Guide · November 9, 2026
Showings, offers and checking the buyer when you sell by owner
Selling by owner puts you in the middle of the sale: you write the ad, open the door and read every offer. This guide covers the federal rule every ad must follow, how to run showings with care, what to check in an offer, and how to make sure the buyer's money is real before you sign.
Key points
- The Fair Housing Act rule on ads, 42 U.S.C. 3604(c), applies to every seller, including an owner selling alone.
- The Act's exemption for owners is narrow: no more than three single-family houses, no broker, no ad that breaks the ad rule, and one sale in 24 months if you do not live there (42 U.S.C. 3603(b)).
- Read each offer for more than the price: the deposit, how the buyer pays, the inspection period, the closing date and who pays which costs.
- Before you sign, check proof of funds from a cash buyer, or a lender's approval for a loan, by calling the bank or lender at a number you find yourself.
- Let a title company or a licensed escrow agent hold the earnest deposit, and never follow wire instructions sent by email.
Your ad and the Fair Housing Act
Section 3604(c) of the Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to make, print or publish any notice, statement or advertisement about the sale of a dwelling that shows a preference, limit or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.
This rule reaches every seller. The Act gives some owners an exemption from its other rules, but section 3603(b) keeps the ad rule in force for them too. Describe the house, and leave out who you want to live in it. "Three bedrooms near two parks" describes the house. A line about the kind of family you hope will buy it describes people, and that is where ads go wrong.
The owner exemption, and why it is narrow
Section 3603(b)(1) exempts a single-family house sold by its owner from most of section 3604, but only when every condition below is met:
- The owner is a private person who owns no more than three single-family houses at one time.
- If the owner does not live in the house and was not its most recent resident, the exemption covers one such sale in any 24 months.
- The sale uses no real estate broker, agent or salesperson, and no one in the business of selling homes.
- No ad or notice breaks the ad rule in section 3604(c).
What the exemption allows
The same section says the owner may still use lawyers, escrow agents, title companies and other help needed to transfer the title. So hiring a title company to close does not end the exemption, while hiring an agent to sell does.
Treat every person who asks about the house the same way: the same answers, the same showing times, the same papers. Keep a written note of each request and your reply.
Photos and the listing text
Buyers who search online see your photos before they see your house. Take them in daylight with every light on, after you clear the counters, open the blinds and move cars off the driveway. Take one photo of each room from a corner, plus the front, the back and the street.
Write the listing text from facts a buyer can check: the living area from the county record, the bedrooms and bathrooms, the year built, the lot size, the year of the roof and the air conditioning, and the HOA name and dues. Keep receipts for any work you mention. Leave out any claim you cannot prove, and describe the house, never the buyer you want.
Running showings with care
A showing brings people you do not know into your home, and when you sell by owner you decide who comes in. These steps help:
- Show by appointment. Take each visitor's full name and phone number, and call the number back before the visit.
- Show in daylight, and have a second adult in the house with you.
- Put away jewelry, cash, keys, medicine, mail and any paper with an account number on it.
- Walk behind visitors from room to room, and keep a phone with you.
- Use one open house for many people at once, instead of many private visits, if that suits you.
- Write down every question a visitor asks and answer it in writing the same way for every buyer.
Answering buyers' questions
Buyers ask about the roof, leaks, the age of the air conditioning, the bills, the neighbors and why you are selling. Answer facts about the house plainly and in writing, and give every buyer the same answer. If a question touches a problem you know of, hand over your written list of known problems, so the answer matches what you will sign later.
You need not share why you are selling or the least you will accept. Both tell a buyer how much lower they can offer.
Reading an offer, term by term
Two offers with the same price can leave you with different amounts, on different dates, with different risks. Read each offer for these terms:
| Term | What to check |
|---|---|
| Price | Compare it with recorded sales and with the least you can accept. |
| Earnest deposit | The amount, when it is due, and who holds it. A neutral title or escrow company should hold it. |
| How the buyer pays | Cash, a new loan, or a sale of the buyer's own house first. Each adds its own risk of delay. |
| Loan and appraisal terms | If the buyer needs a loan, how long they have to get it, and what happens if the appraisal comes in low. |
| Inspection period | How many days the buyer has to inspect and to cancel, and whether the deposit comes back if they do. |
| Closing date | Whether it fits your move, and what happens if it slips. |
| Costs | Who pays the title policy, the settlement or escrow fee and, in Florida, the deed tax. |
| What stays | Appliances, furniture and anything else that goes with the house. |
Counteroffers
You can accept an offer, reject it, or send a counteroffer that changes some terms. Put every counteroffer in writing, give it a deadline, and keep a copy of each version. A spoken yes on price is no contract in Florida or Arizona, because both states require a contract to sell land to be in writing and signed.
If two buyers make offers, answer each one in writing and keep the timing fair. Tell a buyer what you need from them, such as a higher deposit or a shorter inspection period, and let them decide.
Read the guide: the purchase contract →
Checking the buyer before you sign
Ask for proof that the buyer can pay before you sign, and check it yourself:
- A cash buyer: a recent bank or brokerage statement showing enough money, in the same name as the buyer on the contract. If the buyer is a company, check that the company is registered with the state.
- A buyer using a loan: a written approval from a named lender, with the loan officer's name.
- Call the bank or the lender to confirm. Find its phone number yourself, from its own website, and do not use the number printed on the letter.
- Search the buyer's name and company name with the words "complaint" and "lawsuit".
Read the guide: how to check a cash buyer →
The earnest deposit
The earnest deposit is money the buyer puts down when the contract is signed, to show the buyer is serious. The contract says when the buyer may get it back and when you keep it.
Let a neutral party hold it. In Florida that is usually the title company or the closing lawyer. In Arizona it is the escrow agent, and section 6-813 says only a licensed escrow agent may run the escrow business. The contract and the escrow instructions then say who gets it if the sale fails.
Wire fraud: the last step to guard
Criminals send fake emails that look like they come from a title company, with new wire instructions. The money goes to their account. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gives these steps:
- Pick two trusted people to confirm the closing process and the payment instructions.
- Before wiring money, always confirm the instructions with those trusted people.
- Never follow instructions sent in an email.
- Confirm the account name and number in person, or by calling the phone number you agreed on earlier.
- Avoid using phone numbers or links in an email.
Selling to BIMINIO skips most of this
A sale to BIMINIO needs no ad, no showings and no screening of strangers. We send a written offer within 24 hours, with the comparable sales we used and proof of funds. A licensed title company handles the paperwork. We pay the closing costs, and you pick the closing date, from 7 to 35 days after you accept.
A cash offer is below full market value. Selling by owner to a buyer using a loan may bring more, with the work on this page. Compare both.
Want a number to compare? BIMINIO buys in Florida and Arizona, as is, with no agent and no commission, and pays the closing costs. A written offer comes within 24 hours.