For sale by owner

[LuvOrlando]

Anyone have experience selling their own home?
Was the information you need easy to find in your municipality?

Like so many things the checklist for both paperwork and code requirements feels like a big game of keep away, one would think a quick google search would reveal all, but, alas, no.

 

[starry_solo]

No.
I suppose you could buy a set of the forms that real estate brokers use for your state and start from there.

I think if you list on FSBO.com, they probably provide the forms for you (for a fee, of course).

 

[Miffy]

There's a reason there are real estate agents. There's a ton of paperwork, innumerable code requirements, and red tape of epic proportions. OP, do you really want to do this yourself?

We bought our house directly from the owner, but the owner was a real estate agent! In fact, she was a real estate agent we'd used in the past, so we knew her. She took care of a zillion little details and made the process quite easy for us.

Think of it, OP. For one example, what are you going to do for escrow? And you're still going to need an attorney for the paperwork and closing. Unless you're a real estate attorney, a real estate agent, or both, I'd really avoid doing this yourself.

But perhaps you have all the time in the world. In which case, start learning about what needs to be done in your area. The rules are different everywhere.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Although it is not as impossible as other have posted, It is a major transaction.

There are DIY real estate companies out there, that offer à la cart options.
They basically do as little or as much as you would like for a set pay as you go fee.

Zillow has a program you may want to look into.

If it is just the agents commissions you are trying to avoid, there are a few companies the offer lower commissions and the force the buyers agent to take less also….

You get what you pay for in this world…

Why is it you Want to be a FSBO and not just have a angent sell the property for you?

 

[_19disnA]

Have always used a realtor when buying or selling. As others have mentioned, the reason you pay a realtor when selling is to handle all of the legal paperwork and various local requirements. They aslo screen potential buyers so someone who clearly can't afford your house doesn't waste your time or theirs doing showings for unqualified buyers. While it SEEMS like you might save a few dollars trying to do this yourself, there is a reason why realtors are licensed to do what they do. I would imagine a novice trying to do this on their own would spend a LOT of time trying to figure things out and your time is also worth something.

 

[clh2]

In our subdivision, 75% of homes sell by owner, and they have offers within 1-2 days. We have lived in our subdivision for 8 years. The houses that sell by realtors also have offers within 1-2 days. The home sellers that we know, used a lawyer to help coordinate the sale.

*Except for the one that was for sale through a realtor, that was 25% higher than it should have been, it might have sold for that, but that was at the same time interest rates were going from the 2’s to the 5’s last summer.

 

[amcnj]

My brother sold a home himself, maybe three or four years ago. He is away and won’t be back for several weeks or I would ask him exactly what he did. Overall I believe it was problem free though, and that he would do it again.

Agent fees and house prices are pretty high around here, so he saved quite a bit of money.

 

[kymom99]

I have but I sold to my niece. Her lender took care of everything.

I bought my house from my parents estate. My brother brought in a person to do the closing.

 

[barkley]

We bought our house directly from the owner, but the owner was a real estate agent!

we did as well and he was as well BUT we used our own buyer's realtor (they mutually negotiated our realtor's commission that was paid by the seller). THAT SAID-despite being a realtor our seller was more focused on being a seller vs. wearing his realtor hat and (i suspect) did'nt think about dotting every 'i' or crossing every 't' in the disclosures and the sales contract. as a result when we encountered some issues within a couple of months of closing he found he had failed to cover himeself and had to spend a few thousand out of pocket to resolve the issues. if that had been the end of it you might think 'well, he was still ahead of the game dollar wise' but noooooooooo. we had a more significant issue about 6 months that he could'nt just hire someone to repair-it entailed some paperwork legal wrangling due to his fault that necessitated lawyers WHICH our realtor's company paid on our behalf out of pocket for. the seller? he ended up paying to resolve the issues, his own legal fees and our real estate company's (there had been a provision in the original contract that he missed when reviewing it). when all was said and done we estimated that he was out of pocket about 3x what he would have paid for commission to a seller's agent.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Have always used a realtor when buying or selling. As others have mentioned, the reason you pay a realtor when selling is to handle all of the legal paperwork and various local requirements. They aslo screen potential buyers so someone who clearly can't afford your house doesn't waste your time or theirs doing showings for unqualified buyers. While it SEEMS like you might save a few dollars trying to do this yourself, there is a reason why realtors are licensed to do what they do. I would imagine a novice trying to do this on their own would spend a LOT of time trying to figure things out and your time is also worth something.

I don’t know what state you are in however, in Massachusetts real estate agent CANNOT handle legal paper work and or give legal advice.

Most will have a licensed attorney the office send a lot of work to…. But the legal advice must come for a licensed attorney.

