Selling your house (or townhouse or condo) is one of the most important legal and financial transactions you'll ever have. Knowing what to expect and understanding each main step in the sales process helps you skip frustration and headaches until your sale closes.

Learn the basics if you're a first-time seller, or take a refresher if you're a seasoned seller. After all, homes are unique, and not all sales are alike.

Using a Real Estate Broker or For Sale by Owner

Selling your home isn't that difficult, but it can be time consuming and there are lots of details to manage, so most home sales are made through a real estate broker or agent. Know the basics of working with these state-licensed sales professionals.

Generally, a sales person is a real estate broker, or a sales agent working under a managing or sponsoring broker's authority.

Working with a Broker or Agent

In Delaware, brokers and agents can represent the seller, the buyer or both (called dual agency). When you contact a broker or agent, you should be given a consumer disclosure explaining all possible roles. Ask questions on items you don't understand. You'll enter into a listing contract to sell your home. You can specify that the broker works for you as a seller's agent alone.

Real estate brokers and agents have what's called a fiduciary duty to the party they're representing. This means they are your legal agents and are held by law to specific duties found in state law, or your listing or brokerage agreement, or other contract. These duties include:

• Loyalty
• Disclosure
• Confidentiality
• Using reasonable care and skill
• Obeying your lawful instructions
• Accounting for all money in the agent's control

Seller's Property Disclosure

Delaware requires home sellers to disclose known material defects in their property. You must complete a Seller's Disclosure of Real Property Condition Report to tell buyers about your property. Complete the form, even if a given item doesn't impact the sale or the final sales price. Items on the disclosure form include:

• Deed restrictions
• Right-of-ways or easements
• Zoning violations
• Earth movement, drainage, or flooding problems
• Structural problems
• Damage by termites or other pests 
• Moisture in basement or crawl space
• Roof leaks
• Heating and air conditioning system defects
• Plumbing or sewage problems
• Condition of appliances
• Lead paint (required by the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992)

You are also required to provide buyers with a Radon Disclosure. Be accurate and truthful as you complete the disclosure forms. Ask your Delaware real estate lawyer for help if you're unsure on how to answer any items. Remember that disclosure helps avoid problems later on, and benefits you and your buyer all around.

Getting an Offer: The Purchase Agreement

When a serious buyer wants to buy your home, you'll receive a written offer, or purchase agreement, containing all the terms of the sale.

Know what to expect in an offer because you won't have much time to decide to accept or make a counteroffer. Common counteroffer terms are:

• A higher purchase price
• A higher deposit
• Less time for the buyer to remove contingencies, such as getting financing or selling his or her current home
• Excluding items from the sale, such as appliances or window treatments
• Time for your attorney's review of the contract

Legal Title Issues

A usual requirement in the sales agreement is that you give the buyer clean title, or "clear and marketable" title to the property. This means there aren't any issues or conflicts with the ownership rights you're selling. Examples are possible past owners or mortgage holders who could turn up claiming property rights.

Your Delaware real estate lawyer or title insurance company will do a title search, looking for any problems. A title insurance policy is also issued to cover any title defects that didn't turn up in the title search, such as a mortgage, lien or easement missed or not recorded in public records.

Closing and Costs

The closing is the completion of the sale: the buyer pays the sales price, and you transfer title to the buyer, along with the keys. There's a lot of work leading up to closing, and some costs for sellers to pay.

Common seller's costs are:

• Paying off all existing mortgages and liens against the property
• State transfer taxes
• Local transfer taxes (duty to pay these taxes varies by location and custom)
• Real estate sales commission to your broker or agent

Generally, you don't have to attend the closing. Your lawyer can represent you, taking signed documents and the keys.

Next: The closing and after the sale

Related Resources on Lawyers.com^sm

- Contact a Delaware Real Estate Lawyer in your area for specific legal advice, and read about Selecting a Good Real Estate Lawyer
- Need a form? Access a variety of do-it-yourself business and personal legal forms that meet your needs
- Read Home Purchase Agreements and Selling a Home FAQ, or access more Residential Real Estate articles and information
- Visit the Legal Forums for discussions on Real Estate Law topics
- Follow us on Twitter and "Like" us on Facebook to join the conversation about Lawyers.com topics online
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- Legal Dictionary