer's agent do the paperwork. We had researched her and we were OK with that knowing she was representing the buyer in the transaction. Our original plan was going to contact an attorney. We paid the buyer's agent 2%.

On our last house, my husband decided he wanted to go through a realtor and we had a pleasant transaction.