Let’s face us, we all hate unnecessary paperwork. Frankly, I think it is one of the banes of modern existence! Many homeowners are daunted by the thought of handling the paperwork involved with selling a house for sale by owner.
The reality is that most of the paperwork involves the buyer, not the seller. Your buyers applying for and getting a loan is by far the most tedious part of the transfer of ownership of your house. Using a real estate agent will necessitate your signing a listing agreement, a formidable document which is mainly there to protect them and their brokerage, not you.
When selling FSBO, you only need to get a signed contract, signed disclosures, and an earnest money deposit. You can get a copy of a contract from your title attorney. There is one included for you in the Truth About FSBO, too. My contract is 7 pages. The standard real estate contract you would use if you worked with an agent is 28 pages. The extra 21 pages are there, again, to mainly protect the agent and the brokerage.
Required disclosures vary in each state, and you can easily get them online or from your title attorney. I see them for sale on the internet. Don’t buy them – each state publishes them for free .
So you can see, paperwork-wise, there is really nothing to selling your own house!
