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Step 2: Fill out your disclosure forms
Sellers in California are required to complete a number of disclosure forms. It’s not a bad idea to start working on them early in the sale process or even prior to listing, so that you know they are taken care of.
Transfer Disclosure Statement
The main form to know is the Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS), which is considered to be one of the most important and well-known seller disclosures. Similar to other state disclosure forms, the TDS documents anything that would be relevant for buyers to be aware of regarding the known condition of the property.
Sellers are required to provide the TDS even when selling without a real estate agent. It’s expected that this form be delivered “as soon as practicable, before transfer of title.”
The TDS walks sellers through checking off which features the property does or does not have — such as a trash compactor and central heating. It also prompts sellers to share whether they are aware of a number of possible issues with the property or important details to know about it. This includes whether the seller knows of any asbestos, additions made without permits, easements or encroachments, neighborhood noise problems, and more.
Seller Property Questionnaire
The Seller Property Questionnaire is a supplement to the TDS, aimed at drawing out any additional information that sellers know about the home that isn’t noted in the TDS. Here’s a non-usable example of what that form looks like. One of the more unusual required disclosures in California is whether the seller knows if an occupant of the property died in the home within the past three years.
Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement
Another disclosure form to be aware of is the natural hazard disclosure (NHD) expert’s report and accompanying NHD Statement, which discloses to a prospective buyer if the property is located within certain types of natural hazard zones. Examples include a flood hazard zone, dam failure inundation area, fire hazard severity zone, wildland fire area, an earthquake fault zone, or a seismic hazard zone.
Additional California real estate disclosures
Sellers with homes built before 1978 will also need to provide a lead-based paint disclosure booklet, as well as the Lead-Based Paint and Lead-Based Paint Hazards Disclosure form. Here’s a non-usable sample of what that form looks like. If “termite clearance” is required by the contract or the buyer’s lender, then the seller will also need to provide what’s called a pest control inspection report and certification.
If you want to familiarize yourself with the list of possible disclosures, you can review it directly from the California Association of Realtors. A real estate attorney can provide a FSBO seller with legal guidance on completing the disclosures as required by law.
“There are a lot of disclosures and requirements FSBO sellers are not aware of, and that opens them up for potential liability after the sale goes through,” says Glen Henderson, a top real estate agent and HomeLight Elite Agent in San Diego.
While most sellers will need to complete at least some of these forms, there are exemptions to be aware of.
Step 3: Declutter, clean, stage, and add curb appeal
Research shows that deep cleaning and decluttering your home prior to listing will pay off in huge rewards. You may also want to consider strategically staging your home so that buyers can envision how each space could be used.
Indoors
- Declutter floors, shelves, and surfaces throughout the home.
- Make small fixes and repairs, like a leaky faucet or broken door handle.
- Lightly update with new light fixtures, faucets, or cabinet hardware.
- Refinish hardwood floors.
- Repaint bold walls (or those that look dingy) in a neutral color.
- Reduce furniture in crowded rooms — consider a temporary storage unit.
- Stage the home with final touches like fresh-cut flowers or a basket of fresh produce.
- Use rugs to define spaces and place them strategically.
- Deep clean until the house is sparkling.
Outdoors
- Mowing the lawn and pulling weeds.
- Applying fresh mulch liberally.
- Upgrading your landscaping. Consider a new walkway, flowerbed, or shrubs.
- Add a fresh coat of exterior paint.
- Install a new garage door if yours is looking old or not working properly.
Without the independent advice of a real estate agent, FSBO sellers can invite over friends and family for an honest opinion of how the house looks: Will it pass muster with buyers, or do some spaces in the house need a bit more attention?
Step 4: Hire a professional photographer
One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make when they’re selling on their own in California is taking inadequate photos. Henderson says attractive photography is a major weak spot for FSBO sellers. “Most for sale by owners just use photos they’ve taken from their phones or personal cameras, and they don’t highlight the home very well,” he explains.
