About Eric Sexton Expertise All aspects of buying and selling homes including: General real estate questions, Contracts, Negotiations, surveys, title work and general questions about mortgages. I CAN NOT GIVE LEGAL ADVICE AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS WHERE LEGAL ADVICE IS NECESSARY.
Experience
I have been a real estate agent for 6 years and a broker for 2 years.
Organizations National Association of REALTORS and Texas Association of REALTORS.
Expert: Eric Sexton Date: 10/15/2007 Subject: For Sale by Owner
Question My husband inherited his fathers' house in Odessa w.Tx. Along with his brother he is wanting to sell a.s.a.p. The house was paid for outright and there are no leans on the property. To see what interest there might be they placed a Sale sign outside and have had at least a dozen calls in the last few days. Neither have any idea what to do or expect next! Is there a quick lesson in selling that you could advise them on please? Inspections/earnest money/contracts are somewhat unfamiliar to us and as the house is probably going to be sold "as is" what should we be doing right now in preparation. Many Thanks, Gilly
Answer Gilly,
Selling a house requires more knowledge than I can possibly provide here. I'm going to hit on a few quick items that you can research. This is not an all inclusive list.
1) Seller's Disclosure. Texas law requires that a seller disclose information regarding the property to the buyer. The state provides forms for use by real estate agents that meet the legal guidelines.
2) Inspections. Buyers generally pay for their own inspections. They might then present you an inspection report to look at the for purpose of trying to get you to do repairs. If you are given an inspection report by a buyer and that buyer does not buy the house, you must disclose that inspection report (a part of #1 above) to future potential buyers.
3)Contracts. The discussion of contracts is so broad that it can not be addressed here.
These are only a few items to be considered. There are more, such as: Is the buyer qualified to buy? How do you know? What do you do if the buyer does not close on time? can you or should you attempt to terminate the contract or give them more time? If you give them more time, how do you modify the contract to reflect that.
In your situation I would suggest hiring a real estate agent. People think real estate agents sit back, collect their commission and really don't do anything. With a good real estate agent, nothing could be further from the truth. A good agent is going to guide you through the things above plus do so much more to help get your house sold.
