Indiana FSBO Paperwork for Beginners: Start With the Right File

You found two “sales disclosure” forms. They are not substitutes.

You search for Indiana FSBO paperwork and download everything that looks official. Now you have two forms with “sales disclosure” in the name, a purchase agreement from a template site, the deed from your last closing, and a buyer asking what happens next.

That is a normal place to get stuck. Indiana does not hand an owner-seller one universal FSBO packet. The file grows in stages, and different documents belong to different people.

Start by separating two forms that are often confused:

• State Form 46234 is the Seller's Residential Real Estate Sales Disclosure. It communicates the seller's current actual knowledge about the home's condition to a prospective buyer.
• State Form 46021 is the Sales Disclosure Form used in the property-transfer and assessment process. The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance directs filers to the county assessor for filing questions.

One is part of the buyer's decision. The other belongs to the transfer and assessment process. A matching phrase in their names does not make them interchangeable.

This article gives a beginner a safe way to organize the work. It is not a substitute for advice from an Indiana real estate attorney, title company, county office, lender, tax professional, or other licensed professional who can evaluate the actual transaction.

Begin with four folders, not a giant checklist

Create four folders before you send a form or accept an offer:

1. Property condition: State Form 46234, inspection reports you possess, repair invoices, warranties, permits, and supporting records.
2. Buyer and contract: the offer, counteroffers, signed purchase agreement, addenda, contingency notices, and proof that required disclosures were delivered.
3. Title and closing: the current deed, payoff information, title commitment, identity documents requested through secure channels, settlement statements, and closing instructions.
4. After closing: the final signed agreement, recorded deed information, final settlement statement, tax records, keys and possession record, and a copy of the complete communication trail.

This structure matters because “the paperwork” is not one event. A disclosure delivered before offer acceptance solves a different problem from a deed recorded after closing.

First question: does State Form 46234 apply?

Indiana's residential sales disclosure law generally concerns transfers of one to four residential dwelling units, but the statute contains exemptions. Do not decide that your sale is exempt because it feels informal or because you already know the buyer.

The Indiana Court of Appeals explained that the disclosure statement reflects the owner's current actual knowledge, is not a warranty, and does not replace an inspection. The court also discussed the statutory timing requirement: when the law applies, the owner must complete and sign the disclosure form and submit it to the prospective buyer before accepting an offer.

In 2026, Indiana updated State Form 46234. The Professional Licensing Agency's rule docket identifies revision R9/2-26 and records final adoption on March 11, 2026. That is why an old PDF saved on a computer is a poor source of truth. Confirm the current form through the state forms system or with the professional handling the closing.

Two practical rules follow:

• Answer from what you actually know. Do not guess, diagnose a condition you are not qualified to diagnose, or treat “unknown” as a convenient way around known facts.
• Preserve evidence of what version was completed, when it was signed, and when the buyer received it.

Read the Indiana Court of Appeals opinion discussing the disclosure statute (opens in a new tab) and the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency's 2026 form-update docket (opens in a new tab) before relying on a third-party summary.

Second question: what must the contract decide?

A seller disclosure describes known property conditions. It does not create the deal.

The purchase agreement and its addenda need to express the bargain clearly enough for the parties and closing professionals to act on it. Depending on the transaction, that can include:

• the legal identity of the buyer and seller;
• the property and items included or excluded;
• price, deposit, financing, and payment terms;
• inspection, appraisal, financing, title, sale-of-home, or other contingencies;
• deadlines and the method for giving notices;
• closing, possession, utilities, keys, and final walk-through;
• allocation of costs, credits, taxes, and assessments;
• what happens after a default or failed contingency; and
• signatures and legally required addenda.

A free template cannot know whether those terms fit your property, buyer, financing, title history, local practice, or risk tolerance. The expensive errors usually live in the missing clause, contradictory deadline, or assumption neither party wrote down.

Have an Indiana real estate attorney review or prepare the agreement when you need legal judgment. A title company can explain its own closing and title requirements, but that role should not be confused with legal representation for either party.

Third question: was the home built before 1978?

For most pre-1978 housing, federal lead-based paint rules add a separate disclosure process, subject to listed exemptions. Before the buyer is obligated under the contract, covered sellers generally must disclose known lead information, provide available records and reports, give the federal pamphlet, include the required warning language, and give the buyer the required opportunity for a lead inspection or risk assessment unless that period is changed by written agreement.

Use the EPA's Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Rule page (opens in a new tab) and its seller disclosure materials (opens in a new tab). A generic sentence in a purchase agreement is not automatically a complete federal disclosure process.

State Form 46021 comes later and serves another system

The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (opens in a new tab) describes State Form 46021 as the Sales Disclosure Form and publishes filing information for county assessors, county auditors, and the state. Its page tells filers to contact the county assessor with filing questions.

That should change how a beginner approaches the form:

• Do not send it to the buyer as a replacement for the residential condition disclosure.
• Do not assume an old copy has the current instructions or fields.
• Ask the title or closing professional who prepares it, who signs it, and how it will be submitted in the county where the property sits.

Keep money and identity instructions out of ordinary email

Closing creates another risk that has nothing to do with choosing the right PDF. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warns that scammers impersonate real estate professionals and send false last-minute wiring instructions.

Before money moves, establish a verification method with the known title or settlement company. If instructions change, stop and verify through a trusted phone number you obtained independently. Do not use the phone number in the suspicious message.

The CFPB's mortgage closing scam warning (opens in a new tab) is worth sharing with every person who may receive or send closing funds.

A beginner's next five actions

You do not need to master the whole closing tonight. You need the next correct handoff.

1. Confirm whether the residential disclosure statute and State Form 46234 apply to your transfer.
2. Get the current form and document delivery before accepting an offer when required.
3. Put the purchase agreement in front of an Indiana professional who can evaluate the actual terms.
4. Ask the title or closing company for its title, payoff, identity, deed, and county filing requirements.
5. Keep a dated record of every version, signature, delivery, notice, and verified closing instruction.

For the full sequence from disclosure through the closing archive, use the complete Indiana FSBO paperwork guide.

Where Sellable helps, and where it does not

Sellable can help organize property information and buyer inquiries. It does not provide legal advice, choose transaction forms, draft a state-specific purchase agreement, determine whether an exemption applies, perform title work, hold escrow, record a deed, or replace the professionals responsible for those tasks.

That boundary is useful. Software can keep the communication orderly. Legal, title, tax, lending, and county decisions still belong with people qualified and authorized to make them.

Sources

• Indiana PLA: State Form 46234 update docket (opens in a new tab)
• Indiana Court of Appeals: residential sales disclosure opinion (opens in a new tab)
• Indiana DLGF: Sales Disclosure Form information (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Rule (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Seller lead disclosure materials (opens in a new tab)
• CFPB: Mortgage closing scam warning (opens in a new tab)

Reviewed August 26, 2026. Forms, statutes, agency instructions, and local closing practices can change. Confirm the current requirements for the property and transaction before signing or sending funds.