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Ok, so you’ve decided to sell your home yourself- cut out the middleman. You’re a FSBO, pronounced “fizzbo” and it stands for For Sale By Owner. You know the lingo. You’re ready to go. You’ve fixed the place up and you’ve done your homework. You’re neighbor down the street says he’s ready to buy your house! You’re all set, right? Wrong.

Your neighbor down the street really can’t afford your house. He’s got debt up to his whazoo. He thinks it would be easier to just move down the street into your beautiful home rather than sell his first. But, he’s signed a contract with you and he has 60 days to close on your home. Oh, and since you know him, you didn’t get any earnest money. Fatal error. You’ve just lost valuable time to market your home and find a qualified buyer.

When you are selling your home yourself, it is imperative that you speak to a mortgage lender whom you trust and you can refer potential buyers to for pre-qualification certification. When you execute the contract with the buyers, you should require them to provide a pre-qualification letter from a lender you choose or from a similar reputable lending institution within a reasonable amount of business days, usually 5. Better yet, ask the buyer to present the pre-qualification letter with their offer, and eliminate the need to remove a contingency to the contract.

What if your neighbor does have great credit but can’t afford your home? If you had a mortgage lender prepare a Good Faith Estimate or flyers highlighting an estimated payment and closing costs, your buyer would be able to pull himself out of the prospects before he asks to see your house 4 times, all the while asking you a million questions each time he catches you in your front yard watering the bushes. Or, maybe he can afford your house because he didn’t know that his income would allow him to qualify for a special rate but sees it’s possible on your flyer? What if he was unsure he could afford the home, but learned he could get a gift from his parents making the payment more affordable? A good mortgage lender will help you market your property, eliminate unqualified prospects and ensure that your buyer has affordable options to buy your home.

What’s in it for the lender? The potential to work with a new client. Your buyer, particular first time homeowners, probably don’t know much about the process and who they can trust to help them. And then there’s you. If you’re selling your house, chances are, you’re buying a new one.