Can I Sell My Property Without A Real Estate Broker?

In today's buyers' market property is taking a long time to sell. Many properties are not selling at all, even after the offering price is dropped lower and lower again. Even foreclosure sales are not bringing bidders because if nobody is buying there are no profits to be made. Only the banks are bidding at the foreclosure auctions for the amount owed under the defaulted loan.

Because of the terrible real estate market many sellers are choosing to sell their property without a broker and salesagent. Sellers simply are not willing to pay 6% of the poor sales price to a broker.  In addition, in the last few years technology has changed the way property is being sold. One of the most useful tools in selling properties today is Craigslist. Both sellers and real estate professionals say that they have more luck selling property on the Craigslist than any other means of advertising. Craigslist is already more powerful than newspaper classifieds and is becoming more powerful than the Multiple Listing Service. Furthermore, it is free! Craigslist has revolutionized the way real estate is being sold.

Real Estate Attorney Instead of Broker.
Instead of paying a broker 6% to find a buyer sellers are doing it themselves on Craigslist. When a sales price has been agreed on verbally the parties go to a real estate attorney to draw up a written purchase agreement. For a $500,000 house a broker would charge $30,000 to complete the deal.  A real estate attorney can usually put together a purchase agreement, deed, and seller's disclosures for under $2,000. If the seller is going to offer financing a promissory note and deed of trust can also be prepared at a reasonable price.

Real Estate Attorney Standard of Care
A real estate broker can represent both the seller and the buyer at the same time. All the broker is required to do is have both parties sign a disclosure statement saying that each understands the broker shares certain duties to each party. What duties is the broker referring to?  The big one is the duty of confidentiality. The broker must not tell the buyer what the seller's bottom line is, or vice versa. Further, there are duties of loyalty, fair and honest dealing, use of reasonable care and skill, and fiduciary duties.

The duty of loyalty of an attorney to a client is considered higher that of a real estate broker. An attorney usually cannot represent both a buyer and a seller at the same time. The duty of loyalty for an attorney is so high that in any situation where the representation of one client would render the attorney less effective in representing another it is forbidden. 

The only situations where a real estate attorney could possibly represent both a buyer and seller at the same time would be where the parties have already agreed on all of the terms of the sale and simply want the attorney to draw up the agreement to reflect their intentions. In this case the attorney is doing a service to both by making sure that their intentions are clearly reflected. The attorney is not advising on whether the terms that have been reached are in the parties' best interests. Even this is not advisable because if there is a term missing that benefits one party to the detriment of the other the attorney may have a duty to inform the parties. Then it gets sticky because by advising the parties the attorney is harming one party to the benefit of the other.

From Sebastopol, the Law Offices of Graden Tapley represents clients throughout Sonoma County, including Santa Rosa, Cotati, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, and Windsor.