FSBO has a buyer that's an investor, now what?

Hello. I am selling my house to an investor. Neither of us are using agents. He is a friend of two of my friends so I trust working with him. He is coming today so that we can work on the sales contract. He asked me if I was providing closing cost assistance. Unfortunately, I owe what the house is worth give or take a couple thousand $$ so I wouldn't be able to offer closing.

Also, he mentioned my using his real estate attorney the one he uses when he sells his houses. I have no problem with that. Except I have no idea what the process is from this point. When I bought my house I paid for the appraisal, home and termite inspections. I put the earnest deposit down. All of the fees at closing I recall coming out of the sellers profits.

I contacted a real estate attorney's office and found fees are about $900. I'm not sure how much closing costs I will have to pay or other fees related to the house itself. It's my first time. What can I expect to have to pay during this process?

Since there isn't equity in the house enough to cover my side of the closing costs. I am negotiating the price so that I can have my end paid. I just am not sure if there are any costs prior to closing. Also, in order to offer him assistance I would have to take out a loan or raise the price and he is already paying market value if not a little more than by $5k.

In WV, the seller has to pay tax stamps and it's $4.40 per thousand dollars. You can call your county court house and find out if there are tax stamps and how much. Property tax will be divided between the seller and buyer. If you have already paid for the full year then you might get a little bit of that credited back to you at closing. The seller also pays the attorney a recording fee. This is for the attorney recording the deed. It's usually around $15 - 20. or something small like that. Since you aren't using a Realtor you won't have commission to pay at closing. Without having to pay commission, your closing costs should be fairly low. I agree with the person who said to make sure you read the contract. You don't want to sign something saying you'll pay for things you aren't prepared to pay for.

Usually the closing costs are paid by the BORROWER (in your case the investor), of course he/she is going to try and get you to cover as many costs as possible, including his lawyer and his closing costs... you don't have to agree to pay anything that you don't want to! Just make sure that you aren't signing anything that you didn't read. It may be in your best interest to get an attorney of your own since you have never done this before, you'd hate to end up still owing money on your mortgage even after you have sold the home

I totally agree with the above statement.

Closing costs are ALWAYS negotiable. In this case, simply tell the investor that if he wants to buy this house at what is presumably a good price, that he'll have to pay ALL of the closing costs. If he won't do it, don't sell it to him. If you NEED him to buy it, you may have to find a way to pay some of the CC.

Stand your ground. If he's getting a good deal, he won't let the CC stand in the way.

well consider yourself lucky if the info you gave is true.that is how us investers make money paying more than market value for something...hahaha he may have some good inside info on someone wanting your land.

Everything in a contract is completely negotiable. There are trends and traditions in every state, but very few states make it mandatory for one side or another to HAVE to pay for things.

I would say that due to your equity situation that you have him pay all of the costs so that there aren't any surprises that come up at closing since he's using his own attorney's office.

for example, if you want to sell the house for $200k, but he wants you to pay the $900 in closing costs, just sell him the house for $190,100 and tell him he can pay the costs. this way, if the costs come in higher, he's responsible for them and you are guaranteed no less than $190,100.

Also, make sure he can show you proof that he has the ability to buy the property. Demand a prequal letter or a bank statement that shows he has the cash to buy it outright if he isn't financing it.

Investor properties are notorious for not being approved by lenders.