Real Estate Attorney or Lawyer's Role When Selling FSBO

The role that the Real Estate Attorney/Lawyer plays in the selling of your home by for sale by owner makes him/her a necessary addition to your team. Like any other aspect of the law, real estate law should be left to the professionals. Unless you are legally entitled to practice Real Estate law in your State/Province you need professional help. Below are some of the details that your Attorney/Lawyer will take care of.

Your Attorney/Lawyer will review the contract of purchase and sale and advice of potential problems. The seller is typically responsible for preparing the transfer, which is the document that transfers the title of the land from the seller to the purchaser.

They will review transfer documents received from the buyers lawyer, which includes the statement of adjustments which shows credits and debits for seller and buyer, for items such as purchase price, property tax, strata fees where applicable, water account, tenant rent or damage deposits, commissions to be paid to Real Estate Agents, down payment paid by buyer and transfer of title.

They will converse with the buyers Lawyer if necessary and resolve any problems or concerns regarding title issues and or accuracy of figures. Obtain a mortgage balance statement from the seller's mortgage lender to determine the amount necessary to pay and clear the mortgage balance on the day of closing.

If you are selling one property and purchasing another property with closings on the same day, you may need to arrange interim financing. This is a temporary loan to ensure that monies are in place to complete your purchase.

As you can plainly see the Attorney/Lawyers role is vital to the sale of your home. Make sure you have one on your team before you attempt to sell your property.

Hans Anderson is a Real Estate Investor, whose passion is helping people purchase their own investment properties. Visit: http://thetruthaboutforsalebyowner.com/index.php and http://realestateinvestingfacts.com/blog.

Hans Anderson - EzineArticles Expert Author

How to Sell Your House Yourself

How to Sell Your House Yourself Tips on How to Word Your Listing Correctly to Motivate Your Buyers

If you want to know how to sell your house yourself, surely the current economic decline is making you worried. Recent expert analysis shows that house sales have dropped by over 10% in the last year. However, experts still believe there are plenty of eager buyers out there. It's just a question of attracting them!

In this article i will provide some of the key words and phrases that can get your listing noticed. This is paramount for those of you looking to sell your house yourself without the aid of an agent. There's no point in having a property for sale if you can't generate the right type on interest!

Always describe the property to the buyer's advantage. Phrases such as "good condition", "good buy" or "move-in ready" are known to make a difference. In actual fact, it has been found that property listings that included these phrases sold for almost 4% higher that those that didn't include these comments.

The words, "updates" and "upgrades" seem to also make a significant difference. Evidence shows that listings that used these words, sold approximately 5% more than those that didn't. Do not include the term "new paint" as this can have a negative effect on your listing. A realtor is likely to tell your buyer's that this may be to cover up something and perhaps the property doesn't have much else good about it!

Researchers have been quite surprised that the term, "motivated seller" actually delayed sales. The average house sale can take just over 3 months, but by including the phrase "motivated seller", it seems sales on average are taking up to 3 weeks longer!

When looking to sell your house yourself, it appears the phrase "handyman special" is proving popular. Rather than listing your property "as is", the handyman term sells far quicker!

Do you desperately need to know How to Sell Your House Yourself?

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The Ultimate Guide Part Six - Negotiations

Welcome to Part Six of FSBO: The Ultimate Guide. Let's dive right in and get started. The first thing for you to do once you have a written offer of interest from a potential buyer:

Get Yourself a Good Real Estate Lawyer

A very important ally for you to have during all your negotiations is to have a real estate lawyer. They will help you with all aspects of the contract and legal contracts, so you can't do without one. How to find a good one? Word-of-mouth is recommended here. Speak to as many people as you can. Someone you know is bound to have had a good experience with a professional real estate lawyer, and can advise you. If you can't find any recommendations, arrange appointments with several, and do your own research. See what your impressions are - it should be fairly obvious to you from your meetings how professional and keen for your business a lawyer is, and how you will get on personally.

Remember that there's no reason for you to feel intimidated by the looming prospect of contract and negotiations when selling FSBO. The real estate lawyer is there to help you with all legal technicalities and guide you through the process. Any questions or queries can be easily answered by them. The vast majority of sellers and buyers have no idea how to write up and create contracts - that's why you employ professionals for this job and to rely on them to keep procedures professional. The lawyer is very much part of your negotiations, and will give you all the advice you need.

