Book Title:

For Sale by Owner in California (Paperback)
by George Devine (Author), Linda Allison (Illustrator), Ilona M. Bray (Editor)

Editorial Reviews:

Los Angeles Times

The best all-around guide for do-it-yourself home sellers.

Book Description

Using a broker to sell your home can cost you up to six percent of the selling price – in other words, if you sell your house for $400,000, you can lose up to $24,000.

But you’ll save that money if you sell the house yourself – and it’s not hard to do!

Thoroughly revised and scrupulously researched, For Sale By Owner in California takes you step by step through the entire selling process, from putting the house on the market to transferring the title. Even if you choose to use an agent, this book is a great way to prepare yourself for the home-selling process. Learn how to:

  • pick the best time to sell
  • prepare your house for sale
  • advertise widely and inexpensively
  • sell while you’re buying another house
  • set the sale price
  • screen buyers for financial feasibility
  • make all disclosures required by law
  • negotiate with potential buyers
  • handle multiple offers
  • remove contingencies
  • complete the escrow process

The 8th edition of For Sale By Owner in California reflects the most recent changes in the housing market and federal and state laws. It also provides all the forms you need, including:

  • disclosure forms
  • offer and counteroffer
  • sales contract
  • contingency releases
  • deeds
  • second mortgage note
  • and more

All forms come with complete instructions for filling them out.

A note to those outside California: Even though For Sale By Owner in California provides state-specific forms and information for Californians, there’s plenty of material in the book that can help home sellers in the other 49 states as well. Don’t sell your home without it!

Amazon.com

This is another of Nolo Press’s outstanding self-help books, this time targeting a specific California audience of people who, with a little footwork and research, can potentially save thousands of dollars by selling their home without a real estate agent, or lowering the cost of an agent by doing much of the work themselves.

Devine is an award-winning professor of real estate at San Francisco State University and a licensed real estate broker with more than 20 years of experience under his belt. Quite simply, California homeowners, following his advice, can save a bundle by selling their own home. This is the eighth updated edition of the book, incorporating the major changes in the California housing market and state and federal laws, and includes all the latest legal forms in a user-friendly guidebook.

About the Author

George Devine is a licensed real estate broker and a widely respected educator in the real estate field. He holds a B.A. from the University of San Francisco, and an M.A. from Marquette University, and has pursued additional studies at San Francisco State University, Seton Hall University and other academic shrines. Currently, he teaches real estate at the McLaren School of Business at the University of San Francisco, where he was named the Outstanding Adjunct Professor in 1991. For several years, George wrote the popular Real Estate Handbook column in the weekly Real Estate Guide section of the San Francisco Progress. He is the author of For Sale By Owner and co-author of How to Buy a House in California.