For Sale by Owner Contracts

Real Estate Contracts

Quick access to for sale by owner contracts, please head on over to: Contract Forms.

If however, you want to learn more about the different forms to use, plus a MUST clause to write in your for sale by owner contracts, please read on.

On this page, I will inform you of:

• A few forms that you probably will need.
• Where to obtain them.
• A MUST clause that you should always include on your real estate contracts.
• The Importance of legal council.

On other pages, we'll look at:

• How to write for sale by owner clauses
• Conditional Offers
• Counter-Offers
• Time Frames
• Chattels and Fixtures
• For Sale by Owner Deposit
• Plus, other considerations of the for sale by owner contracts.

A Few For Sale by Owner Forms You May Need

A Brief Description of Each

Here are a few forms you may need.

Please be aware that this paperwork may have different names, depending on where you reside.

• Purchase and Sale Agreement forms.

- Specifies the Agreement of Terms and Conditions between a buyer and a seller.

- Become legal binding contracts, subject to all conditions being met by the seller and buyer involved and are signed and witnessed by all parties involved in the transaction.

• Schedule "A", "B" etc

- An addition to the Purchase and Sales Agreement, to add extra clauses, which are not in the original P&S Agreement.

This form will have the names of the parties involved, date and time, a place to sign or initial and a big blank area to write those additional clauses.

• Counter-offer forms.

- Separate forms that becomes an addendum to the purchase and sale contracts with the changes on the Counter Offer superceding the original terms and conditions, once signed and witnessed by all parties to the agreement.

• Conditional Offer forms.

- The most common use for a conditional offer form that I am familiar with, is the successful unconditional selling of the buyer's property.

- Once the sale is achieved, the seller or the seller's lawyer is informed and the condition is lifted. The for sale by owner contracts become firm and binding at that point, unless other conditions still have to be met.

• Disclosure Statements.

- These forms are going to be very different again depending where you live. They are statements that are made by the seller concerning the property being purchased.

- These can vary from the assurance that there has never been UFFI (Urea-Formaldehyde Foam Insulation) used in the property, to the fact there has never been water in the basement.

- The disclosures in certain for sale by owner contracts could also include information about insects infestation, or even if there had been a violent death in the house.

Where do You Acquire these Forms?

The good news? Easy! Here are some sources to obtain the proper paperwork.

Download from a web-site for a small fee

• There are sites you can download forms either individually, or as a package, for a small fee.
• The advantage of these documents, is you can order specific for sale by owner contracts for your particular area.
• You can print them off immediately so that you don't have to wait. This is especially important, if you have a buyer ready to purchase now!

If you head on over to Real Estate Contract Forms, you can find full details, including the wheres and whys.

A Few Other Possible Sources

• A real estate lawyer.

- Go to a lawyer's office that handles residential real estate transactions and ask for the blank contracts.

- The lawyer's office will probably charge you for these for sale by owner forms.

• A local real estate agent.

- Go to a particular agent that you might consider doing business with, when you buy your next home and ask for the forms.

- In many cases, they will supply you copies for free.

• A mortgage broker.

- If you have Mortgage Brokers in your area, approach them for the blank for sale by owner contracts.

- The pay-off for them, would be you guide the buyer of your house to the mortgage broker and/or you use that mortgage broker to secure your next mortgage.

- A Mortgage Broker may not have these forms available, but it might be worth a shot.

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- Note: My wife and I have used mortgage brokers for many years and highly recommend their service. If you aren't familiar with their practice, they will shop mortgage rates and terms for you at no costs.

- We always received lower rates than if we dealt directly with the mortgage lenders ourselves.

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• Free down-loadable forms on the web.

- This one is a bit tricky. First of all, all things aren't free as stated, so you may have to really dig for truly free.

- I found that although there may be "free" forms, in most if not all cases, they didn't include real estate forms.

- The second problem is you may be able to find free "generic" blank contracts. This I feel may not be worth the risk to save a fee dollars.

• Your local stationary store

- I don't recommend this option due to my own personal experience. When I examined the blank contracts from this source, I found them to be either out of date, not suitable for the jurisdiction I was in, or both.

The Absolute Must Clause

Although I hesitate posting many clauses on this site, I believe this one is far to important, not to include on your for sale by owner contracts.

Remember, I do not make any claim or representation if you use this clause and you do so at your own discretion and risk. OK?

This clause I had in ALL For Sale by Owner Contracts that I supplied to the sellers when I had my for sale by owner company.

May I suggest if you use this clause, that you also include one for the buyer as well. You can use the clause to your advantage.

Subject to Lawyer Approval

Here is the clause that I used in my for sale by owner contracts in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

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This Contract is subject to the approval as to form and content by the seller's lawyer upon acceptance of this contract by both the seller and the buyer. If said approval is not given by the seller's lawyer on or before the following condition date and time, the seller shall notify the buyer or the buyer's lawyer in writing and may declare this contract null and void and the buyer's deposit shall be returned in full, without interest or penalty. The condition date is the ____ day of the ____ month in the year of ________ at or before ________ a.m./p.m.

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* This clause should protect you, if you or the buyer, makes a major blunder on the Agreement of Sale. To include this same protection for the buyer, use the following clause below.

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This Contract is subject to the approval as to form and content by the buyer's lawyer upon acceptance of this contract by both the seller and the buyer. If said approval is not given by the buyer's lawyer on or before the following condition date and time, the buyer shall notify the seller or the seller's lawyer in writing and may declare this contract null and void and the buyer's deposit shall be returned in full, without interest or penalty. The condition date is the ____ day of the ____ month in the year of ________ at or before ________ a.m./p.m.

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You may have a buyer that won't sign any Agreement to Purchase and Sale until they see their lawyer.

If a buyer wants to talk to a lawyer before signing a contract, here is some information on how you can handle that situation. I Want to Talk to My Lawyer First

Legal Council

Unless you are a lawyer familiar with all aspects of real estate contract law, always obtain the services of a real estate lawyer.

The first thing you and your buyer should do, once you have all your signed paperwork in hand, is have your lawyers review them.

I do not recommend you use the family, business, criminal, divorce, corporate or any other type of lawyer unless, a great deal of their business is practicing residential real estate transactions.

Some lawyers specialize in residential real estate contracts. Some law offices have lawyers on staff that specialize in particular fields. If residential real estate is one of them, great.

A Few Final Words Before We Move On

There is very few reasons why you should not be able to successfully sell your house for sale by owner.

Just because you are not familiar with for sale by owner contracts or real estate contracts in general, should not be a deterrent.

Some real estate agents will tell you all kinds of horror stories, to scare you into listing with them.

Most people should not require the use of a real estate agent to sell their residential property, if they follow the guidelines on this web-site.

This has been proven over and over, when I had my for sale by owner company known as, Canadian Homes by Private Sale.

The success rate was head to head with the real estate agents, with an average list to sale ratio of 95%! Proof!

On this web-site, there is the same information - PLUS PLUS PLUS - I shared with the for sale by owners in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

The reason you receive even more information is; I'm not there personally to guide you.

For More Information about Offers and Clauses

How to Write Clauses

All About Time Frames

Conditional Offers or the SPP

Counter-Offers

Earnest Money or Good Faith Deposit

Chattels and Fixtures


Some Other Considerations

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