subject: Selling A Home Quick Can Be Easy With These Simple Tips [print this page] I once knew a couple who wanted to sell a home fast. They put up a "For Sale By Owner" sign and they had a garage sale pretty much every day all summer in their front driveway. They figured that they would get a lot of traffic stopping by to see the garage sale treasures in their yard, and maybe someone would be interested in buying the house as well.
Their plan was working pretty well. One day they had people look through their home who really liked it and wanted to buy it. That was the day they realized they needed some legal forms to fill out with all the details. They got online and found a Sales Agreement and printed it out, one copy for their buyers and one for themselves. They filled it in by hand, making certain that both copies were exactly the same, and both the husband and wife of each couple signed the forms on the appropriate line.
So far, so good. But that was when their problems began. Our happy sellers set about to find another home in the town where they needed to relocate. They made an offer on a new home, subject to the sale of their existing home. In other words, they managed to sell a home fast, so they thought it would be good to go ahead and buy another home fast as well. That was their big mistake. When you sell a home fast, you still have to wait for the sale transaction to close.
To make a long, sad story a little shorter, although I cannot make it less sad, their buyers disappeared. I mean, they didn't answer phone calls and they didn't come by to talk, nothing. They literally disappeared and left the sellers high and dry. The sellers had collected $1000 earnest money and legally, that was not their own money. Legally, it didn't belong to them when the buyers disappeared, it still belonged to the buyers who might, at some time, reappear. So the sellers had to talk to a lawyer about what to do with the $1000 earnest money they were holding for the missing buyers.
But that was not their worst problem. Much more pressing was the fact that they couldn't purchase their new home in another city because their existing home wasn't sold. They were stuck, and they were not happy. However, about that time they gave me a call and I wrote another contract to purchase their home. We had to wait until the previous Sales Agreement had expired, and then we could legally close our transaction. It was a happy ending. They were able to sell a house fast, and to get their new house, too. And I got a good investment that worked for me.
Honestly, they usually decide to list their home with a real estate agent. One thing I often suggest, if I think the homeowners are equipped with adequate time and interest, is to sell their home themselves. Some people are set up with the schedule to market and show their home, and other people are working multiple jobs and really don't have the time. I wouldn't advise a person who is too busy to do a good job for himself or herself to undertake the job at all. If your goal is to sell a home fast, you don't want to take on the job yourself unless you have the time and inclination to do the job the way it should be done.
Since a lot of people are too busy for yet another job these days, I usually suggest that they list their home with a real estate agent. But there is one unique piece of advice that I give homeowners. I have never heard a real estate agent provide sellers this particular information, so I make a point to share it myself. Here's the secret - there is more than one type of listing agreement you can sign with a real estate agent. It's true, but it's not common knowledge, and in fact, most agents will not even know what you are talking about when you ask them for a different form of legal agreement. You will either have to get a form from your own lawyer, or ask the brokerage firm if they have one of these forms available to you.
The form I'm referring to is called an Exclusive Agency Listing Agreement. This form is quite different from the standard listing form , which is called an Exclusive Right-To-Sell. The basic difference is the most important right that you, as the seller, will retain and not give over to a listing agent - you retain the right to sell your home yourself without obligation to pay a real estate commission.
Let me repeat , you retain the right to sell your home yourself. You have given your listing agent the right to market and sell your home, but you can sell it yourself as well. By signing an Exclusive Agency Listing Agreement you have the best of both worlds; your home is listed on the multiple listing service, but you can proceed to market your home yourself as well when you want to sell a home fast.
