Nov 28, 2022 - 12m read
Paperwork for Selling a Home Without a Realtor
If you’ve been thinking about selling your home without the help of a realtor, doing so is a great way to avoid paying a high realtor commission that can amount to around 3% of the property value.
Anthony Reinoehl
Co-Founder
If you’ve been thinking about selling your home without the help of a realtor, doing so is a great way to avoid paying a high realtor commission that can amount to around 3% of the property value. Even though selling your home without a realtor can be highly advantageous, there are a few issues that you should consider before going forward with selling your home.
When you hire a realtor, they will be responsible for marketing your home, performing a comparative analysis, and completing all of your paperwork. If you don’t hire a realtor, you’ll need to complete all of this paperwork by yourself.
Keep in mind that the paperwork and documentation that’s gathered during a real estate transaction is a notable asset when selling a home. After an agreement has been signed, it will be legally binding, which means that the documentation that supports the agreement will become part of the transaction. In this guide, you’ll learn about the different types of paperwork you’ll be expected to manage when selling your home.
What Does “Sell By Owner” Mean?
If you hire a realtor to help you sell your home, this individual will perform most of the tasks related to the real estate transaction. They will help you understand how to price your home and will perform negotiations with any potential buyers. If you decide to “sell by owner”, this process involves selling your property without the assistance of a professional, which means that every facet of this process needs to be handled by you.
Determine a Price
The first step in this process is to determine a price for your home. As touched upon previously, realtors usually perform an extensive comparative market analysis to identify the ideal price for a home. Even though a considerable amount of research is required, you can complete a CMA on your own by looking into nearby market trends, recent sales, and local listings.
This analysis is meant to compare recently sold homes that are similar to yours. It’s highly recommended that you set a price that doesn’t undervalue your property and isn’t too high that buyers are driven away.
Prepare and Take Photos
Before listing your home, you should prepare and take some photos. Take this time to perform a deep clean in your home and repair any items around the house that aren’t in perfect condition. Consider purchasing some affordable decor or flowers to enhance the aesthetics of your home and improve the lighting.
While you have the option of taking pictures of your home with your own camera, you should think about hiring a professional photographer, which costs anywhere from $100-$300 and will allow you to use high-quality photos in your property listing.
List Your Home
You can now take steps to list your home, which can be done on websites like HomeFinder, FSBO, Zillow, and Trulia. These sites provide you with some basic tools that make it easy to list your home. While some sites are free, others might require a small fee for listing your home. You can also place your listing on your local MLS for better visibility.
Hold an Open House
Once your home has been listed, you should hold an open house, which allows you to show off your home to numerous potential buyers at once. By inviting prospective buyers to view your home, your listing will be given more attention and may increase your chances of receiving an offer. For some buyers, visiting during an open house may be more convenient than scheduling a private viewing.
Make the Sale
At this stage of the process, it’s time to make the sale. If you’ve received an offer that you find acceptable, you’ll be tasked with performing negotiations with the buyer, after which you should gather and fill out all of the necessary paperwork. In the event that you need assistance during this aspect of the home-selling process, think about hiring an attorney who specializes in real estate transactions.
Paperwork for Selling a House by Owner
There’s a considerable amount of paperwork that must be filled out before you can finalize this transaction. Along with giving you peace of mind, being organized will also provide the buyer with more confidence about going through with an FSBO deal. Keep in mind that the exact documentation you need depends on where you live.
Original Sales Contract
The original sales contract from when you purchased the home should be gathered if the buyer requests a copy to make sure that mistakes aren’t made with the title.
Property Survey
A property survey is a map that highlights the boundaries of your property, which includes any fencing and the location of structures you’ve added over the years. The buyer will be able to determine where your land comes to an end. These surveys are regularly requested by the purchaser.
Mortgage Statement and Other Loan Documents
You can obtain a mortgage statement by requesting one from your lender. In the event that you mortgage has yet to be paid off, this statement tells you the amount of money that will be taken by the lender when the sale goes through.
If you sell your home for $300,000 but still owe $100,000 on the mortgage, your lender will take $100,000 from the sale, which leaves you with profits of around $200,000. If other loans have been taken out for your home, records of these loans should also be requested.
Latest Utility and Property Tax Bills
You should also have the latest property tax and utility bills on hand. These documents should help the buyer understand how much money they’ll need to budget out every month for their mortgage payments as well as any other expenses that come with owning a home.
Certificate of Occupancy
A certificate of occupancy is a type of legal document that you can request from your local municipality. This document states that your property is suitable for occupancy, which will make the buyer more confident in the transaction. This certificate is only granted if a home meets certain safety measures and adheres to the local building code.
The Title
The title is a document that proves you own the house and have the ability to sell it. Once the transaction has been closed on, you can transfer this document to the buyer.
Warranties
In the event that any household systems or appliances are still under warranty, you should provide the buyer with these documents, which can help you during negotiations.
Homeowners Association Agreements
In the event that your neighborhood has a set of rules and guidelines that govern the surrounding area, you should present documents of these agreements to the buyer before they go through with the purchase. HOA rules can center around everything from parking to pets.
The Pros and Cons of Selling a House by Owner
Now that you know what you need to sell your home without the help of a realtor, you might be ready to begin this process. Before doing so, read through the following pros and cons on this home-selling solution.
Pros
The main benefits of selling your home without a realtor include:
- You won’t need to pay a commission to a realtor, which means that 100% of the profits from the sale are yours to keep.
- You have full control over how your home is marketed and what price it’s listed at on the real estate market.
- During this process, you’ll learn about what it takes to sell and buy properties on the market.
- You might be more effective at selling your home since you know more about it than a realtor would.
Cons
The main downsides of selling your home without a realtor include:
- Selling a home is always going to be challenging and difficult to learn. You’ll need to understand complicated real estate jargon, how to negotiate with the buyer’s agent, and how to complete a CMA.
- Your home could sell for less if you don’t have a realtor by your side during negotiations.
- This process can take up an ample amount of your home, which might not be feasible if you already have a full-time job or family you need to devote time to.
- Realtors have many resources and tools they can access when marketing a home. Without access to these same tools, your reach has limits.
Once you’ve weighed the pros and cons of selling your home without a realtor, you can get started on identifying the right listing price for your home. As long as you can gather and fill out the necessary paperwork, there shouldn’t be any costly errors made when the sale of your home goes through. If you want to avoid the hassles of selling your home on the market without receiving help by a realtor, sell your home to CC Capital. Once you contact us, we’ll evaluate your home to determine what its value is, after which we can close on your timetable.
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