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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FSBO Sellers: The Buyer’s Attorney Is Not There to Protect You
When selling a home privately, one of the most common mistakes a seller can make is assuming that they are protected because “there is already an attorney involved.” That sounds reassuring. It should not be. If the attorney represents the buyer, then the attorney’s job is to protect the buyer. Not the seller. This does not mean the buyer’s attorney is doing anything wrong. Quite the opposite. A good buyer’s attorney should be looking out for the buyer’s interests. That is the purpose of representation. But sellers, especially FSBO sellers, need to understand the difference between an attorney being involved in the transaction and an attorney representing them. Those are…
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FSBO Sellers: Who Wrote the Contract Matters
Selling your home without a realtor can feel empowering. You find the buyer. You agree on a price. Everyone seems ready to move forward. Then someone sends over a contract. That is the moment many FSBO sellers move too quickly. In a private sale, the buyer, the buyer’s agent, or the buyer’s attorney may provide the purchase contract. That does not automatically mean the contract is unfair. But it does mean the seller should stop and ask a basic question: Does this contract protect me, or does it mostly protect the buyer? The contract is not just paperwork. It is the rulebook for the transaction. The Purchase Price Is Only…
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FSBO Sellers: The Hard Part Starts After You Find the Buyer
Many homeowners who sell by owner focus on one major goal: finding a buyer. That is understandable. Without a listing agent, the seller may be handling pricing, photos, showings, buyer questions, and negotiations on their own. Getting someone interested in the property can feel like the biggest hurdle. But in many real estate transactions, the hard part starts after the buyer says yes. Finding a buyer is important. Getting the transaction to closing is a different challenge. A Buyer Is Only the Beginning Once a seller has an interested buyer, the transaction moves into a more detailed phase. The parties need a written contract. The contract may go through attorney…
