one of the advantages of an Agent, is that you can easily change the “local practices”. My agent setup the escrow with someone he knew and was fast and dependable. Just told the buyer that it was their choice, but the file is already in process. They accepted our choice. My agent also got them to cover some closing costs normally paid for by Seller, including a Sewer inspection AFTER closing on a 110 year old house. (Local water district requires old clay pipes to be replaced if any blockage is found – up tp $5k.)
Yes, and my Agent’s service was better. He was fantastic. (And I’ve been exposed to some duds over the years, so I know the difference.)
Yes your attorney should be able to help. But since you are selling, you have to prepare for them correctly in the first place, you will pay a LOT of money to let the attorney to prepare for you, at $200/hr, it will eatup all the advantages as FSBO. Besides, an attorney is only going to REVIEW what you provide, he will not normally dig in and find out what is missing in either paper or signatures. You need experienced “paper pusher” to help you to line up the paper for buyers to sign. Even an experienced realtor may miss the newest requirements and those “paper pusher” will know because that is what they are trained for. The responsibility of an agent/realtor is to sell, sell, sell and sell, they are not paper pushers.
In my prior real estate agency, there were two reviewers who did all the paper reviewing to make sure the documents are complete and have all the signatures. We do not need to know everything.
Regarding E&O insurance, a FSBO won’t able to buy as they are VERY expensive. If you have to buy E&O as FSBO, since you are not RE professionals, the insurance company is going to charge you arms and legs. I think you just have to forego with it, otherwise you mind as well give the home to a low cost agent.
I only got into E&O insurance claim because I bought a house in auction WITH the prior owner still did not vacate the premises. It is a Rare case and in most FSBO, there is very very very little chance to get into such a bind
The OP may not need E&O insurance. His/her current homeowners, umbrella or excess policies may cover him/her. Check with your insurance agent about whether a FSBO transaction is covered.
True, it is not needed for Residential (1-4 units) Transactions. For any commercial transactions, you need a lawyer. And you might have to pay a LOT of money, especially for those sell and leaseback transactions. It is out of the scope of this thread.
Thanks so much, artloversplus, shushiritto, and blubayou. Those nuances are really helpful. I have a few friends who do residential real estate (in a nearby state as the one I’m selling in). Maybe I can run these issues past them and see what they think (in terms of needing more help, etc.).
At this point I’m using every spare minute to clean up the yard full of decades old sticks and trash and coordinate contractors for the interior. And try to convince others involved that we shouldn’t “do it all ourselves” to save $$ (while completely missing the market as that will take 9 months [and look bad to boot! lol]).
Re-reading all the tips on this thread and again very much appreciating all the insights.
We are finally down to the last few weeks of our home rehab to prep for sale - and I have to say the house looks really great (particularly the interior - bright white crown moldings and baseboards, beautiful light grey walls, dark walnut floors, cheerful white kitchen). It’s a huge change from the 1999 era style w/carpet everywhere and dark curtains that it was before.
I got a flat rate attorney ($1,500 for the whole real estate process) who is also doing the settlement of my parents’ estate. He sent me our state’s seller disclosure form (12 pages!). I’ve got a free google voice phone number to use in marketing (that will be forwarded to my cell phone). Plan to get a flat rate MLS listing through a service ($500) .
I’m taking to heart the ‘coming soon’ marketing aspect advised by several here, and will roll that out once I get the front door painted and can have a nice photo to post.
Wondered if there were any tips on publicizing the “coming soon” info? I could print out fliers and put on the neighbors’ mailboxes and post on my personal FaceBook page but wondering if there are any other avenues? Maybe a “coming soon” sign in the yard? Again, thanks so much.
Those are all good ideas, you could also post on your local NextDoor, if your community uses that. We also took out an ad in the local newspaper, which was surprisingly affordable.
Once you list it, I highly recommend you hold a broker’s open house as well. In my area, they are usually Tuesdays during the early afternoon. You publicize that in the MLS listing. As long as you are offering a commission to the buyer’s real estate agent (communicated in the MLS listing) realtors should show. For the realtor’s open house we had light snacks (maybe not a good idea during covid) and also had water bottles with a picture of the property and address as the label.
We also had one or two open houses for buyers on Sundays. Not sure how effective those really are though, the vast majority of our traffic/showings were from the MLS listing.
Thanks, Mwfan1921! I will remember NextDoor (and join the one near my parents’ house)!
I did just turn up a web article asserting that a seller might be slightly disadvantaged by a ‘coming soon’ advertising preview b/c it reduces the chance of a bidding war when the gates open and the house is on the market actively. They advised ‘deferring showings’ once the house is listed to allow interest to build up. Not sure how to take all this advice, but - on first review - could see that point…
Choose an escrow company that you would like to work with. A buyer with a realtor will have a preferred escrow company and that is fine, but a buyer without a realtor will probably need a recommendation on an escrow company.
We sold our house FSBO 16 years ago in CA. Buyer did not have a realtor and our escrow company managed everything for the transaction to complete on time. (We used standard CA association or realtors contract paperwork). $700k house sale and all went well without a realtor on either side.
Colorado_mom - Thank you!! (fingers crossed the market stays hot and interest rates low!!)
diegodavis - I did get a recommendation of a title company (in case needed). Someone also said that a buyer w/out a realtor should have a real estate attorney. Not sure how I’d encourage that or if it’s 100% necessary…?
We encouraged our buyer to retain a lawyer when we sold our house without a broker. The legal fees are a tiny fraction of what the commission would have been, and it ensured an error-free closing since both sides had representation. Our buyers knew they were getting a great deal so were OK spending a little more just to have a set of eyeballs reviewing the documentation.
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