Selling a Home Without a Realtor in California

What the law still requires of you

Whether or not you have an agent, the seller is personally responsible for California's full statutory disclosure package. An agent can help you complete it, but the liability for a missed or false disclosure lands on you, the owner.

Here is what the law requires on most residential one-to-four-unit sales:

Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS). The TDS is a state-mandated form where the seller discloses the condition of the property: known defects, repairs, alterations, and anything that would matter to a buyer's decision. You must complete it personally. Selling "as-is" does not remove the TDS or any other mandatory disclosure. "As-is" means you are not agreeing to make repairs. It does not mean you are excused from telling the buyer what you know.

Natural Hazard Disclosure (NHD). This disclosure tells the buyer whether the property sits in a designated flood zone, earthquake fault zone, seismic hazard zone, high fire hazard zone, or similar risk area. Sellers typically order a third-party NHD report, which commonly runs roughly $50 to $150.

Lead-based paint disclosure (federal). If the home was built before 1978, you must disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards, provide the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lead pamphlet, and give the buyer a 10-day window to conduct a lead inspection.

Megan's Law database disclosure. California requires that residential one-to-four-unit sales include a notice about the state's sex offender database.

This is not a complete list, and every property is different. This page is general education, not legal advice; confirm your specific obligations with a real-estate attorney.

The point worth repeating: "as-is" waives none of it. The liability is personally yours.

The market reality, stated fairly

FSBO sales are not common. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (covering July 2023 through June 2024), FSBO transactions accounted for 6% of all home sales, an all-time low in the survey's history.

The same survey found that FSBO homes sold at a median price of $380,000, compared to $435,000 for agent-assisted homes, a gap of roughly $55,000 or about 13%. But that raw median gap is not a like-for-like comparison. FSBO sales skew toward lower-priced homes and known-buyer transactions (sales to a family member, friend, or neighbor where the parties already had a deal before listing). Different homes in different markets at different price points are being compared. The gap is a documented NAR statistic, not a causal claim that hiring an agent nets any specific seller $55,000 more.

A meaningful share of FSBO sales are not open-market transactions at all. Many FSBO sellers already knew their buyer before the sale began.

The top difficulties FSBO sellers reported to NAR were getting the right price (about 17%), selling within the planned time (about 13%), and understanding and completing the paperwork (about 10%). Those three problems map directly to the work an agent handles.

The mechanics you take on

Selling without an agent means doing the agent's job yourself. Here is what that job includes.

Pricing without comparable-sale data. Licensed agents access MLS (Multiple Listing Service) comparable-sale data, known as comps: the recent sale prices of similar nearby homes. From comps, an agent builds a comparative market analysis (CMA), the side-by-side study that sets the right price range. Without MLS access, a FSBO seller relies on public home-value estimates, which are less precise. Mispricing is the single most common difficulty FSBO sellers report.

Marketing without the MLS. A FSBO seller cannot post a listing to the MLS directly; only a licensed broker can. The common workaround is a flat-fee MLS service (also called entry-only listing), where a licensed broker places your property on the local MLS for a flat fee rather than a full commission. Commonly advertised prices range from about $95 into the low thousands, with typical mid-tier plans running $299 to $399. One thing to know: California has dozens of regional MLSs, so which MLS your property qualifies for, and how far that listing reaches, depends on your location.

Showings and safety. You are opening your home to strangers with no agent pre-screening. You schedule the showings, let people in, and manage the property's security yourself.

Negotiation. You handle all buyer and buyer-agent negotiation directly, from the initial offer through inspection requests, repair credits, and closing terms.

The buyer-agent compensation question. Since August 2024, following the NAR settlement, offers of buyer-agent compensation can no longer be published on the MLS. A FSBO seller may still choose to offer compensation to a buyer's agent, but any such offer must be negotiated off-MLS. Most buyers are represented by an agent and now sign a written buyer-representation agreement (a contract that spells out the agent's duties and how they are paid) before touring homes. So a FSBO seller commonly faces the question of whether to offer buyer-agent compensation in order to attract represented buyers, who make up the large majority of the market.

Escrow is still standard. Escrow, the neutral third party that holds the funds and documents during the sale, is the normal mechanism for closing a California real estate transaction whether or not agents are involved. The same goes for title insurance, which protects both parties against claims on the property's ownership history. FSBO does not mean "no escrow." You still open escrow, you still get title insurance, and you still go through the standard closing process. The full mechanics are covered in the escrow guide.

When FSBO genuinely makes sense

For some sellers, FSBO is the right choice.

You already know your buyer. A large share of FSBO transactions are exactly this: a sale to a family member, friend, or neighbor where the price and terms are agreed before anyone talks about listing. In that situation, the marketing and buyer-finding work an agent provides is work you do not need.

The transaction is a family transfer or estate arrangement where the parties and the price are settled.

You are an experienced seller who has been through the process before, understands the disclosure requirements, and is comfortable handling the paperwork and the liability on your own.

In these cases, FSBO makes practical sense and can save you the listing-side commission (the commission you would pay your own agent). The decision is yours.

What a full-service listing buys you

This is where I speak for myself. My name is Lily Garipova, and here is what I bring to a listing that a FSBO seller would otherwise handle alone.

Pricing discipline. I build the asking price from MLS comps, not from public estimates. Overpricing is the single most common seller mistake, and it is the top difficulty FSBO sellers report to NAR. I prepare a CMA anchored to real recent sales in your area, so the price is set to attract offers rather than scare them away.

Preparation and marketing. Professional photography, staging coordination, and listing distribution across every platform where buyers search. Most buyers meet your home on a screen before they ever walk through the door, and how it presents online determines whether they show up at all.

Negotiation from the buyer's perspective. Of my 104 documented closings, 91 have been on the buyer's side. That means I have spent 88% of my career negotiating from the other chair, so I know what buyers look for, where deals break down, and what makes an offer hold together. That experience works directly in your favor when I represent you as a seller.

Disclosure and risk management. My supervising broker is a licensed real-estate attorney, so the disclosure work gets an extra layer of care. That is a structural advantage behind my work, not legal representation for you. When a legal question comes up, the right move is to engage your own attorney.

Career track record. 104 documented closings, more than $115M in volume, active since 2017. California licensed since 2016, in real estate since 2007.

The net-sheet conversation. What you walk away with is the number that matters, not the commission line. I prepare a net sheet (the line-by-line math of what you actually keep after all costs) before you decide anything. The goal is a clear picture of your bottom line, not a pressure conversation.

For a deeper look at the listing process, see the Bay Area home selling process guide. For how pricing works and why it matters more than most sellers expect, see the pricing guide.

Send me a message and I will run the numbers for your home. Reach me at lilyagaripova@gmail.com or (415) 910-3958, or at lilygaripova.com. Office in Fremont, CA. I am bilingual, working with clients in English and Russian.

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