Anyone ever sold their house "by owner"?

[Champion Jack]

in California?

[fishnfla]

1. yes, but in FL.

[murphymom]

2. We did, about 3-1/2 years ago

in the Bay Area. Our experience went fairly well but we had the buyer's agent handle the paperwork for us so there was some commission involved, but a lot less than if we had listed the property with a realtor.

[Champion Jack]

3. I guess

I'm trying to find out how to handle all the details like title transfer etc and what to watch out for...

[areschild]

4. You will have to pay a fee,

but at least it won't be as much as a realtor would cost you. Have you tried calling a Title Company and seeing how much it would cost for them to handle your paperwork and closing? When our realtors contract ran out, our realtor said he would handle the closing for $500 if we sold on our own. Fortunately, our ex daughter-in-law has a friend who works at a title company, and her friend is handling our closing. She waived her fee for us.

[haele]

5. Yes - and my advice...

Get a real estate agent to protect your interests and to handle the paperwork, even if you already have a buyer. It's easier in the long run; what you may pay in a reduced commission for the paperwork, representing you for escrow and legal liability purposes, mortgage and credit issues, keeping track of your part of the fees, appointments with inspectors is less expensive than dealing with all that stress yourself - and you won't get screwed by a buyer who might come up with a bunch of last-minute issues - such as paint, carpeting, electrical and appliance issues that will end up costing you more time and money than you expected the entire process to cost you.
I sold my house "as is" on a so-called quick sale to get out from under a crushing mortgage teetering into forclosure in San Diego County by myself two years ago for about $20K over what I owed - and it took three months for everything to inch through escrow because I didn't know everything that needed to be done and the buyer kinda knew but was looking to pay less.
It ended up costing me close to $18K after all was said and done, and the buyer certainly made out - he certainly didn't have to add any costs over his loan to get the place fixed up for sale...
A real estate agent would have protected me and probably been able to negotiate a better return even after I paid commission on the sale than what I ended up with.

Just be careful, and find out what is involved with an average house sale before you attempt to sell on your own. If your market is fairly good and you have already set your price and found a couple prospective buyers, it may actually be worth it to get an agent involved once you get a buyer. If they don't have to go out and do research finding buyers for a house - or finding a house for a buyer, and they are just acting as agents for a normal sale, their commission is usually half of what they would charge for a normal house sale or buy.

Haele

[Champion Jack]

6. Good points, however

The realitors commission would be 20k .
There woun't be any last minute stuff, I plan on selling 'As is" with buyer responsible for all closing fees.
the market here in LA is booming, and as it turns out I have a buyer.