SELLING REAL ESTATE WITH SALEBYOWNERLAW.COM

Are you selling your Chicago area home by owner? We want to help.   When you call, ask about our $299 closing fee!

When you don’t have a real estate agent, you need a law firm with expertise in evaluating offers, negotiating with buyers, and drafting real estate contracts. We perform all of these services for a low flat fee.

Selling by owner means you will replace the duties of a real estate agent. In order to be successful, preparation is essential, and you’ll need help. We can be your resource and your guide during the for sale by owner process.

Why work with our firm?

• OVER 47 5-STAR Ratings on Google.  Click HERE for more.
• OVER 10 5-STAR Ratings on Avvo.com.  Click HERE for more.
• We can close your FSBO transaction anywhere in the Chicago area.
• Get us involved early, before you list, so we can review your listing agreement and go over strategy for getting the highest possible offer and a fast closing.
• Office appointments available at 3 convenient locations to discuss your for sale by owner (FSBO) listing and go over the closing process.
• Over 50 years combined experience handling real estate transactions among our partners.
• A Client Focused Approach emphasizing service guarantees, such as same day callbacks and emails.
• We strongly believe that there is no such thing as a bad question when it comes to real estate. 

FOR SALE BY OWNER IS:

Preparing the home for sale, choosing a list price, and marketing the home. You can do it yourself, using resources that are publicly available to everyone.

Once you have listed the home, you will entertain offers evaluate offers, and accept an offer. We will guide you for these steps.

After you accept an offer, we will handle the closing process.

OUR SIX STEPS TO SELLING A HOME BY OWNER

STEP 1

PREPARE THE PROPERTY FOR LISTING

Utilize the many online resources that will tell you how to prepare your property for sale. Clean the property. De-clutter as much as possible. Repaint walls in neutral colors. Put away your personal items, such as family photos, toys, and shoes. Add some indoor house plants and flowers. If necessary, do some basic outdoor landscaping. If the property is vacant, consider hiring a staging company to make it easier for buyers to visualize the living space with furniture. Have a professional real estate photographer take at least 15 photos for your listing and do a virtual tour (cost $150-$200). Some photographers can do virtual staging and videos. Never use smartphone photos! Spending a hundred dollars on photos can make all the difference in the world to prospective buyers.

STEP 2

CHOOSE A LIST PRICE AND DETERMINE YOUR EQUITY

Setting the correct list price is, by far, the most important decision you will make in the process of selling your property. If the price is too high, your listing will sit on the market too long, and a stigma may attach. Too low and you’ll lose money.

Do your research. Use online resources such as Zillow.com and eappraisal.com for an estimate of value and recent comparable sales. Talk your neighbors. Consult with a real estate agent. Obtain an appraisal. Some of the Flat fee MLS listing services will provide advice on an appropriate list price.

How quickly do you need to sell your property? If you can afford to wait, you can price it higher and see how the market responds in the first few weeks. If you need to sell it right away, you’re going to need to choose a lower price.

Once you have a list price, the next question is – can you make money from this sale and how much? To answer this question, you need to calculate your equity. A general rule of thumb is to take the list price and subtract 6% for closing costs. Then subtract the balance of any mortgages, liens, unpaid taxes, and the like. This will give you a rough idea of your equity. For a more accurate value, contact us. We’ll be happy to figure it out for you.

STEP 3

LIST THE PROPERTY

Because it is so important for your listing to be viewed by as many people as possible (including as many agents as possible), we recommend using a flat fee listing service such as forsalebyowner.com or FSBO.com. These services will allow your listing to be placed on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). The MLS is the database real estate agents use to provide information to one another about properties on the market. It is really important that your listing be seen on the MLS.

We suggest using the flat fee MLS package on FSBO.com ($399) or Forsalebyowner.com ($599 plus .25% of sales price). Along with putting your listing on the MLS and many other websites, these services will display a video of your property, provide you with yard signs, and more. In addition to using a flat fee listing service, upload your listing to craigslist to reach more potential buyers.

In order to have your listing on the MLS, you do need to agree to pay a commission to the buyer’s agent. Offer at least 2.5%, as this is the average commission buyer agents will receive in the Chicago area. Without the cooperative commission, buyer agents will not show your property and you will have a much more difficult time finding a buyer. Now, just because you are offering the commission does not mean that you have to pay one if a buyer comes to your property without an agent.

Other ways to market your property include yard signs and posting flyers in your community. Everything helps.

STEP 4

ENTERTAIN OFFERS AND NEGOTIATE

Always insist that buyers submit their offers in writing and that they include a pre-approval letter from a lender (or proof of funds if the offer is in cash). The proper way for the buyer to make an offer is to fill out and sign a real estate contract. You can find the form for the standard contract here: Multi-board Residential Real Estate Contract 6.0. If you desire to counteroffer, without signing, you can strike the offer price, write in your price, and send the contract back to the buyer. This particular contract form features a 5-day attorney review period, so once you have an agreement on price, we can make changes to the contract as necessary.

STEP 5

CHOOSE BETWEEN MULTIPLE OFFERS

If you are lucky enough to have multiple offers on your property that are close in price, how do you choose one to accept? This is all about eliminating as much risk as possible. Here are some factors to consider:

A) Cash. A cash offer is always preferred, provided it is accompanied by proof of funds. Proof of funds can be anything that shows you that the buyer has the cash available (e.g. a bank statement). With a cash offer, you eliminate the risk of a deal falling through due to financing.

B) Down payment. Between offers dependent on financing, consider the size of the down payment. The minimum to shoot for is 20%. An offer with at least 20% down has the best chance of success.

C) Different types of financing – Conventional, FHA, VA, etc. Conventional would normally have the lowest chance of denial, but this isn’t always the case. FHA offers are normally the least desirable because an FHA buyer is typically coming to the table with only 3.5% down, and has a lower credit score.

STEP 6

COMPLETE DISCLOSURES, SIGN THE CONTRACT, AND FORWARD DOCUMENTS TO US

Once you have an acceptable offer, there are some documents called disclosures that you need to provide to your buyer. All of the disclosures are here:

After you have completed the disclosures, sign the real estate contract and send the whole packet to the buyer.

Now, your deal is pending and you should send all documents to us for attorney review. Your work is done and we will take over from here.

OUR FIRM

The three partners of our real estate law firm, Kathleen O’Keefe-Rivera, Doug Rivera, and Peter Berk, have over 60 years of combined experience handling real estate transactions in the Chicago area. We also have a tremendous associate attorney, Helena Milman.

We are a client focused firm, which means our clients have the highest priority. When we handle a closing, we will treat it the same as if we were selling our own property. We believe in detailed consultations and we encourage our clients to ask questions throughout the closing process.

Our team

LOCATIONS

O’Keefe, Rivera & Berk is a Chicago area law firm serving real estate clients in for sale by owner transactions throughout Chicago and suburbs.  Our attorneys can close sales anywhere, including in the Counties of Cook, Dupage, Kane, Lake, Will, Grundy, Kendall, and McHenry. We handle for sale by owner closings in Chicago, Oak Lawn, Barrington, Arlington Heights, Berwyn, Bolingbrook, Burbank, Bridgeview, Cicero, Des Plaines, Deerfield, Evanston, Glenview, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Mount Prospect, Wheaton, Waukegan, Wilmette, Tinley Park, Skokie, Schaumburg, Palatine, Wheeling, Orland Park, Oak Park, Elgin, Naperville, Joliet, and more.

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