With realty fees often as high as 6% of the sales price of a property, some adventurous, or ahem, frugal homeowners decide to go it alone when it comes to selling their home.
While this type of listing, referred to as a “for sale by owner” is not necessarily the easiest, nor quickest way to sell a home, it is cost-efficient. However, along with the difficulty in selling and showing your home on your own comes another often overlooked hurdle that may hinder the selling process.
Many banks and lenders place restrictions on “for sale by owner” properties that wouldn’t necessarily apply to agent listed properties. For example, if you, the homeowner find a buyer through your FSBO listing, the bank or lender the buyer chooses may not finance the property at 100%, or may require an exception to get the deal done at a lower loan-to-value. And even if the borrower qualifies on every count, the sole reason for a decline could simply be because the property is a FSBO.
This can make the lending process difficult, and may even sour a deal if enough goes wrong to exacerbate the buyer. That said, there are plenty of banks and lenders willing to finance FSBO properties, but with today’s stiffening market, it’s just another potential roadblock to getting a mortgage.
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