FSBO – Success! Courtesy of Zillow and Craigslist

[LAAFTERHOURS]

Background – Tried to buy in 2006 in SEH, kept getting overbid. Bought in December 2009 in SEH and determined we were moving out of state in spring of 2013. We are the hook for the 8k new homeowner incentive if we sell prior to 3 years so didnt plan on selling before December of this year. That all changed when someone stuck a flyer in our mailbox back in March. We looked at the low inventory in our area and the significant spread in short sales vs regular sales. We figured if we could sell the property at or near the regular sale levels, we would be happy walking away so we listed the house on Zillow. This led to a barrage of calls and emails but only one true buyer and many realtors pitching their services. We finally listed it on Craigslist via Zillow and this produced our buyer, as well as a competing buyer. While FSBO has its risks, the other buyer didnt have a realtor either so I used input from some other forum users on required documents, googled a lot and surprisingly everything ran smoothly and took less than 30 days to close.

This was the perfect time to sell – super low inventory in our area, low rates, summer selling season and an added benefit to new school zoning on the horizon which helped make our block more attractive.

We will miss San Diego, dear wife and I are born and raised in California. I will keep frequenting this forum as I have for many years. I appreciate all the good insight over the years and hopefully will return one day down the road.

[bearishgurl]

So, LA, will you rent here until you have to transfer for your job?

btw: congrats on your successful FSBO sale!

[LAAFTERHOURS]

My job is remote based from home and my wife has new work opportunities elsewhere so we are moving within a month out of the state.

[ucodegen]

Would you care to share some of the results of the Googling etc with the rest before you ‘ride into the sun’… but only to the horizon?? Ie..What someone who might be considering doing the same thing, either from purchase or sale side, would need to know and where the resources are at?

[sdrealtor]

Ultra low inventory made that all possible. Just curious about one thing. December 2009 is widely referred to as the bottom of the down cycle in most indexes. How did your resale price compare to your purchase price?

Congrats and good luck in your next home!

[LAAFTERHOURS]

[quote=sdrealtor]Ultra low inventory made that all possible. Just curious about one thing. December 2009 is widely referred to as the bottom of the down cycle in most indexes. How did your resale price compare to your purchase price?

Congrats and good luck in your next home![/quote]

Sold for 90K above purchase price. Homes in the neighborhood peaked in that timeframe at 120k above our purchase price. Peak for this subdivision was back in 2006, for double what we purchased the home for so we bought in at the bottom (there was only one home lower in this subdivision but it was a smaller home and beat up). This neighborhood had a lot of blood in the streets 07-09.

[LAAFTERHOURS]

[quote=ucodegen]Would you care to share some of the results of the Googling etc with the rest before you ‘ride into the sun’… but only to the horizon?? Ie..What someone who might be considering doing the same thing, either from purchase or sale side, would need to know and where the resources are at?[/quote]

I took some notes from Treehugger but basically looked up required documents for california real estate transactions. Pulled a real estate purchase agreement form a legal website (rocketlawyer.com), also pulled the CAR purchase agreement document and made sure all bases were covered in the purchase agreement. Seller is responsible for natural hazard reports (payonline and in advance vs through escrow), wood destroying pest inspection (used antimite because they are free), Hoa transfer fees (if you have one) and I think thats it. Its up to you to determine what to pay in terms of closing but you can use zillow’s closing calculator to look at different ecrow companies to determine the costs associated with closing. Escrow really handles everything which helps.

[sdrealtor]

Thanks for the additional information and that’s a nice gain! I’d call that significant appreciation in a few years. Just curious, where did you get all the mandatory disclosure forms you are legally required to provide?

[LAAFTERHOURS]

[quote=sdrealtor]Thanks for the additional information and that’s a nice gain! I’d call that significant appreciation in a few years. Just curious, where did you get all the mandatory disclosure forms you are legally required to provide?[/quote]

Welcome and thanks! We are 2 for 2 in buying low selling high (bought in 04 in DC and sold in March 06 right before it tanked). It probably helps that we have bought homes that needed updating and that my wife has a past history of interior design (Tip – staging the home helps).

I pulled all the disclosures down off the web (it took a while to locate all of them). I used our previous sale documentation to give me an idea of what was needed as well as read up on what was recommended.

[sdrealtor]

Definitely must have helped to have purchased home in CA recently and been able to refer to what you got on it. There are a few new laws (gotta keep the lawyers employed) but nothing dramatic I can think. Nice job and congrats again!

So where are you heading if you care to share. If not that’s fine.

[LAAFTERHOURS]

Thanks SDR. Off to another Firestorm state – Denver CO.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=LAAFTERHOURS]Thanks SDR. Off to another Firestorm state – Denver CO.[/quote]

Good choice, LA! I am very familiar with Denver, CO. I know some parts of it like the back of my hand. Here are some past threads I contributed to re: Denver.

http://www.piggington.com/the_new_style_of_single_family_house_what039s_your_thought

http://www.piggington.com/investment_propertycoastal_vs_escondido?page=1

http://www.piggington.com/another_san_diegan_moving_to_denver_me

If you have any questions, please feel free pm me.

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