For Sale by Owner - Cherryville,MO

Make sure you have a disclosure so they cannot come back and sue becasue there was some issue. Some of the things in there would be if the home was built before 1978, could contain lead paint (even if it was gutted recently). Also, ever flooded? or issues with a pump? Also, when you accept an offer, make sure you have something in there that they prove they have financing. Unfortunately, financing falls through a lot. A letter showing they are prequalified pretty much means nothing now. And make sure anything of value is packed away. A friend sold her house with a realtor and someone stole her medication she had tucked away in the back of a ktichen cabinet.

Set up a website with pictures of your house so people can see it before they schedule an appointment. It will save you tons of showings that don't produce an offer. When people want to see your house, make it available. Keep it picked up at all times. And do not stay in the house when people are touring. Take a walk, go do groceries, whatever. Let them in and then make yourself scarce. The worst thing is having the homeowner follow a prospective buyer around. Think in advance what you'll do if someone comes in with an agent (who would expect to be paid 3% of the purchase price). You can get all of your forms online, but having a lawyer do closing is a good idea and costs only about $500. See if there's a way you can get your house listed on the MLS even if you don't have a realtor. Some agents will do that for a few hundred dollars and there are companies that do that in some places. You'll have a MUCH wider audience if it's on the MLS.

haven't done it personally - but a friend that did:

1. Set up website for potential buyers to view home.
2. Get your house in the MLS list - this is what real estate agents use to show homes.
3. Get an appraisal done to ensure you are asking the right price.
4. Get a home inspection done to make sure ANY deficiencies are completed PRIOR to listing - makes it MUCH smoother from offer-to-close. Yes, they are still going to get an inspection done - however - their inspector will most likely not find any problems - so then it will be much smoother.
5. Keep it picked up and clean.
6. DO NOT have kids home to show the house.
7. DO NOT have pets home to show the house - or at least wandering - crate the dogs and/or cats.
8. DO NOT have valuables out and about. Medications should be put in a box and stored in the car, etc.
9. Let potential buyers in and then tell them you will be waiting in the kitchen should they have any questions.
10. Make sure you have your forms ready - find out from a title company what you need and get them.
11. Call your mortgage company and ensure that whatever you are asking covers the pay off of the mortgage. You don't want to owe money at closing.
12. IF you live in a Home Owners Association - ensure you have all of your disclosure documents.
13. I personally think this is the most important - ONLY INSIDE - have lay out of your home, with all the features - just like a real estate agent would - in a package or pamphlet so that as potential buyers walk around the house - they can read about the house -
* gas water/heater - date replaced any applicable warranty
* central air - again date replaced - any applicable warranty
* new appliances with warranty
* windows that are new with a transferable warranty
* date the roof was replaced and any warranty that is attached to it.
* What appliances and fixtures convey
Copies of your last three months of heating/cooling, water costs...you can block out your name and account number - but still have the information there.

Be ready to listen to potential buyers INPUT ON YOUR HOME - remember - you are just living there now - take down personal stuff - pictures, political stuff, religious stuff, etc.

Make sure your curb appeal is there. I know I will pass by a home that has no curb appeal. Flowers potted, grass mowed, mail box sturdy, house numbers clearly visible.

I believe what sol ours was an info sheet I made with room sizes, photos of each room & exterior shots, as well as a complete list of improvements and the dates they were completed.
Eliminate ANY clutter, make sure clothing closets are not more than half full (room to grow), remove personal items like photos, etc.
Clean, clean, and CLEAN!
Good luck!

You know, I'd just be very careful, to be honest with you... having a Realtor on your side costs you 3% of the sale price (you still have to pay your buyer's agent 3% whether or not YOU have an agent), and a good Realtor is worth his or her weight in gold. They will get your house on the MLS (the multiple listings service, which is what ALL buyer's agents are looking through daily on behalf of their clients), they will ensure the proper paperwork and disclosures are filed, they will do all the footwork with getting escrow started and keeping it on track. Why you would forego this to save 3% is beyond me, when the flip side if you go it alone is that: 1) nobody knows, unless they drive by, that your home is for sale, 2) you run the risk of not properly disclosing certain things, and being sued for it later, 3) having the whole escrow run off the rails because you are not experienced in how the whole process runs.