Especially in California, where buyers know they’ll be shelling out a hefty sum of cash for a home, you need to blow away shoppers looking for homes online.
For $200 to $600, a professional photographer will take steps to shoot each room from the best angle, ensure optimal interior and natural lighting, and edit for the ideal brightness and exposure.
A high-quality camera with a wide-angle lens is also essential to showcasing entire rooms rather than half or three-quarters of what’s there. For these reasons and more, professionally photographed homes can sell up to 32% faster than houses marketed without high-quality photos.
In addition to professional photography, consider these add-ons to enhance your FSBO listing:
- Drone photography. Getting an aerial view of the property can help buyers see the location and layout.
- Video walk-through. A professionally edited video walk-through will help attract out-of-town buyers who might not be able to come for an in-person showing.
- Floor plan imaging. Having a 2D or 3D floor plan image allows buyers to see spatial relationships regarding how the home is connected.
Note: When selling a house by owner in California, the seller will need to arrange for these marketing services on their own and budget for them as part of their listing expenses. When working with a full-service real estate agent, professional listing photography is almost always going to be included, and many agents offer aerial photography and 3D tours as part of their listing package.
Step 5: Set a competitive price
When selling a house by owner, you need to take care to set the right asking price for your home. Price too high and your property is likely to be on the market longer than necessary; price too low and you could significantly undersell your home.
Comps are recently sold homes comparable to yours in characteristics such as size, age, condition, and major features. The most reliable comps are going to be those within as close a radius as possible to the location where you’re selling a property. Since you won’t be able to directly access MLS data without a real estate license, you’ll need to look at major home search sites to collect your data.
Follow these steps to price your California house for the market:
Start with an online home value estimate
As a starting point, look at several online estimators for your home’s value. HomeLight’s Home Value Estimator aggregates publicly available data such as tax records and assessments, your home’s last sale price, and recent sales records for other properties in the same neighborhood.
We also add a new layer of information to our estimates using a short questionnaire. Tell us a few details about your California home, such as:
- How much work does it need?
- What type of home is it (single-family, condo, townhouse, or other)?
- Roughly when was your house built?
- Are you planning to sell soon?
Using these insights, we’ll provide you with a preliminary estimate of home value in under two minutes.
Whether you use Zillow, Chase, Realtor, or Redfin to get a home value estimate, think of any online home price tool as a first step (not your only source of truth) — and recognize that the data used may be limited.
Narrowly filter your search for comps
When you’re ready to find comps, you can choose from sites like Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, or Realtor.
You’ll want to filter your searches to an area very close to your house (within blocks if possible) and with similar characteristics. If you’re not finding any comps, expand your search map.
You’ll also want to filter results by details like:
- Listing status (look at recently sold, pending, and active)
- Number of bedrooms
- Number of bathrooms
- Square footage
- Home type (single-family, condo, etc.)
Beyond the above criteria, the more houses you find with floor plans and an age similar to yours, the better.
Use a site like Zillow to collect your data
As an example, let’s take a look at how to filter your search for comps on Zillow.
- Navigate to Zillow.
- Type in your address. If a pop-up with your home’s specs appears, close it with the “X” on the top right (or sometimes you must click “Back to search” on the top left).
- Filter by “sold.” Yellow dots should appear on the map surrounding your house, and you will see all the recently sold homes on the right.
- Now, filter by the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and check the box “Use exact match.”
- Next, filter by home type.
- Next, select the “More” box. Here, you can specify square footage, lot size, and year built.
- While still in the “More” filter box, scroll down and select to view houses that sold in the last 30 days. If you find there are not many results in your area, try expanding to 90 days. However, the further back you go, the less relevant the comps.
- If necessary, click the plus or minus buttons to widen the search area.
- Once you’ve collected data for sold houses, revise or restart the search to view active and pending listings, as well.
