DIYbanter - Seeking FSBO for dummies LOL

"chaz" writes:
Ok, admittedly, Im not a dummy, but I havent sold a home before. I am
however, in a related field and feel confident I can sell my home without
the aid of a realtor. I have researched the local community for sales of
similar homes and feel pretty good about pricing it.

My questions are related to the contractual side.

Who pays for closing costs?

Both buyers and sellers have their own closing costs. If you do sell
by yourself, you'll definitely want a real estate attorney to guide
you and help with reviewing contracts from the buyer. Real estate
attorneys work pretty darned cheap, and what's great about them is
that they truly work in your interest, without commission.

What about specifics of a contract in regards to closing, time to
find a new home etc?

If anyone has a resource they could point me to I would appreciate
it.

Check out your local public library. In the real estate section,
you'll find a house selling for dummies, and lots of other such
resources on the shelves.

And don't hesitate to have realtors pitch their services to you and
tell you what they'd do to market your home. If you ultimately decide
to sell it yourself, you can thank them, and it would be courteous to
off them a 2.5% or 3% or whatever is normal in your area commission if
they were to bring you a buyer, but that you would like to attempt to
sell it on your own at this time, and save the listing commission.

Your big hurdle is going to be exposure. Look for low-cost
fee-for-service realtors in your area who will list your home in the
MLS for just a few hundred bucks. You will have to be willing to work
with buyer's agents and pay the 2.5%-3% commission they usually get.
You'll still end up saving hte 2.5%-3% commission the listing agent
usually gets for doing little more than listing the property, writing
up some fliers, and maybe running an open house of two.

And if you think the local paper is the answer for exposure, think
again. At least in my market, the newspaper generated lots of calls
from realtors wnating to list my property, tons of movers, and even
financing people, but only one potential buyer.

And be wary of the buyowner.com folks -- they don't have MLS exposure
though their web site is pretty decent, but in truth, they are quite
expensive for what they offer in my opinion.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/