And yea the line between legal advice and real estate advice is very burry

 

[princesscinderella]

Yes you can do it make contact with a title company in your area and they can help with the contracts and all the legal aspects of the sale. A realtor is not allowed to give legal advice at all and is only allowed to fill in approved sales contracts and rider by their state’s realtor association. The benefits of a realtor is having the property listed on the mls to get it sold quicker with more exposure.

 

[ronandannette]

My brother sold a home himself, maybe three or four years ago. He is away and won’t be back for several weeks or I would ask him exactly what he did. Overall I believe it was problem free though, and that he would do it again.

Agent fees and house prices are pretty high around here, so he saved quite a bit of money.

Ours is currently listed and the commissions will be close to $20,000.00. We went this way because we can't adequately market it ourselves but if we had a buyer that was known to us, we would have definitely figured out how to proceed without a realtor.

 

[nw6675]

Yes you can do it make contact with a title company in your area and they can help with the contracts and all the legal aspects of the sale. A realtor is not allowed to give legal advice at all and is only allowed to fill in approved sales contracts and rider by their state’s realtor association. The benefits of a realtor is having the property listed on the mls to get it sold quicker with more exposure.

Agree 100%

 

[CGB]

Yes you can do it make contact with a title company in your area and they can help with the contracts and all the legal aspects of the sale.

We sold our first home to a friend/coworker without a realtor. He secured financing and we worked with a local title company to handle the contracts. That was about 25 years ago. Google "title company and selling a house" and I'm sure you'll find some info.

 

[_19disnA]

I don’t know what state you are in however, in Massachusetts real estate agent CANNOT handle legal paper work and or give legal advice.

Most will have a licensed attorney the office send a lot of work to…. But the legal advice must come for a licensed attorney.

And yea the line between legal advice and real estate advice is very burry

Have bought/sold homes in 3 different states and the realtor arranged everything. We didn't know and weren't related to any of the people buying the homes. Maybe just semantics, but we showed up at the date/time/location they arranged to sign paperwork to complete the sale. I have no idea who else the realtor involved in the behind the scenes work or exactly who/how all the paperwork was prepared and didn't really care since that is part of what we paid them to do. We have never had to hire any type of attorney/lawyer separately when selling any of our homes in the past. I referred to everything we signed at the closing (there were SEVERAL pages of documents) as 'legal' documents, perhaps that isn't the exact term others use.

My comment was in reference to what the OP asked as I would have NO idea how to go about selling a house on my own since there is way more to it then simply thinking you can save the commission cost by not using a realtor.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Have bought/sold homes in 3 different states and the realtor arranged everything. We didn't know and weren't related to any of the people buying the homes. Maybe just semantics, but we showed up at the date/time/location they arranged to sign paperwork to complete the sale. I have no idea who else the realtor involved in the behind the scenes work or exactly who/how all the paperwork was prepared and didn't really care since that is part of what we paid them to do. We have never had to hire any type of attorney/lawyer separately when selling any of our homes in the past. I referred to everything we signed at the closing (there were SEVERAL pages of documents) as 'legal' documents, perhaps that isn't the exact term others use.

My comment was in reference to what the OP asked as I would have NO idea how to go about selling a house on my own since there is way more to it then simply thinking you can save the commission cost by not using a realtor.

If you used a bank, to finance the loan,
The person that was handing you papers to sign was an attorney.

I assume you loan company did a title search and have you a warranty deed …. That was done by an attorney….

You don’t have to have an attorney, but if the agent is giving you legal advice, they had better have a bar card somewhere…..

In an all cash deal you can absolutely buy or sell a house without an attorney…

And a simple quit claim deed.

But why would you want to

 

[nw6675]

We've bought and sold five homes. Mostly through a realtor under the normal fee structure with a few exceptions.

One FSBO - We just used a title company who handled everything.

Flat rate commission - paid a flat fee to our realtor and the standard % to buyer's agent.

Discount commission - the realtor we'd used multiple times gave us a large % discount on his and standard % for buyer's agent.

 

[White Cat]

Realtor and an attorney.

 

[lanejudy]

We have never had to hire any type of attorney/lawyer separately when selling any of our homes in the past.

Depends on the state -- some require a lawyer be retained in addition to any real estate agent you may choose to hire.

 

[tvguy]

Depends on the state -- some require a lawyer be retained in addition to any real estate agent you may choose to hire.

Clearly varies from state to state. No lawyer is needed in California. You DO get something for your money using a Real Estate Agent and or an attorney. Hopefully it prevents legal issues, and if it doesn't, I guess it gives you someone to sue, LOL.
https://thoseflippinemptynesters.com/do-i-need-a-lawyer-to-sell-my-house-in-california/