For Sale By Owner

So you have decided to sell your home yourself! That puts me and you in the same business for a while.

Only you are having to go at it without the benefit of years of education and experience.

And without a working knowledge of real estate laws and regulations.

And without any experience in the Equal Housing Opportunity laws

And without the backing of a corporation that spans the globe.

And without the support of a trade group that is a million strong.

And without the benefit of not one but two local Multiple Listing Services, with over 1,000 local professionals to help sell your home.

And without any knowledge of the local advertising market, and without any knowledge of what mediums work best, and of what to say and most importantly, what not to!

With the deck stacked against you, the least I can do is help out a little, so here goes.

In North Carolina, even an individual selling their own home must provide the prospective buyer with the North Carolina Residential Property Disclosure Statement (see note below), so if you click on the link it will provide you with a blank one to fill out and sign. Then copy it and give it to each qualified buyer.

In order to qualify a buyer, you must be comfortable discussing the buyer's financial situation, employment situation, and their current homeownership situation. You must also know the percentages of debt to income that local bankers are currently working with and how to help your buyer calculate theirs.

Of course to help them calculate their amount of payment, you will need to be able to figure the loan amortization for the price of your home.

And to be able to do that you will need to set the price of your home, one that is in line with the current market, not too high so it just sits there with no one looking, and not so low that you don't get the full value. I do that buy compiling a Comparative Market Analysis, comparing your home to ones like it that have sold, are currently available, and have not sold.

Most buyers shop FSBO's to save the cost of the commission, so they will expect you to take that much off the top!

The Real Estate business can be intimidating and perilous, and I encourage you to seek professional guidance and help. Most FSBO's end up selling their home through a Realtor, and many get enough extra to pay for the commission, so why not save yourself the trouble, and call me first. Then live your life while I take care of your real estate needs, because real estate is my life!

NOTE: These documents are all in .pdf format, which needs the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program, which is available here