FSBO In Arizona (Tucson: sales, real estate, renters)

[grmi66]

My wife owns a house in Tucson and wants to sell the house. We are very lucky in that the renters that have been there for 3 years really want to purchase the house from her. So we don't need to list the house or put it on the MLS.

Any pitfalls I should watch out for or should we hire a friend of ours who is a realtor and is willing to do the paperwork for 1%?

[wase4711]

or, just hire a lawyer, who can do the same work, for possibly less

[Colt AZ]

Originally Posted by grmi66

My wife owns a house in Tucson and wants to sell the house. We are very lucky in that the renters that have been there for 3 years really want to purchase the house from her. So we don't need to list the house or put it on the MLS.

Any pitfalls I should watch out for or should we hire a friend of ours who is a realtor and is willing to do the paperwork for 1%?

I've personally had excellent experiences with FSBOs in the past when I've used them, and I certainly wouldn't have any problem with you going with your 1% realtor friend either. Just understand that realtors will usually not give you good commentary on FSBOs because it generally goes against their mindset.

Originally Posted by wase4711

or, just hire a lawyer, who can do the same work, for possibly less

I personally haven't experienced lawyers when it comes to real estate.

[KurtAZ]

We did much the same thing with our rental, we just used the Title Company. RE Transaction is pretty straightforward...they have been living in the house for 3 years so they know what is right/wrong with the house. Get an appraisal, written offer, get it to the Title Company and they will ask for all the proper documentation, wait for the loan to close. We didn't allow our tenants/buyers any concessions as they asked us to fix things that they did.

[Dangerous Dave]

If your realtor friend is willing to do it for 1%, that's fine although they would want to keep that under their hat since it's an ethical violation. Realtors are only allowed to receive payment from their brokerage.


What I've done in the past with a FSBO (before I had a real estate license) is call the title companies around town and see if they have a boiler-plate contract and paperwork for a FSBO and if they do, pick one up and go through it with the buyer and submit the earnest check with the finished paperwork to the title company. Just know that the earnest check will needs to be backed by the funds since the title company will deposit it in an escrow account.

[grmi66]

Originally Posted by Dangerous Dave

If your realtor friend is willing to do it for 1%, that's fine although they would want to keep that under their hat since it's an ethical violation. Realtors are only allowed to receive payment from their brokerage.

He's not a real estate agent, has a license because he works for one of those right of way companies and negotiates home sales for the highway department when they want to buy a house that sits in the way of a freeway expansion. So he's done this sort of thing before for our family.

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by wase4711

or, just hire a lawyer, who can do the same work, for possibly less

Yup. I've done that a couple of times. Just a fixed amount of money, which in my experience was quite a bit less than 1%.


I guess it depends.... 1% of what?

[WilmaWildcat]

We had a good experience taking our real estate lawyer to sign for our house; the seller's realtor didn't seem enthused, but the lawyer drew lines through various items on their contract. The only problem with hiring a lawyer is finding one since we don't usually need one; we used one recommended by friends, so we were fortunate.

[Troglodyte74]

I am an Arizona lawyer whose practice is at least 50% RE-related. No, I don't want your business. Hiring a lawyer (IMHO) would be an absurd waste of money for a simple FSBO transaction. But if a competent realtor will do to the paperwork for 1% (do competent realtors do that?), go for it. It's what I myself would do unless this were a straightforward cash sale in which the buyer was simply handing me a sack of money in return for a deed (but even then I'd need to complete the seller's affidavit, affidavit of value, etc.). If you don't know what the latter documents are, don't ask me because I'm not going to stumble into giving legal advice - but any realtor would know. The seller's affidavit is not to be taken lightly, because misrepresentations or omissions can and probably will come back to haunt you in a big way.


Somewhat humorous: The one and only time I used a lawyer in connection with a house transaction was in Connecticut, where lawyers (at least at that time) perform many of the functions that are performed in Arizona by a title company. The dolt completely missed a major recorded easement through a portion of the property, which I discovered three years later on the eve of selling the home. Fortunately the mistake was so obvious my own title company handed me $20K without batting an eye.

[teddyearp]

If it is a cash sale, it is easy peasy through just the title company and the few forms that they could/would provide. If a note has to be handled within the transfer/escrow, get help.