Sell Your Home, Condo or Real Estate
For Sale By Owner, or FSBO, is the process of selling real estate without the representation of a real estate broker or real estate agent. Homeowners may employ the services of marketing or online listing companies or market their own property but do not pay a commission and represent themselves with the help of a lawyer or Solicitor (mostly in Commonwealth) throughout the sale.
Options Including Multiple Listing Service Access
There are many options open to the FSBO seller. Many companies both online and brick and mortar offer various levels of services and price points. These include:
- Do it all yourself and pay no commission. For the solo job, thanks to the internet the creative seller can obtain all kinds of help. Some trusted sources provide step-by-step instructions to set a price, get the house ready for sale, hold an open house, open escrow and even transfer the keys.[1] You can put up a free website with one of the simple and free website companies. Get a professional looking sign with a mailbox attached to it. Make your own Flyers. List on For Sale By Owner websites. And, when you bring in a buyer who is not working with an agent, you pay no commission. The two parties can obtain contractual assistance from their own lawyers or hire one lawyer to facilitate the entire transaction.
- Get a Little Help and Pay a Little Commission. There are several flat fee listing services that for a nominal fee will put your property on the Multiple Listing Service so your property is marketed to all the real estate agents in the area and is listed on the nationwide MLS [2] Realtor.com. In exchange for this valuable market share, the FSBO Seller must agree to pay a commission to the agent that brings a buyer. The end result is that you end up paying about half of what you would have paid with a regular listing. The agent who brings in the buyer will also prepare the vast majority of the paperwork for the sale. Since the agent is representing the buyer, not you, you may want to hire an attorney to review the transaction and to make sure all required Seller disclosures are made.
- Flat-fee and hourly home selling. Alternatively, a home seller can either pay a flat-fee or hourly fee to a real estate agent. This can be a one time payment, or an ongoing hourly home selling agreement. These allow the FSBO seller to avoid commissions and still receive a-la-carte real estate agent help.
Legal Disclosures and Documents
The home sale transaction used to be simple. Now it involves a huge stack of documents and legal requirements which can make selling FSBO a challenge. For this reason, the FSBO Seller is wise to hire an attorney who specializes in FSBO transactions. While they will incur a fee for this, it will be far less than the amount saved by not paying a real estate commission. In most states, there are detailed legal requirements pertaining to sellers and disclosures they must make. In California alone, a number of disclosure forms are required to be completed when the seller is offering a home for sale to the public.[3][4] These forms that are within the bailiwick of the real estate agent is nearly impossible for a seller to come by. Real estate lawyers have all of the required forms, documents and expertise necessary.
FSBO Statistics
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the median age for FSBO sellers is 54 years. Seventy-seven percent of FSBO sales were by married couples that have a median income of $104,100. FSBO homes sold more quickly than agent-assisted homes; 67% in less than two weeks — often because the homes were transacted with someone the seller knew. Of sellers who personally knew the buyer, 71% were satisfied with the process of selling their home.[5]
Oroville
Oroville is the county seat of Butte County, California, United States. The population was 15,506 at the 2010 census, up from 13,004 in the 2000 census. Oroville is considered the gateway to Lake Oroville and Feather River recreational areas. The city of Oroville has recently annexed two locations in South Oroville, areas A and B, which have a combined population of 2,725 people. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population of the city to be 17,996 as of January 1, 2016, up 1,908 people or 11.9 percent since 2010. The Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California is headquartered here.
Oroville is located off of State Route 70, and is in close proximity to State Route 99, which connects Butte County with Interstate 5. Chico, California is located about 25 minutes north of the city, and Sacramento lies about an hour south.
Oroville is situated at the base of the foothills on the banks of the Feather River where it flows out of the Sierra Nevada onto the flat floor of the Sacramento Valley. It was established as the head of navigation on the Feather River to supply gold miners during the California Gold Rush.
The town was originally called “Ophir City”, but the name was changed to Oroville when the first post office opened in 1854 (“oro” is “gold” in Spanish).[6] The City Of Oroville was incorporated on January 3, 1906.
Gold was found at Bidwell Bar, one of the first gold mining sites in California, bringing thousands of prospectors to the Oroville area seeking riches. Now inundated by the waters of enormous Lake Oroville, which was filled in 1968, Bidwell Bar is memorialized by the Bidwell Bar Bridge, an original remnant from the area and the first suspension bridge in California (California Historical Landmark #314). In the early 20th century the Western Pacific Railroad completed construction of the all-weather Feather River Canyon route through the Sierra Nevadas giving it the nickname of “The Feather River Route”. Oroville would serve as an important stop for the famous California Zephyr during its 20-year run. In 1983, this became a part of the Union Pacific Railroad as their Feather River Canyon Subdivision. A major highway, State Route 70, roughly parallels the railroad line winding through the canyon.