Have only bought one house in my life and it wasn't a FSOB. Will tell you some things that we should have checked/asked about and didn't. (too young and stupid, I guess)

Make sure you know what condition the lawn is in. We bought in the winter and the yard was covered in leaves. We THOUGHT we had a level backyard - WRONG! The next spring when we started to clean up the yard we discovered that we had a definite slope to our yard. What we thought was level was about three feet of leaves!

Make sure of the age of appliances, roof and heating and air units. Sounds simple but we didn't even ask.

Check water pressure, size of water heater, etc. If there's a basement, check for signs of moisture, etc.

Good luck - hope somebody else can tell you more of the details of dealing directly with the owner.

Forgot to mention that there's a good Buying and Selling Homes on the Garden Web. There's always some good discussions going on over there.

We bought a house for sale by owner 15 years ago,and couldn't be happier with the whole transaction.
The owners were very up-front with any problems we might have encountered even down to trivial things that wouldn't have mattered.
Of course every situation is bound to be different.

We bought when you could assume the last person's loan. First in 1974 in California (should have kept that house, it was $34,500) and then in Colorado in 1985 (still have that one, rented it out.)

Yes, I have. One mistake we made was to not pay for a home inspection, which I'd never do again. Buying direct from the owner shouldn't present any problems if you do your homework, by which I mean, call in professionals to be sure you are getting what you think and want. Just because it's FSBO doesn't mean you can't simply pay a realtor a fee to look over your offer, a home inspector to check out the structure, and a lawyer to do title search and closing. I'm not a professional, but have bought and sold about 10 homes.

not bought, but in 76 we sold one.

Sorry my memory slips, don't remember much about it, besides the money we got for it.

What a rush. The most money we ever had at that time, and we still have the deposit slip. LOL

Moni

about home inspectors... some SUCK.

Ours didn't see the problems in our house at all. In fact several points I questioned were " nothing to worry about". But they were. We have a leaky roof, right where there was a painted over spot in the living room.

We found black mold under the brand spanking new caulking in one bathroom, and the wallboard in both bathrooms needed to be replaced, it was bowed from water leakage behind the fake marble panels (which were also bowed).

Trust your instincts.

Moni

Bought one and sold one that way.
Do you have a buyers agent?
Yes - get a home inspector - do your research, but realize that no home is going to be 100% perfect.
Have a lawyer review the contract.

Know that you will save a ton of money by not paying a realtor's commission ! In our area, the commission is 7% (midwest-small town). That means if a house is $100,000 with a realtor-they get $7000, a $250,000 the get $17.500! That' a lot of bargaining room for you! All a realtor does in our area is unlock the door and show you the home. They do not guarantee anything more than a homeowner. Go for it! Wish I could sell mine that way right now!

Don't mean to get off topic, BUT....killinsnakes, just to clarify one thing. The commission is split 4 ways between the seller's agent & seller's broker and the buyer's agent & the buyer's broker. An agent's cut would only be 1/4 or $4,375. And, as in all things, there are good & bad agents out there.

craftyshe, if you do go it alone, insist upon a Home Inspection! You can look for a good qualified home inspector www.ashi.org (American Society of Home Inspectors) Best of Luck to you!

Never bought one that way, but did sell one. FSBO gives the seller all the info and help they need to make the closing go smoothly, including mortgage companies, abstract companies, etc.

We did encourage the buyers (they were young) to have a home inspection--which they did (she had her father who was a contractor do it). We knocked off for a new roof--which was badly needed and didn't try to hide problems. It was an older house, built in the early 50's and quirky, but we loved it and so did they.

Didn't make much off it and you don't know how hard it was for me to sell that house. I was glad it went to people who loved it too.

The house we have now was a 'for sale by owner' deal and it was the easiest trasaction ever. Couldnt have been happier and that was 18 years ago!

When we bought our house (1981), we noticed the windows were hard to open. The seller said she would "fix" them with some wax. Turned out we moved in and she had done nothing. We couldn't open any windows. They had aluminum frames and were very pitted and corroded. We bought vinyl replacement windows very soon after. If only we had put that in the contract, we could at least have got a better price!

This is true sometimes, but not always.

"The commission is split 4 ways between the seller's agent & seller's broker and the buyer's agent & the buyer's broker. An agent's cut would only be 1/4 or $4,375."

If the buyer sees the home and goes to the listing agent to see the home, it is not spit 4 ways because 4 agents are not involved. Two at the most. And sometimes the broker/owner shows and lists the home and does get it all. 7% is still plenty high in our area split or not for no more work that is done on showing homes. Also a lot of broker/owners build spec homes in this area, which to me lessens their drive to show your home versus one they built. Obviously they would make more on their spec home. I know things are different everywhere, but that is the way it is where I live.

I bought a FSBO house. Sold it too. Best advice? Use a real estate attorney. Worth every penny!