Hi All,

I am in the following situation. I am selling my own house. I have buyers that are not qualified, but they are close and can finance them while they repair their credit. They are not represented by a Realtor. I disclosed them that I am a Realtor, but wondering, if I do not represent them, do I have any obligations? I know that most of the members are not Attorneys, so I will not accept your answers as a legal advice, just would like to have your opinion, it will be of help for me.

Thanks!

Did you disclose to them in writing or verbally? Verbally in most states is considered legal but not enforceable in a court of law. The reason is the judge simply cannot ascertain how to rule as there is not a written contract with written disclosures.

When selling your own property you will have to deal with the real estate commission advertising and disclosure rules,state disclosure laws,and how your broker says per your IC agreement you will handle the sale of your own property. Since your broker has to review all paperwork and it is the brokers E and O they will have a say in how the transaction is setup and disclosures involved to limit potential liability.

If you make the proper disclosures the buyers cannot come after you later for hiding something.The buyers have their "right to their own inquiry". If you disclose you are an agent and the owner of the property in writing and they sign they are ok with it then they can't come back later. Usually the judge will say to the buyer "you could have gotten representation after proper disclosure was made yet you failed to do so"

Now will this keep buyers from suing you for fraudulent claims of course it won't but at least you will have a defense in court to get it dismissed. If you are a REALTOR then they could try the ETHICS charge route as well but that would be dis-proven as well with documentation.

With all that said is your property you are selling totally paid off?

If so just do a 2 to 3 year owner finance with a balloon not if they have enough down as damages if they default. You would want a down payment at least equal to replacing carpet,paint and foreclosure costs and eviction to cover the worse case scenario.
This is especially true if they want owner finance at a market rate. If you are able to charge them really high interest on the note to compensate for risk you can take lower down.


If you do not own the property free and clear you could do a lease purchase or lease option. The credit issue would depend on how far away they are to getting qualified. Most of the time the buyers never do what it takes to qualify and fix the credit. Usually if they do fix credit sometimes they relocate to another state,find out things they don't like about the area or property after living their,one person dies,loss of income,has a baby and space is now to small etc. The list goes on forever. Some do close but a lot do not.

Victor,

As far as disclosure, I simply wrote an addendum stating that I was the Realtor/Owner of the property. It also stated that they had a right to legal representation at their expense, which I highly recommended, and that I was only representing myself as the owner. Good luck, because so many buyers (not all) still treat the property like a rental, and YOU end up suffering the consequenses.

Thank you Super Realtor, I do not plane to finance them for more than two months. I disclosed them verbally, and it is disclosed in all of my flayers and MLS reports. I will disclose it in the contract as well if we have one. I am just wondering do I need to advise them to get Inspection and etc.? lease to purchase is kind of risky, the contract is binding and if they change their mind I will be on the hook.I will ask them to get pre-approved with a lender I know. I will not make them to go with him, but will feel more comfortable.

Did you live in the property you are now selling??

If not put in the contract that since you did not live in the property you cannot warrant it's condition or fill out a sellers property disclosure report.

If you did recently live in it and moved out fill out everything you know TRUTHFULLY. It is still on the buyers to do their own inspections before they purchase. Even though you are the owner do not create an implied agency with them by performing client/agent tasks.

Just put the disclosures in the contract and be very clear and either they proceed or want representation first.

Great advice Super Realtor. I already delivered inspection report. I have never lived in the property.