Your friend wants to buy your home—This is great news! In many cases this can simplify and fast-track your home sale.
Nevertheless, especially because you will be negotiating with a friend, you should be attentive to the details when navigating the sale. In fact Homelight offers a variety of tips on this matter, including:
#1 Hire a professional.
Even though the home sale is between you and a friend, a legal contract is still required. Therefore, hiring a professional to help you and your friend navigate the legal details will come in handy and could prevent any legal slip-ups.
For starters, you will need to create a purchase agreement, which includes the down payment, sale price, closing date, and other details. From there, the sale can go under contract to secure all necessary details and documentation of this transaction.
Your agent can assist you with all of these items and more as you work to complete the home sale to your friend.
#2 Your friend should get pre-approved for a mortgage.
In doing so, this step will ensure that your friend can afford your home and qualify for a mortgage.
It is wise to settle the mortgage approval early on in the deal in case your friend cannot obtain the mortgage in the end. Thus, you and your friend will not have put forward time and money for items like home inspection and appraisal without assurance of the financials.
Of course, if your friend will be paying cash for the home, this becomes a different story. Your attorney can assist you here to verify the funds.
#3 Record everything in writing.
The contract should make note of all details expected from both parties in the move.
While you and your friend might have tossed around a few ideas in discussion, you can avoid hassle and frustration with your friend by relying on the written contract to spell out exactly what the details of the sale include.