For Sale By Owner – The Master List
You've decided to sell as a For Sale By Owner (FSBO), however when it comes time to sell their houses, many people wonder what items they should repair and which ones are better left alone. This is often a question of budget, and market value but in today's real estate market where open disclosure is the norm, many savvy homeowners are pondering this question carefully.
If a home is listed with a real estate agent, the agent is compelled by law to tell Purchasers all the property's dirty secrets. Many get the home owner to sign a Vendor disclosure form. As a For Sale By Owner, you're also compelled by law to disclose those items that could pose a risk to health or safety, or that could be considered a structured defect of a major sort.
On the one hand, smart For Sale By Owners, don't want to spend needless amounts of money repairing items that aren't going to bring in a return on their investment, but on the other hand, failing to repair some critical items could spell trouble during or even after the sale. For example, if the property suffers from a mold infestation then the Vendor is legally obligated to disclose or repair the problem before a sale can be completed. If the Vendor fails to do so, then they are legally liable for this problem, and will likely have to pay the full price to repair it, plus accrued legal fees.
How does a smart For Sale By Owner go about intelligently deciding what to repair and what to leave undone? The answer is surprisingly simple, just make a master list then pare it down. In my previous article, entitled Doing The Walk Around, I describe a method that any FSBO Vendor can use to create a master repair list for this purpose. In this article, I will discuss taking that master repair list and paring it down to its bare essentials.

Health and Safety First
With the trusty master repair list in hand, take a moment to inspect all of the items on it and put a check mark beside those items that if left undone, could pose a health or safety risk. You're on the hook for these items anyhow, so you may as well address them now. This is where the dreaded mold issue would be included. This is also the place to check off the broken stairs or loose handrails. Scuffs or holes in the walls, while still important to the sale, are not in the health and safety risk area of the list. In short, any item that could pose a health or safety risk must be included in your checked off items to repair.

Air Tight In and Out
Have a look at the condition of the roof, chimney, windows and exterior doors or entrance ways. These items should be in good form to avoid losing a sale on inspection. Nothing is more frustrating than having a sale conditionally completed and losing it on a bad inspection report from a home inspector. As a FSBO you should expect the Purchaser to insist on an inspection as a condition of the sale. By the way, don't imagine for a moment that the Purchaser will forget to get an inspection. If they don't insist on it themselves, their lawyers will usually include it in the offer for them. Either way, you don't want to go there.

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