Anyone sold their own home?

[ani'smommy]

We're about to. We have two families that are ready to make offers, we're crossing our fingers that they're reasonable!

What do we need to know? Are there any good sites with downloadable forms? Anything we should watch out for?

Help! Should we just get a realtor?

[annethcz]

Find a real estate lawyer to write the purchase agreement for you. Everything will be legal, and a lawyer will be MUCH less expensive than a realtor. Realtors aren't supposed to give legal advice, anyway. A lawyer will probably cost you several hundred dollars, rather than 6% of the sale price of the house.

[mightymoo]

You need a lawyer regardless. The realtor is there to sell the house, and help with negotiations and whatnot. They aren't going to make sure you are legally covered, whether you have a realtor or not, you need to have paperwork checked out by a lawyer. Generally realtors take care of things like smoke inspections, any title certficates or waivers you need, you'd have to do the research to know what is required. For example, in Ma you need to have a smoke inspection done, you need to have paperwork around lead paint, and you need to have a title V inspection if you aren't on sewer. Usually the realtor sets that stuff up, but it varies from place to place and the lawyer probably won't handle that for you, they may be able to tell you what is required.

[1ColoradoMomma]

I'm probably too late to reply to this, but not all states require a lawyer in the sale of a house. I sold my own home in Indiana w/o a lawyer 10 yrs ago. Now I live in CO and was a mortgage broker for a few years. You do not need a lawyer here either. What I would recommend if this comes up for anyone again is to call a title company. They should know what you needed in the process of selling a home (they are the ones who handle the transaction in CO). I hope this info can help someone.

[Carson]

IMO when you're dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars, it's worth the small fee to have someone there legally protecting your interests. I've hired a lawyer both times, and that's with using realtors.

Finding the buyer is the realtor's job - it sounds like you did great on that end yourself. The only thing that might be tricky is any subsequent negotiations post-inspection. The lawyer can help communicate this for you, but not sure if he'll advise what's fair or not.

[AprilDaisy]

I'm also on the "talk to a title company" boat. They handled everything when we bought our house and I expect them to handle everything again when we sell it shortly. Same company.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

I'm another one that sold my own house....in Texas.

Dealt with just the title company. The one I went with was willing to sit down to do a pre-review on the contract we came up with for $30.

Once everything was in place we (buyer/seller) came in with the agreed funds (closing costs) and the title company did the rest.

Once everything is agreed on and you have it in writing it's very simple...but, yeah, every state has it's own laws on home selling.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

I'm another one that sold my own house....in Texas.

Dealt with just the title company. The one I went with was willing to sit down to do a pre-review on the contract we came up with for $30.

Once everything was in place we (buyer/seller) came in with the agreed funds (closing costs) and the title company did the rest.

Once everything is agreed on and you have it in writing it's very simple...but, yeah, every state has it's own laws on home selling.

[ani'smommy]

Thanks, all. Our situation is a little weird because we live in a co-housing community, so there are various by-laws, etc that have to be observed.

We have a realtor (my dad's cousin, so a friend/relative) that we are using to buy our new house. We asked him to broker our deal for us, and he agreed. We're paying him $250 to help us negotiate our price and the closing. I feel a lot better with a professional involved! The buyer doesn't have a realtor either.