FLORIDA REALTY LISTINGS GETTING READY TO SELL YOUR PROPERTY

First thing you should do of course is to clean up your property and your home. Paint if needed, fix those things which are broken or in need of repair, trim hedges, mow the grass, and generally try to make your property as appealing as possible to potential buyers. Do all this before you take photos, or call us to take photos for you of your property.

Paperwork you WILL NEED before showing your property

• You will need to have the full Legal Description of your property on hand. You can get this from your counties official website, or go to your county court house and have the property appraisers office make you up a copy or two you can take with you. They also DO have the forms you need to sell your property yourself at Office Max (and maybe Staples too)
• You will need to know how much your property is worth according to a late date Appraisal of your property.  You can only get this at your county Appraisers office. A buyer can only get a loan up to the amount the county says your property is worth !!!
• You will need a Legal Binder Agreement form.  You can obtain this from most any Office Max (and maybe Staples too) The binder agreement sets the price and allows you to accept a Binder payment on that price.
  

  ---

Getting Ready to CLOSE the sale

Okay, you have already accepted a binder from a potential buyer. Florida LAW says you as a Buyer or a Seller are NOT required to retain Legal counsel to buy or sell a Florida realty property.. Florida Law DOES state you as a Seller are required to state a Full Disclosure of any flaws, defects, or other problems in regard to a property YOU are selling.

This full disclosure MAY include any Flooding issues, Wet Land issues or studies conducted of your property by the EPA, Zoning restrictions, Drainage Problems, and other issues which the Home Buyer should be made fully aware of !

Many types of Home Loans will actually REQUIRE a Full home inspection before they would lend the buyer any money for the purchase which normally includes Roof, Termite and Pests, Water and Septic, HVAC, Water Heater, Plumbing, they will flush the toilets and check any included appliances to see that they are working, and MORE !!!

And of course the Lending institution WILL ALWAYS require a late date property appraisel by a county certified appraiser.

IF you have a Well for your water supply, the inspection MAY very well REQUIRE a home water treatment system BEFORE approving a loan to the buyer, and if you have a Septic Tank, they will also generally require having it inspected and pumped OUT 
(I do NOT suggest you use Bernies Septic for this service)..

Here are some of the things which will likely be required before closing which the buyer normally would have to shell out some bucks to get done. The below listed items are just an example based on a $150k home in St Johns County being sold in middle of the year.

This can be a substantial hurdle for some buyers to overcome.

Just Think about it... You are saving (on average) of  $10,000 by selling your property yourself. With this in mind, you can offer your buyer special incentives such as paying some or all of the above listed costs the buyer would usually pay.

It is of course totally up to you, but if you want to SELL your property ASAP, offering the buyer extra incentives goes a long way to closing the sale ASAP :)

This is common sense folks and we ALL LOOK for bargains everyday (especially you girls out there)... YOUR potential buyer is ALREADY at your property and you are showing it to them. They are there for a reason - They WANT to buy a home or property. They WILL also be looking around your area at OTHER properties likely on the same day.

While you have their attention, you may as well make YOUR BEST OFFER to them right then and there via Special Buying Incentives such as offering to pay Closing costs, etc. It is of course totally up to you. Just remember that once they LEAVE your property without having signed a binder and given you MONEY as a retainer on that binder, it is unlikely they will return UNLESS you have given them something serious to consider !
--