There is a great deal more to selling your home than a "For Sale" Sign in your front yard.  Drew realizes that you as a home seller want to weigh out all the options to produce the highest net income for yourself after the sale of your home.  Many sellers in today's market are trying to sell their homes themselves and getting a lesson in real estate law and attorney's fees.  You as the seller of your home are in complete control of the sale, but take time to think through these key issues before embarking on a sale alone.  Drew's argument is that while he does get paid for selling your home, the commission that you will pay him is far less costly than the potential pitfalls of not having a professional on your side.      

By nature, buyers who search for FSBOs are bargain hunters who usually possess some knowledge of the real estate market.  They search for unrepresented parties who are not well versed in real estate law and local custom and usually structure deals very much in their own favor.  Before you sell your home yourself, be ready to answer these questions exhaustively:

• "How did you determine the value of your home? How does it compare to other homes in the Sarasota area?"
• "If I make an offer, who will draw up the paper work?"
• "Why aren't you using a realtor? Is there something wrong with the property?"
• "Since you aren't using a realtor, we can take their fee right of the top, right?"

Then the questions can start to become more complex:

• If I price this myself, does it make sense to price it higher or lower than the other properties around my home?
• On the fliers that I use to market my home, am I legally required to use certain marks or disclosures?
• What are fair-housing laws? What happens if I violate them?
• Can I restrict who I choose to sell my house to?
• Does the sale of my property require any specific legal forms or disclosures?
• What is the worst that could happen if I don't provide the right disclosures?
• Am I legally required to disclose anything at all?
• Which contract should I use to accept offers and where do I get it?
• Is this a legally binding contract?
• Does it matter is the buyer is not pre approved? How do I know?
• How do I sort out the contingencies in the contract?
• How are disputes resolved?
• Who will hold the deposit money, and what if there is a dispute over it?
• How should I strategically structure the contingency dates in the contract?
• How soon should I make my buyer complete inspections?
• Am I required to fix something the buyer doesn't like? How much do I have to spend?
• Who is responsible if damage results from the inspection? What if they refuse to pay?
• What is title insurance? What is the proper rate? Do I really have to have it? And how do I know who should pay for it at closing?
• Where am I going to get my closing documents, and what do they mean? Should I really be paying all these fees?  
• What happens if the home doesn't appraise well? Can the buyer just back out, or is there another way to handle this situation?
• If I forget to disclose something and the buyer finds out about it after the sale, can he come after me?
• What if something in the house breaks right after the sale? Do I have liability?

These questions are just for starters.  The real estate profession exists to help sellers ultimately save money, not spend it.  There have been several incidences in which a FSBO tried to save money by cutting the real estate agent out, and ended working harder and netting much less simply due to the fact that they were not a trained professional.  Answering any of the above questions incorrectly could be costly, and though some sellers do successfully navigate through the perils of FSBO sales, those who choose to work with Drew Russell save both money and peace of mind by being sure that all aspects of their transaction are being handled correctly.