For Sale By Owner Toolbox

Hoffman Realty is "For Sale By Owner" Friendly

The page contains information to assist homeowners who are selling their home "For Sale Buy Owner". We provide this information as a courtesy to homeowner's who are selling their own homes so we can make you aware of our brokerage services for home sellers.

1. Brokerage Services for Home Sellers. Statistics show that about 80% of owners who offer their homes for-sale-by-owner eventually list their home with a REALTOR® or change their plans. If you consider listing with a REALTOR® we hope that you will consider our services. For details about our home seller's services, select the link below:

 Click Here for Brokerage Services for Home Sellers

2. Real Estate Contracts. The following link takes you to pages where you can view and print the important business forms associated with the sale and purchase of real estate in Florida.

Click Here for Real Estate Contracts and Addendum

To view and print these documents you need Adobe® Acrobat® Reader'. If you don't have this "plug-in", you can download and install it for free by selecting the following link.  Click Here to Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader'.

3. Yard Sign. Place a yard sign at your property. This lets passers-by and your neighbors know that your property is for sale. It also helps prospective buyers locate your home when they have an appointment to view your home.

Be sure to have a telephone number on your sign so you can be contacted for more information. Make sure this number has voice mail if you won't be available to answer all calls.

4. Print Advertising. Unless your home is located in a very high traffic area, where many people will see your yard sign, you will need to use print advertising to market your home. The most cost effective way for a "For Sale Buy Owner" to market their home is through advertising in the local newspaper. Sundays are the best time to advertise, with Saturday the second best time. Advertising during the week is usually a waste of money since most prospective buyers look for homes at the weekend. Our advice, if you have a limited budget, is to just advertise on Sunday.

Make sure you put the price of your home in your advertisement. If you want to antagonize a buyer, make them call you for the price off a newspaper advertisement. Also,  you don't want to waste your time responding to prospective buyer's who have no interest once they know the price.

5. Open Houses. Open houses are a good way to allow many prospective buyers to view you home. Sundays are the best time to hold your home open, with Saturday the second best time. Our advice, if time is important to you, hold open houses on Sunday afternoon.

Advertise in the local paper with your address and key property details. Put out signage so that your home will be easy to find for people unfamiliar with your neighborhood.

Have a sign-in sheet for visitors with their name and contact details. You will need this information so that you can call them later to "follow-up". 

Security is important with strangers in your home, so take sensible precautions. If there are several people in your home at once you will not be able to watch them all. Therefore, don't leave small, expensive items (e.g. jewelry) where they can easily be taken.

6. What is a "FIZZ-BOW"? This is the name the real estate industry uses to refer to "For Sale Buy Owners" or FSBOs (pronounced fizz-bow).

7. Property Disclosure. The Laws requires that sellers disclose all facts materially affecting the value or desirability of the property which are known or accessible only to the owner.

Items sellers often disclose include: homeowners association dues; whether or not work done on the house meets local building codes and permits requirements; the presence of any neighborhood nuisances or noises which a prospective buyer might not notice, such as a dog that barks every night or poor TV reception; any death within three years on the property; any restrictions on the use of the property, such as zoning ordinances or association rules; any settling, soil movement or flooding problems on the property or adjacent properties; and the presence of dangerous substances or building materials such as abandoned storage tanks, lead-based paint or asbestos on the property.

We have found that the best way to disclose these and other "latent defects" is to us a standard Seller's Disclosure Form. The Florida Association of Realtors has a good one, which we use in our business. We will be happy to e-mail you a copy.