Terms and Conditions of Use
In order to use the SellByOwnerCalifornia.com website, the services offered are subject to the following terms, conditions, and limitations. By continued use, you agree to the terms of use policy of this site and its services.
1. Change of Terms, Conditions and Limitations
The terms and conditions of this Agreement may change at anytime, without notice. By accessing our site and using our services, you agree to the terms and conditions currently posted on the site.
2. MLS Advertising Services to Home Sellers
When you purchase one of our advertisement packages to access the multiple listing services (MLS) you accept the obligation of adhering to the MLS rules and regulations as follows:
a. You are of legal age and are otherwise capable of a legally binding contract;
b. You are the owner(s) of the listed property, as recorded with the appropriate property tax records, and you have the legal right to sell the property;
c. The property is currently not listed with a licensed Realtor;
d. The information provided is accurate, current and truthful;
e. You will comply with the county, state, and federal fair housing laws governing the marketing and sale of real property;
f. Whenever there is a change in status or you make any changes to the terms of the sale of the property, you agree to inform your assigned Real Estate Broker within 72 hours. These changes include price changes, change in terms, update to availability of property in the event of an offer up to and including informing us of the final transfer of title (closing date and price)
g. You will communicate directly with potential buyers and provide complete and accurate information about the property, disclosing all, if any, material facts that could affect the value of the property;
h. You will coordinate all aspects of the house selling process, such as negotiations, home inspections, opening escrow up to and including closing;
i. You agree to work fairly and honestly with cooperating brokers of the MLS, allowing them to show the property within a reasonable time frame and agree to pay the offered commission should they provide a buyer;
j. You agree to enter into a Limited Representation Agreement.
As outlined by the State of California Real Estate Board, a broker in a limited or no representation agreement will owe you the following duties;
1. Dealing honestly and fairly;
2. Disclosing all known facts that materially affect the value of residential real estate property which is not readily observable to the buyer;.
3. Accounting for all funds entrusted to the licensee.
3. Additional Provisions
SellByOwnerCalifornia.com sells "For Sale by Owner" and Flat Fee MLS Listing services, once a package is purchased and credit card is processed all sales are final immediately and payments are non-refundable. Please make sure you definitely want to use our services prior to purchasing. If you are unsure for any reason we recommend contacting us prior to purchasing our services to get all your questions answered to make sure you feel comfortable with moving forward.
We do not refund purchases for any reason or any time period. There is no requirement to personally sign any contract or submit any forms to make this agreement binding or final. Credit card purchases are guaranteed by the purchaser and no attempt shall be made to cancel payment by any means.
SellByOwnerCalifornia.com does not guarantee that the property will sell, sell within a certain time frame or at a specific price. In addition, you have the opportunity to purchase additional services at additional fees. Each transaction will comply with these terms and conditions.
In the event that you decide to enter into a full service listing agreement with your assigned Real Estate Broker, you agree to pay an additional Listing Commission at the time of closing of the property, however, when entering into an Exclusive Listing agreement, the broker cannot guarantee the sale, price, or time frame.
The assigned Real Estate Broker has obligations as a subscriber to the local multiple listings service. Should they require additional information from you, or due to the rules and regulations, should they need to add, change or delete certain aspects of the listing, you agree to cooperate fully with the broker to bring us up to compliance.
You understand that the listing information is disseminated to numerous search engines on the worldwide web and that SellByOwnerCalifornia.com nor the assigned Real Estate Broker, cannot guarantee all content to come across, except for the specific items outlined in our plans. Should any of these vendors change their terms of use, SellByOwnerCalifornia.com will not be held liable or responsible for these changes.
You understand that miscellaneous items that might be included in your Listing Package or purchased separately (i.e. real estate signs, directional signs, lock boxes) have to be shipped or delivered. It might take up to 14 business days to receive your items. You could experience a delay in the processing of your order if any applicable shipping charges have not been paid at the time of your order. Your order will not be shipped until any applicable shipping charge has been paid in advance.
Portland Metro Area only - Real Estate sign and sign post installations will be delivered and installed from an outside vendor. Please allow up to 14 business days for the installation and removal of sign posts.
You understand that some of the items that might be included in your Listing Package or purchased separately (i.e. virtual tours, Custom Sign Riders etc.) are provided by outside vendors and can take up to 14 business days to complete the order.
You understand that services such as Realtor.com and the National Listing Service which includes syndicated websites (i.e. Trulia and Zillow etc.) can take up to two weeks to fully populate.
You understand that you must complete the required MLS listing forms for your area and the Limited Representation Agreement before your listing can be input in to the MLS. When you purchase one of our Flat Fee MLS Listing Packages our website will direct you to required listing forms for your area. It is your responsiblity to follow all the listing instructions to insure your listing is processed timely and correctly.
You understand that after your listing has been input in to the MLS we will e-mail you a copy of your listing sheet to proofread. It is your responsibility to notify us of any errors you identify on the at this time so we can make the necessary corrections. If we do not hear from you we will assume everything is correct and is acceptable to you. SellByOwnerCalifornia.com will not be held liable or responsible for errors that might be posted on the MLS or other websites.
Read our "Legal Disclaimer"
Information about MLS Listing Services
MLS Listing Service: This Multiple Listing Service, or the MLS as it is also referred to as - is the way that agents share properties for sale with each other. They offer agents with buyers (buyers agents) a cooperating commission typically about half of the 5-6%. This offer of cooperating commission is binding - thus ensuring that the agent bringing the buyer gets his fair compensation. When you try to sell the property by owner and offer a buyer agent a 2.5% commission - there is no binding nature to the offer of commission. Once the property is listed on the MLS the buyers agent is sure that they will get compensated.
REALTORS typically charge 5%-6% for marketing your property - including a MLS listing. They typically co-operate half of that commission to the agents representing the buyer.
The MLS itself is essentially a private database accessible ONLY by the member REALTORS. The MLS listing is actually a property of the agent who lists it (MLS Listing Agent). The public has no access to the official MLS System and cannot see the official version of the MLS listings. However, many MLS Associations have Public Web Sites where the public can view parts of the information contained in the official MLS listing. But only the member agents can view ALL the information in the MLS listings, the public only gets to view the limited information which the particular MLS decides to display to them.
None of the Public MLS Listing websites allow the owners name or contact information to be displayed to the public - since they do NOT want buyers calling owners directly. They want buyers calling their member Realtors. Likewise, in addition to deciding what information is displayed to the public, the MLS also decides IF they want to display any information about their listings to the public and which listings to show information about. Many MLS associations do NOT operate a public website at all, but the member Realtors in those areas STILL have access to the listings using their private computer network, there is just not a public website to display their MLS listings or it might go to Realtor.com.