Get a pre-listing appraisal
A DIY comps analysis is risky if you don’t have a ton of experience making sense of property data. Alternatively, you could pay for a pre-listing appraisal. An appraiser will combine desk research with an onsite visit to your home to provide a professional and independent opinion of value. Appraisals usually cost $350 to $500 on average, and getting one doesn’t mean that a buyer’s lender won’t require a separate and independent appraisal before closing. However, it can reduce some of the stress of pricing your home for sale since appraisers are licensed and trained for this work.
Step 6: Market your home to buyers
When it comes to marketing your home, you’ll do yourself a favor by posting across multiple platforms for visibility. Combined, around 30% of FSBO sellers use online outlets, 12% set up yard signs, and 18% work to generate word of mouth through friends and neighbors.
Listing on the multiple listing service (MLS) will get your property more visibility. As a FSBO seller, you can opt to have your property listed on the MLS for a flat fee, with flat fee MLS California rates ranging from as little as $299 to $5,000+, depending on the package you select. Or, you can employ a listing service that will charge a percentage of the sales price (typically 1%–1.5%) for broader services that include MLS access.
Step 7: Field and negotiate offers using California’s forms
Hopefully, your marketing efforts lead to one or more offers on your California property. But not every offer is a good offer.
As a FSBO seller, you’ll be responsible for negotiating a contract you’re satisfied with. Price is a major factor, as are other details of the agreement, such as whether you’ll cover any of the buyer’s closing costs, when you’ll agree to move out, and which contingencies will be included in the contract.
After an initial offer is made using the California Residential Purchase Agreement, buyers and sellers use counter offer forms provided by the California Association of Realtors to continue negotiations. Either party can withdraw a counter offer verbally, though it’s better to do so in writing using what’s called the Withdrawal of Offer (C.A.R. Form WOO).
The agreement is considered binding when the final counter offer is accepted and received by the buyer or seller that made the counter offer.
Let’s review some of the top points of negotiation you may encounter:
Contingencies
Buyers may ask for the offer to be contingent on other factors, such as the sale of their existing home or their ability to obtain financing. They are also likely to include a home inspection contingency, which is a stipulation in the purchase agreement that says the buyer can inspect the home, top to bottom, and then decide whether to move forward with the purchase.
Finally, FSBO sellers should be aware of the home appraisal contingency, which buyers often add as a protection if the appraised value comes in lower than the purchase price. A contingency-free contract is rare, but in a seller’s market, buyers are more likely to waive one or more to strengthen their offer.
Closing costs
Both buyer and seller will have costs to cover at settlement. However, some of these costs — such as title fees, escrow fees, and transfer taxes — can be negotiated in many instances. A buyer may request that you pay a portion of their closing costs, but in a seller’s market, it’s more likely for sellers to either pay nothing or even ask that the buyer cover a portion of their costs as a condition of the sale.
Repairs
Following the inspection, a buyer may ask you to make necessary repairs or for monetary compensation based on an estimation of what the repair is likely to cost. You can either accommodate the request or do nothing, but the buyer can choose not to continue with the purchase if the results of the inspection aren’t satisfactory (unless they waive the home inspection contingency).
Closing date
Closing dates can also be subject to negotiation. Buyers may need longer to secure financing, or sellers may ask for additional time to move out after closing. On the flip side, one party may ask for a quicker closing date to enable them to move faster if needed.
Earnest money
The earnest money deposit is typically a small amount of money that goes into an escrow account to show that the buyer is serious. The amount is negotiable, and it always goes toward the purchase price. When buyers add contingencies to the contract, they are able to back out of the deal and get their earnest money back in certain circumstances, such as if anything unsatisfactory turns up on the inspection report. You’ll need to have a third-party account set aside to hold this earnest money until closing (such as a title company).
To reduce the risk of errors in your purchase contract, hire a real estate attorney to review the contract for you; the attorney can also advise you on necessary steps in preparation for closing. A real estate attorney usually charges between $150 to $400 per hour, but some can bill up to $500 or more.
