Selling your own houseFollow

I'd suggest getting a lawyer just to deal with all the taxes, and transfer stuff, and to deal with the buyer's lawyer. If you do a private sale, you can make it a lot simpler, but it's still probably a good idea to get someone to at least look it over.

I haven't really read all of this but there might be some useful stuff here

Edited, Oct 16th 2008 11:53pm by Xsarus

We sold our first home in Pensacola, Florida by ourselves. It's pretty easy. All you do is go get the forms from a local realtor, have a lawyer certify the whole she-bang, and you're done. Very easy, very simple.

Totem

Any how to books on FSBO (for sale by owner) that is specific in Maine you can find? The realtor forms are generally the same from state to state, but there are specifics that need to be adhered to honor the state laws.

And yes, having an attorney review the documents is a must if you're not using a realtor. Make sure it is an attorney that has experience in residential real property laws.

I bought my first condo and didn't go through an agent. One of my customers heard I was looking for a place and he was selling his condo and upgrading. I went by and took a looksie and liked it. We agreed on a price and he found a title lawyer who did all the paperwork and title research etc... The only thing I did was get qualified and made sure I had the down payment in my checking account.

It can be done. It's just kept hush hush by those dirty, grubby real estate agents.

Actually, the worst part of the selling your own house is dealing with potential buyers. They can be seriously picky bastards and will call you up the first moment something breaks (after closing) and raise hell.

Anonomity is worth the price sometimes, but I agree that paying the buying/selling agents 6% total commission (its negotiable btw) sucks ***.

The complexities of selling a house vary so radically from state to state, that I'd suggest you disregard any advice you receive about specifics from anyone not local to you.

For example: Buying a house in Arizona, my brother looked at it on Monday, closed on Friday, moved in over the weekend, with $1500 in closing costs. Conversely in NY the lag from the time you look at the house to closing is typically six months, and closing costs are usually in the area of $15,000.

Dunno what its like up in your neck of the woods, but good luck.

I assumed they paid you in lobsters or cockles or something in Maine.

piece of cake.

hire a realestate attourney. they work for you and will protect your interests.

they will handle the contract, research the buyers ability to get the loan (see if they are qualified), do all the research for open permits and stuff, and handle the closing. they are bonded too and will handle the deposit and escrow.

usually for a fixed price. mine in florida cost me 1500 bucks. they are fantastic at buying houses to. mine could find the value of a house within an hour of asking and phone me back before i was done looking at it so i knew what to offer.

forget the realtor. all they do is charge you 3 to 6 percent and spend part of that money to pay their realestate attourney to do the actual work.

you get an offer, fax it to them, and they will make sure there is nothing bad in the contract, and fix it if it is, then they will deal with the buyer. mine handeled both my selling and buying of a new home. money well spent. and i didnt have to pay her a dime untill we got to closing.

the person i bought my house from payed here realtor 26,000 dollars and he did NOTHING. i found the house on my own, my attourney wrote the contract and handed the closing. but the seller had to pay him 26,000 dollars....for doing squat. we did get a bottle of wine out of it. he got a new car.