Not Made Of Money

A few years ago we sold our house on our own with no real estate agent, you know, with the big “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) sign out front of the house. In preparation for this, we did a number of things to get our then 10-year-old house sold. Of course, the market was red hot ( a seller’s market) at that time here in Florida which was of tremendous help to us. Here are the steps we took in selling our house ourselves:

1. Cleaned up the inside and outside of the house. This including a small amount of remodeling including new counter tops and floor tile in the kitchen, and new carpeting in the living room. We painted the outside of the home and put in some new landscaping. The house looked really nice when we were finished with the improvements.

2. We researched similar homes in our neighborhood to determine the optimum selling price. We wanted to make sure we priced our home correctly. (If you are not sure how or what to price your home at consider hiring a home appraisal company).

3. Hired a home inspection company for an inspection of our home. Four items were found by the inspection company, and we had these items corrected before we put the house on the market. We saved the receipts from these repairs and attached them to the inspection report as proof that the repairs were made.

4. Hired a real estate attorney. He gave us the basic information regarding a real estate contract and handled our matters from a legal standpoint.

5. Located a title company with the most knowledgeable and courteous title insurance agent. She was willing to take the time to answer our questions and gave us great tips and help along the way.

6. We purchased a number of for sale signs that we placed on the main roads leading into our subdivision. We borrowed one really nice, professional looking “For Sale By Owner” sign for the front yard from a neighbor who had sold their home three months before.

7. We advertised everywhere we could and told everyone we knew that our house was for sale. We showed the home by appointment only and required a letter from their mortgage company stating they had been approved for financing before we showed them the house. We wanted to show the house only to serious buyers. We also required them to fill out a form showing their name, address, and driver’s license number.

8. During the course of a few weeks we received several offers. We accepted the best offer and contacted our attorney who drew up the contract. We notified the title agency who then handled all the other paperwork. The title company set the closing date and all we did was show up, sign all the papers, and receive the check for the proceeds.

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