FSBO Purchase Agreement and Contingency Questions

10 years ago

We've had our house listed FSBO for 3 weeks and I have an offer for $5k under my asking price. Yay! We agreed to get together to hash out the purchase agreement and then will take it to an attorney to review. I told her I'd print out an agreement and bring it with me and now I can't quite figure out which one to use. Some of them I'm finding online already have title companies filled in. Also, we have a few contingencies and the forms I found I didn't see a place to list those. (She wants the deal contingent upon the house appraising at the selling price. I need a 14 day contingency to make sure we get under contract on the house we to buy.) Can someone point me in the right direction?

Also I know I need a contingency to get under contract on my new house, but what if I get under contract and the inspection at my new house is terrible and I want to back out? Or what if my financing falls through? Am I out on the street? I have a buyers agent for the house I want to buy and she is really terrific but I don't want to call her for advice because I feel badly I didn't use her to sell our house. She understands because if I didn't do FSBO I wouldn't have enough of a down payment to buy the new house.

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Comments (5)

kirkhall
10 years ago
Your lawyer can provide you with all of this information. They will be well worth the price and less than a REA.
threepinktrees
10 years ago
I agree you should go the lawyer route. At least call and find out the fees. I was quoted around $1200 and that included writing up a custom contract, reviewing everything, etc.

I also would not hesitate to ask your buyer's agent for your new home for advice. She wants your deal to go through so she can get her comission on your new house. She may even be willing to charge you a small fee just to help with the paperwork.
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lyfia
10 years ago
Look for your states realtor governing body. At least here in Texas the real estate commission has a bunch of forms you can start with.

Then I would contact a lawyer to review before signing anything.
weedyacres
10 years ago
A real estate lawyer should have a generic contract you can use. Or just write up the terms of the deal in bullet points (memo of understanding) and give it to a lawyer to add the legalese. You won't save a ton of money by "writing" the contract yourself, because your lawyer will work from a boilerplate, not invent it from scratch.

When we did a FSBO sale it cost all of $300 for the lawyer.
louislinus
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the tips! Met with the buyer this morning and hashed it all out. Heading to the lawyer Sunday.