Selling your home without a realtor poses many risks. Many home sellers will hire a realtor just to sort through all the legal parameters and ensure that they are not being swindled financially. However, realtor commissions do add up, and for those who know how to navigate the home-selling process, cutting out the middleman can be a huge financial advantage. If you’re planning on doing a military for sale by owner, the process works a little differently.

FISBO Advantages and Disadvantages

Obviously, the biggest advantage of selling your home by yourself is not having to pay an agent. If done well, this could save you thousands of dollars. Another advantage is that you can control the home selling and buying transaction completely by yourself. This gives you a lot of independence. You also get to work on your own time table without going through your agent.

These advantages sound great, but there are several disadvantages to selling by yourself that might convince you to drop the idea. First, it is very time consuming. Especially if you’re working a full-time job, you may not be able to put in enough time to sell your home quickly. Second, you may not have any access to the MLS, which will significantly reduce traffic. The third big disadvantage is that many buyers are skeptical of homes sold by owners. Many wonder if you’re trying to hide something about the house--even if you’re not. Even so, the advantages could outweigh the disadvantages.

FISBO Advertising

One of the biggest struggles and most important steps in selling your home is advertising to the right people. The perfect buyers are on the lookout for your home, but if you aren’t advertising well, they’ll never bite. The two most common advertising methods are through online search sites and physical signs. But remember that these aren’t the only resources available to you.

A few search sites will allow sellers to post to their site without an agent; you simply have to find the right ones. When posting to one of these sites, be sure to include flattering pictures of your home. If possible, hire a professional photographer. When posting signs in your yard or around town, know where you are allowed to post and when. Your HOA, specifically, may have rules about posting signs.

Another great resource for spreading the word about selling your house is social media. You can usually share your online listing to Facebook and other social media sites. If a few weeks have passed without any bites on your home, feel free to post again.

How Much Is Your House Really Worth?

Since you are doing a military for sale by owner, getting the value of your house from a real-estate agent is out of the question. But you need to know the value of your house in order to ask for a reasonable price. One option is hiring an appraiser. For a price, the appraiser will tell you the value of your home as well as point out any problematic home conditions that could cost you money at the time of closing on the deal. Another option is asking a title company to be your escrow and determine through local competing prices how much your house will go for.

FISBO Legal Documentation

Real-estate agents use specific purchase agreement forms that are created by their MLS attorney. You cannot obtain these documents from them, nor are they permitted to give them to you. If you do somehow get your hands on these documents from a real-estate agent, do not use them as doing so could get you into legal trouble. Instead, you should obtain your state-specific documents through a different party. Many online military for sale by owner listing services will make these forms available to you through their site.

It is vital to familiarize yourself with the legal parameters surrounding selling your house by yourself. Be sure you are compliant in every respect since ignorance will not protect you from a legal battle. You might want to consider hiring an attorney to handle the contracts.

When selling or renting, you’ll want to ensure that whoever will be living in your house is trustworthy and able to fulfill their financial obligations. You also wouldn’t want to give your old house over to someone who will trash it or prove to be a problem to your old neighbors (who you may have grown to be friends with over the years). Whatever the reason, you can do a broad screening of a potential tenant through sites like SmartMove. This particular site will perform credit and criminal checks to protect you from selling to someone financial unreliable, or in a worst-case scenario, to someone who could do you personal harm.

It is also wise to ask for references, especially on a rental application. Speaking to people who know the potential tenant well could give you better insight into who you are selling or renting to.

Loans for Military Home Buyers

If you are doing a military for sale by owner, know that your buyer may want to buy your house with a VA mortgage loan. This might mean your house undergoes closer scrutiny. And of course, if you are a current or former member of the military hoping to buy your next home with a VA loan, we at Low VA Rates can give you a low VA interest rate and the easiest processing. Contact us now to get started.