So you have decided to sell your home on your own! At Capital Title we would like to help you have a successful outcome to your transaction.

From a title prospective there are several items you need to address before you put your home on the market:

•	In order to convey your property you must be able to provide “marketable title”.

Capital Title is ready to provide you with a preliminary title commitment that will disclose any encumbrances or defects, allowing you to address them before your sale. There is a cost of $190 for this search, which will be credited towards your owners policy premium at the time of closing.

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You must determine who will be preparing the closing documents needed to complete your sale once you have sold the property. These documents are the HUD statements, the escrow agreements, such as repair escrows, water escrows, occupancy escrows, etc. In addition you will need to have a deed prepared transferring title of the property from you to the new buyer. This service should be lined up and in place before the sale so you will have the proper documents ready. You will also need a third party source ready to receive the earnest money deposit from the purchaser.

Capital Title will be happy to provide this service for you, including holding the initial deposit made by the purchaser. We charge $250 for document preparation, and escrow service.

A number of other documents are needed in order to complete your sale:

•	A Sales Contract
•	A Sellers Disclosure Form required by the State of Michigan (Act 92, Public acts of 1993) expressing the condition of your property.
•	A Lead Based Paint Disclosure Statement.
•	Responsibilities of Sellers Under Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act Disclosure.

Once you have sold your home, we will also take care of the following:

•	Validate and prepare the payoffs for outstanding mortgages/liens on the property. Also, you must validate and prepare payment of the outstanding taxes to be charged or credited at the closing table. These services are provided by Capital Title as part of the document preparation charge above.

As you can see, the process of transferring ownership of your property is not an easy one. At Capital Title, we are here to help you to make the process as easy as possible at a cost that is reasonable, and extremely competitive. If at any point you are not comfortable selling by owner, we can refer you to a knowledgeable agent.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our account executives. Just click Contact Us from the menu to get our phone, fax information or an email link, or fill out our online Order Form and an account executive will contact you.