When you advertise your property privately online, you may well receive calls from buyers who have employed agents to work for them. Remember to make it clear that your asking price does not include any commissions to be paid out - that is the responsibility of the buyer. Just make sure any offers from a potential buyer includes the amount they will have to pay their agent - this would all be added into the contract agreement. You may want to include a line in your listing: 'Asking price includes agent's finders fee of $400.' and add this onto your original asking price.

Buyer Financing

Before we agree to sell the property, we need to 'pre-qualify' meaning, can the buyer get financing for the deal? You may have agreed a price and everyone's happy, but can your buyer find the funds? Do they qualify for a loan? Your lawyer can guide you in more depth, and one of the major lenders will no doubt inform the buyer once they have applied if the financing can go through. As we said before, the sales price is important not just to you, but also to the loan company - if you have agreed a price that's too high, the loan company may be reluctant to lend.

Disclosure Documents

In some countries, Disclosure Agreements are required for selling properties. These are documents which advise buyers of any defects in the property, or anything that warrants repair. There are now laws which require sellers to 'disclose' any known defect in the property. You can talk to your lawyer about this, and they can supply you with the relevant material. It's sometimes wise to have a valuer come round, for a small fee, and inspect your home. They can check for any problems there may be with the property, and it gives you the opportunity to fix any problems that may become as issue at a later date in negotiations. You can make the report available to any buyers, who will no doubt appreciate your professional valuation and documents.

Offers on Your Property

When you have received an offer from a serious buyer in writing, and they have been pre-qualified for a loan, their offer will include the usual information: the offer price, what items are included in the sale of the property and any conditions you or the other party wish to include in the offer. You also have an acceptance period, traditionally around 1 to 3 days. You will review the offer with your lawyer and discuss your options. There may be items in the contract which you wish to change, and these changes will be represented as a 'counter-offer.' Your lawyer will produce the necessary documentation for this.

Remember also that buyers will inevitably offer slightly lower than your original price. Usually this is below your original asking price, but not so low as to offend or be ridiculous. If you want, you can negotiate from this initial offer to a middle-ground where you are both happy, and both compromise a little to reach an agreement. As we discussed in earlier parts of the guide, your own circumstances and 'bottom line' come into play here - as well as how much interest your listing and other advertising has generated. You never know - you may be dealing with multiple offers! The respective offers may go back and forth several times until an agreement has been reached.

If you have time on your side, perhaps you can afford to stick to the figure you want, or wait for someone to call you with the right offer.

You must be prepared to be patient and if you can, wait for the offer to come along that suits you.

Continue to read 'Part Seven' for more FBSO Top Tips.

Steven G Reid - EzineArticles Expert Author

Selling FSBO

1. Pay attention to the market! You stand a better chance of selling your home by owner at the price you want, if the current housing market is hot. Remember, if you sell in a hot market, you will most likely be buying in the same market. Make sure you respond quickly to offers and be prepared to be aggressive in your search for your next home.

In a weak market, your home may stay on the market longer than you originally planned. You are in essence in competition with other homes being sold in your area. Make sure you take care of all necessary repairs and consider taking back a mortgage (VTB-Vendor Take Back) if the market is really slow and you do not need all your cash immediately.

2. Never overprice in a weak market! Your selling price is determined by the current market not by an appraisal, nor by what you want or have to get out of the sale. If your house is not priced competitively for the current market buyers will be looking at other properties not yours. The longer your house stays on the market the greater the risk of incurring additional expenses such as carrying costs and upkeep.

3. Do not become a stale listing! The longer your home is on the market the less likely you are to get full price. If houses in your area are selling (especially by sale by owner) and you are not getting any serious offers, make changes! Re-think your asking price, offer incentives or make some improvements or repairs. Then make sure your changes are mentioned in your advertising.

4. If something needs to be fixed, fix it! Make sure you make all the necessary repairs even the little ones. They are most likely the least expensive of the repairs to fix. Do not think potential buyers will not notice the little things, they do. Little repairs can add up to look like to many repairs and turn buyers off.

5. If large repairs are necessary do them before your house goes on the market! - If this is not possible, adjust your asking price accordingly. You need to be honest and up-front with your buyer. If you try to hide large repairs you are going to get caught and lose the buyer and your time. In this business, time can certainly costs you money.

Hans Anderson is a Real Estate Investor, whose passion is helping people purchase their own investment properties. http://thetruthaboutforsalebyowner.com/index.php

http://realestateinvestingfacts.com/blog

 

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