For Sale by Owner

[Tron_fdc]

Anyone ever done a house deal FSBO? In light of yesterdays threads on the housing market, I got to thinking about a few properties that I know of that are not currently on the market, but will be soon. I'm wondering how hard it is to buy a house from someone that isn't using a realtor.

I have my legal team (troutman!) but beyond that I'm not sure what I'm going to need to do, or who I need to contact. I'm assuming it's a little more complicated than writing out a bill of sale on a piece of looseleaf, so if anyone knows of any resources I can use I'd appreciate it.

[ken0042]

There was a brief discussion about this a couple of weeks ago:
http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=36703

Bottom line is in a hot market it works well for many people. I'd be too scared to try selling something as expensive as my house on my own.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

We bought our house privately and it was a pain in the ass (it didn't help that we were overseas at the time), but essentially having a good real estate lawyer and banker is the key...and a cooperative seller.

[firebug]

Sold my Condo to a friend privately.

Will look to sell my home in april or may privately as well.

Besides legal and banking help, the big challenge is a cooperative counterparty.

Best regards,

~bug

[GreenTeaFrapp]

I did it and it only cost me a few bucks for a for sale sign on the front of the house. It helped that there were two other units for sale further down the deadend street I was on that were listed through realtors.

I had a couple of people look at the house and one made an offer, we negotiated and agreed upon a price. He had an agent so that made things easier. We had our lawyer draw up the paperwork and it was sold in a couple of weeks.

That was in an Ottawa market that was still hot, not Calgary hot mind you, but still hot despite the tech crash.

[Sylvanfan]

Well depends how bad you want to sell, and how well you know the market. Since I made my thread a lot of these Comfree houses have went up for sale in my neighbourhood, like 5 houese in the last 2 weeks and none of them has sold. Whereas similar priced places through realtors go in under a week. Although the comfree houses have been maybe a bit on the expensive side in my opinion considering that they're not paying commission. That tells me that home buyers prefer to use a realtor.

If you are a buyer having a realtor is a good thing. So as a result if you're trying to sell by owner you do cut off a lot of potential buyers.

[troutman]

Generally, I recommend that people use realtors.

Why use a realtor?
http://www.creb.com/public/hbuyer/hb-why-use-a-realtor.htm

Where that is not practical, there are blank real estate contracts that we can provide, or that are provided by companies like We List.

[eazyduzzit]

If your not in a rush to sell your house it might not be a bad idea to try and sell it yourself.

I have a friend who sold his house on Chestermere lake not too long ago by himself. It would have sold much faster if he had used a realtor but since he had the time, it payed off in the end.

Realtors usually under-value your property so it sells faster - through my experiences anyway.

[TurnedTheCorner]

I wouldn't represent myself as a lawyer. I wouldn't operate on a family member. I wouldn't fill a cavity. I wouldn't sell my house without a realtor. We have trained professionals for a reason.

My two cents.

[Tron_fdc]

I'm actually buying the house from a good friend, so I don't think I need a realtor in this case. We're both easy going, so worst case scenario is I walk away from the deal and he lists it himself with an agent.

The house is underpriced as it is, and if I can knock another 10-15k off the price without using a realtor I'll do it.

[Sylvanfan]

I'm actually buying the house from a good friend, so I don't think I need a realtor in this case. We're both easy going, so worst case scenario is I walk away from the deal and he lists it himself with an agent.

The house is underpriced as it is, and if I can knock another 10-15k off the price without using a realtor I'll do it.

Well in that case maybe hire a home inspector and make sure the place is up to snuff (unless you do that as a living already or used to). Than it's more or less just getting lawyers and you should be alright. Really you're saving $10-15k in commissions so no need to cheap out on $400.

[Incinerator]

I'm actually buying the house from a good friend, so I don't think I need a realtor in this case. We're both easy going, so worst case scenario is I walk away from the deal and he lists it himself with an agent.

The house is underpriced as it is, and if I can knock another 10-15k off the price without using a realtor I'll do it.

You don't necessarily need to "pay" 10-15k to hire a Realtor in this case, some Realtors will "facilitate" your deal as a neutral party (without you or your friend being a client, just customers) for a nominal fee, basically just to fill out all the paperwork and take care of all the details for closing & possession. It's definitely a lot less headaches than doing it all by yourself unless you really know what you're doing.