Buying or Selling a Home/Selling home privately

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Expert: - 7/15/2004


Question
I have an opportunity to sell my home privately without a real estate broker.
What is the best way to handle contracts and settlement.

Use a real estate lawyer or would a local broker provide this service?

What would be a typical fee for the service?
Any advice will be appreciated.

Answer
Dear William;
If you are just worried about the contracts and the closing a real estate attorney can handle this.  Fees vary from about $300 to $1,000 depending upon your region.  You may want to consider consulting with a local broker however, to have them look over your shoulder for a small fee.  This is something that can be negotiated--perhaps a transaction fee of $300 would be acceptable to give you some good advice, oversee inspections and make sure that all of the necessary disclosures are provided.  One of the pitfalls when selling your home is the inspection issues.  Often, a third party can run interference for you and that is where a broker might be of service.  You can work out what would be fair.  If you consider the hours spent on the transaction, you might approach the fee in that way--at, say $50 per hour or whatever the Broker requires.  I hope that this helps you.

Best wishes,
Jessica Bryan
Managing Broker
House to Home Realty Services

Buying or Selling a Home

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Jessica Bryan

Expertise

buying and selling process such as:
General questions from first time buyers
How to market a home
Why choose a REALTOR
How do I find a REALTOR
Should I consider buying or selling without a REALTOR--how much can I save
Should I remodel or move
How much can I expect to gain by fixing up my home before selling
Helpful tips when selling
Helpful tips when buying
finding a good mortgage loan
what is the difference between banks, mortgage bankers, and mortgage brokers
Questions from the general public, people thinking about getting their real estate license, newly licensed.
Fellow professionals who have interests in networking and how to get started
What is a market evaluation and how does it differ from an appraisal what are the different loan programs
services a REALTOR can perform
when to use a lawyer
when to use escrow
what are the regional differences in the buying and selling process
what is the MLS and how does it work
how can the layman access information on the web--listings and other information
These are just a few of the questions. I can suggest that if I am unable to answer a question I will refer the inquiry to a source that can.

Experience

Anyone who is in this business and who dedicates oneself to professionalism has continued to take classes and along with it,additional credentials, awards and honors. I can list a host of them, but my greatest accomplishments happen to be those of getting first time buyers (who didn't think they could afford to buy a home)into a home of their dreams. The look on their faces when I hand over the keys is worth all of the hard work.

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