I'm not saying this to scare you, but rather just to give you the best advice I can. I'm co-owner of a Real Estate Brokerage; we don't work with buyers and sellers, rather we are brokers because this way we save the 3% when we flip houses. But I'll say that it's a LOT of paperwork, and we even have errors & omissions insurance that protects us in case we forget paperwork or it somehow is mis-filed... if we didn't have that, I couldn't sleep at night because the paperwork in buying/selling is so mammoth that it's very easy (even for those of us who do this many times per year) to forget things. Anyway... why not just talk to a Realtor? Ask friends and neighbors whom they've used and liked. It doesn't cost anything to interview a few Realtors and see what they have to say about what they can do for you.

My sister is doing the same thing right now and they have a beautiful home waiting for them to buy. They put a contingency in their offer that their home must sell to buy this new one. They are going to lose this new home.

They have to pay 6% of the sale. I guess after reading this that 3 goes to their own agent then 3 to the other one too. I don't know, she said they were going to save 6% by selling it themselves.

I asked her how she was going to have time to promote her home, how much the ads were going to cost, running an ad with pictures and stuff week after week after week much be expensive, they don't want it to be a waste of money. I asked her how she planned on doing an open house, how she would prevent people from stealing, from damaging their property while they were looking at it. How would she feel if she was showing someone through the house and they were talking about how ugly her bathroom border is, how she was going to focus on the selling it part and not the "This is my house" thought process when strangers were looking at it.

I think a Realtor is a good thing if you work, if you are involved at all with the kids, anything that would take half an hour per day to do. If you can't devote 100% of your time to this then having a Realtor manage this sale is a good idea.

Just don't forget if you don't do everything that is required of you and someone even 15 years down the line catches it you are liable....

My friend was adding on to her house. We were sitting there visiting when the construction guy came to the window and told her she had a problem. They lived on the corner of a somewhat busy intersection, by no means is it in the middle of town, maybe 3 miles from downtown, anyway, they lived on nearly an acre of land on this corner.

As they started to dig a basement for the new addition they hit a septic tank. It was a working septic tank. The house had never been attached to City sewer systems.

As they did research the home owners 2 times back had sold the house and the Realtor did not check to see if it was attached. They just assumed since it was in town it was hooked up to the City. My friend had to file paperwork and those previous owners had to pay to have the septic tank removed and the lines put in by the City.

The Other previous owners had to be contacted and they had to file paperwork so they could be reimbursed for every penny they paid on their utility bills.

All that time, maybe 20 years and no one had known there was a septic tank. No treatments, no precautions, nothing and it was still functioning correctly...that says something about how effective they are.

Even if the issue found is an electrical one, a roof one, anything at all you could be help liable in the distant future. Even if the new owners buy as is, future owners should not be help liable for issues that might have been overlooked.

As far as a brochure goes I always found that the realtors left off the most important information so you would have to contact them. I sold 2 homes is Florida by myself and I based everything I did on what I would want to know or see if I were buying a house. I created a one page flyer with an awesome photo and the most important information(size, square footage, # of rooms, price, etc.) BUT I included a website link where they could see tons of photos inside & outside of the home. If you provide ALL of the info and photos it will eliminate wasted time and appointments from curiosity seekers. Put a sign on the lawn with a tube to put the flyers and always make sure it is never empty. I also made sure we could show the house at any time. The first house I sold the people were driving through our neighborhood at 9:00 PM and called us from their cell phone and asked to see the house. They were a young couple that worked long hours. We showed them the house that night and they bought it!

http://www.for-sale-by-owner-plus.com/brochure.html

DEFINITELY GET LISTED ON THE MLS BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE EVERYONE LOOKS. EVERYONE USES THE INTERNET. Providing quality photos is one of the most significant things you can do to market your home. Buyers browse hundreds of listings and pay the most attention to those with multiple photos that accurately depict the home. Most local and national MLS websites display the photos that are on the local MLS.

HERE ARE SOME WEBSITES TO CHECK:
http://www.owners.com/mo/flat-fee-mls
http://www.bloomkey.com/Missouri/flat_fee_mls
http://www.mlsmyhome.com/?gclid=CJzr-4ugurMCFdI7Ogod7h8AWQ

HIRE A GOOD REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY FOR GUIDANCE & TO HANDLE THE CLOSING FOR YOU. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE I CAN GIVE YOU. Our attorney charged us $1,000 to handle all of the legal paperwork and closing and made sure that we did everything right and protected ourselves. We paid him out of the money we made on the house. I could not have done it without him. It will save you money by preventing any costly mistakes.

MARKET AND POST YOUR HOME ON EVERY FREE REAL ESTATE WEBSITE YOU CAN FIND. THERE ARE TONS OF THEM AS WELL AS CRAIGSLIST, FACEBOOK, YAHOO, ETC.

Good Luck!