Most Chicago-area homeowners selling their property without a real estate agent should be prepared to provide an Illinois Residential Real Property Disclosure Report, the required Illinois radon disclosure and information, and, for most homes built before 1978, federal lead-based paint disclosures. Depending on the property and transaction, additional disclosures or documents may also be required. Selling your home without a Realtor does not mean selling it without paperwork. In fact, one of the potential problems with a For Sale By Owner transaction is that there may be no real estate agent involved to remind the seller which forms should be completed and when they should be delivered. Here are three…
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Who Holds Earnest Money in a Chicago-Area FSBO Home Sale?
If you are selling your property without a real estate agent, my Free Chicagoland FSBO Starter Kit includes practical information designed to help sellers understand the steps involved in a private home sale. When you sell your home without a real estate agent, the buyer’s earnest money should usually be placed with an agreed escrow holder rather than simply given to the seller. In a Chicago-area FSBO transaction, the escrow holder might be a title company, an attorney, the buyer’s brokerage, or another party identified in the purchase contract. This is one of those details that many FSBO sellers do not think about until they already have a buyer. A…
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Free Chicago FSBO Seller Starter Kit: What to Prepare Before Selling Without an Agent
Chicago-area homeowners selling without a real estate agent can now download the free LoftusLaw Chicago FSBO Seller Starter Kit. The kit includes Illinois disclosure forms, a pre-contract checklist, a plain-English transaction timeline, Chicagoland transfer-tax information, and a worksheet for estimating the seller’s net proceeds. You can download the free kit here: Download the Free Chicago FSBO Seller Starter Kit Finding the Buyer Is Only the Beginning Some homeowners decide to sell without a real estate agent because they already know their buyer. The buyer may be a relative, neighbor, tenant, friend, or someone who approached the owner directly. Other sellers decide to market the property themselves to avoid paying a…
