Quote:
Originally Posted by JoannP
what a great topic.
I must say that since this is our 4th house that we are selling, we are always looking for ideas to make a quick and easy sale.
Boomer, your "For Sale Soon " is a fantastic idea. I mentioned that to my husband, not thinking that he was actually listening. Well, can you imagine the look on my face when I arrived home from work yesterday and saw a
"For Sale - Soon" in our front yard.
I will let you know the outcome.
Please continue with this thread.....thanks for all of your thoughts and ideas. |
Joann,
I love it that you like my idea.
I hope that sign brings you the success it brought to me. My phone started to ring right away. And a couple of people even knocked on the door. It was in 2007 and the market was just starting to sputter here.
I will be watching for great news from you. Don't forget, if this ends up working out for you as a FSBO, have a lawyer to write the contract.
The people who were buying had a blank contract provided by their lender for use with FSBO's. It was a joke. It covered the basic legalities but you need to go beyond those I think, when selling by owner. This thing that their lender offered to FSBO's was a lot more sparse than any contract I had ever seen.
Contracts used by Realtors here have far more crossed 't's ' and dotted 'i's' than the one their lender said we could use. Looking at local Realtors' contracts is a good start, but there may be things you will even need to add to those.
I was particularly hinky because I knew about these rotten mortgages all along and how they would get us all eventually. I saw it coming. That was another ingredient in why I was hinkier than usual.
Here's one of my little stories about something that was happening at the time to sellers and caused me to be even more of a Contract Queen than usual:
At that time, a friend and her siblings had just sold her parents' house. When they got to the closing they found out that it was a "dry" closing. No check for them until a later date, and the mortgage company suddenly heaped on more fees for them to pay as sellers. It was nuts. Some of those lenders knew well that they could heap last minute fees upon anxious sellers and have it work a lot of the time. So sellers, not just buyers, got caught up in those messes sometimes.
Anyway, in spite of the too lean contract suggested, my buyers' mortgage lender was actually one of the honest ones, a truly good one in fact. They did not get involved in dry closings. And the buyers were qualified. And they provided closing papers ahead of the closing so we could look them over. Everything went fine, but I am still glad that I was so hinky about contract details. It's my old "cost of sleep" philosophy.
I have done several FSBO's over the years and have always used an attorney, but this time I had the clearest contract I had ever seen. We emailed it back and forth and I knew it inside out before it was presented for signing.
The contract specifically had language to make sure there would be no "dry" closing. I had never heard of a dry closing before my friend's story. It must have to with leverage and money moving around at certain times. I really don't know. I am an "old school" homebuyer and seller and I just knew I did not want one of these things. I wanted a check at the end. Not days later. Nor did I want to be a victim of a shakedown for extra fees at the closing table. (But like I said, their lender was one of the good guys in the mortgage business.)
So here I am, babbling on and on, about real estate like I am wont to do. And I really need to get out of her for now.
I wish the best of luck with my Boomer sign. And golly, gee, who knew it would come with all that advice attached, just in case a FSBO lands in your lap.
And, btw, that part about how your husband was listening. That is impressive. Congratulations.
Boomer