FSBO BLOG

Below are a few of the most common taxes deductions for homeowners.  Make sure your accountant is aware of everything you qualify for, and is getting you the most back on your tax return. 

1.      Mortgage Interest:  This would have to be the most well know tax break for homeowners.  In most cases, you will be able to deduct all of your home mortgage interest. Whether it is all deductible depends on the date you took out the mortgage, the amount of the mortgage, and your use of its proceeds (irs.gov).

2.      Property Taxes:     Property Taxes are fully deductible.  Make sure you keep accurate records for the amount you pay in property taxes.

3.      Home based Business Deductions:  You are able to deduct a portion of the expenses for working from home, or running a home based business.  Two examples of expenses would be your Internet bill, or your Home/Cell Phone Bill.

4.      Home Equity/Improvement Loan Interest:  The interest you pay on a home equity loan may be deductible no matter what you use the money for. The deduction can save you money on your taxes.

These are just a few deductions available to you as a homeowner.  Make sure you have a good accountant, and ask them if there are any other deductions you can possibly take advantage of such as deducting Points charged on your loan, Selling Costs and Capital Improvements, Moving Costs, and Energy tax Credits. 

Please let us know what else you have been able to save on come tax time.

We often get asked at FSBO.com if represent the seller at closing and take care of the paperwork.  Because we are simply a marketing service, and not a licensed brokerage, we are unable to do either.  We do however offer suggestions and links for handling the paperwork during the sale of your home.

First, we offer a section for you to purchase generic real estate contracts and disclosures online (Real Estate Contracts).  You can download these forms directly to your computer in an instant, and have them readily available any time a buyer is ready to make an offer.  Similar forms can be found at your local office supply store at a similar price.

Second, you can contact a local Real Estate Attorney.  You can either hire them to review your already existing, or you can hire them to create it from scratch with the terms you and your buyer have agreed on.  Obviously the second option here would be more time consuming for the attorney, and in-turn cost you a bit extra.

Other than that, there are a few closing services available out there, but none that I am familiar with off of the top of my head though. I suggest you search through our Professional Services database, on Google, or in your local phone directory. 

If you have recently handled the paper work for your own FSBO transaction, please comment on your experiences and tell us how it went.

Welcome back, and Happy New year.  I hope your holidays went well, and you are well rested and ready to begin the year.

FSBO.com would like to announce that it has lowered the price for it’s Flat Fee MLS Package.  The new price is $399.95.  The new price to upgrade your current listing to the Flat Fee MLS package is now only $295.00.  I have explained briefly what the MLS package entails below.

For a Flat Fee of $399.95 your property will be listed in the actual MLS by an affiliate Realtor.  This will be the exact same MLS that any other Full Service Agent would list you in.  You will pay the Flat Fee upfront, and only be responsible paying the buyer’s agent commission at closing.  This will save you approximately 50% in real estate commissions.  85% of the time it is a different agent that brings the buyer, which means there is never a reason to pay a commission to the listing agent.

If you are a current FSBO.com customer, you may log in at any time to upgrade your listing to the MLS for $295.00. 

This will be the final post on the FSBO.com Blog for 2007.  Although it was a spectacular year for our company, and our customers, we are really excited about 2008.  We look forward to helping as many people sell their homes while saving on commissions.  We will have many new features for both buyers and sellers.  I will discuss those a bit further as we get closer to launching them.

Here is a great article for you to read by CNN Money that does a good job of explaining the FSBO process, and that in a slower market; websites like ours will be crucial to the success of your next home sale. 

CNN Article:  “Homeowners: Sell It Yourself”

Happy New Year from FSBO.com!

I hope you are all having a safe and successful holiday season thus far. 

As America becomes a more heath and weight conscience society, I am sure we are all thinking about that extra cookie or slice of pie we grabbed around the holidays.  Well, maybe not all of us, but if that’s you, I have a few quick suggestions for shedding those extra holiday pounds while increasing your chances of selling your home. 

I suggest getting outside, raking the leaves, mowing the grass, or shoveling snow as a good way to stay active around the holidays, while also improving the curb appeal of your house.  Whether it is currently on the market, or soon to be next year, the more you can do now the better.  Cleaning and fixing the small things now will save you time, money, and stress when it comes time to show your home, or to have it inspected.

Here are a few quick stats that may motivate you to get some work done around the house: 

•  
  • Mowing the lawn for half an hour = 150 calories burned.
  • Gardening for 30 to 45 minutes = 150 calories burned.
  • Raking leaves for a half an hour = 150 calories burned.
  • Shoveling snow for only 15 minutes = 150 calories burned.
  • Vacuuming for half an hour = 100 calories burned.
  • Washing windows for 15 minutes = 50 calories burned.
  • Sweeping for 15 minutes = 50 calories burned.

As of today, none of our current or new customers have taken us up on our offer to discount their Virtual Tour $30.00 based on the blog from Monday yet many have paid full price since then (remember, Circlepix only gave us a discount on ONE tour, if it were unlimited, I would gladly pass that savings on to each of them without making them find it on the blog).  I just wanted to inform you that for the remainder of this blog, we have plans to periodically post special offers and links that are exclusive to our blog.  These offers and links will expire, and then that’s it, they’re gone.  If you miss it, you miss it.

We have plenty of ideas kicking around the office such as Free Listing Days, Free Supply Days, Double Flyer Days, and Free Shipping days, etc…  The plan is to give you incentives and reward you for contributing to and reading out blog.

In my opinion, the answer is yes; you should keep your home on the market during the holidays.  First, some experts may say that this will make you appear too desperate, and that may turn off the buyer.  If anything, it is the buyer’s advantage to work with a motivated seller.  They will be more eager to accept a lower offer than those that are not so motivated.  Second, just because you have a For Sale sign in your yard on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas day, does not mean you are going to field any calls, or let someone come in to look at it.  You don’t bring your For Sale sign in the house when you leave for the grocery store do you? No, if the house is for sale, it is for sale, no matter what the date is.  Finally, any buyer who is out looking at houses on a holiday is a serious buyer, and is ready to buy. 

 As far as decorating or not decorating, I don’t have an answer.  Some buyers may be affected by it, and some may not.  I personally would not care either way unless the decorations were blocking or obstructing my view of a part of the house.  Then it may be difficult to envision what the house looks like when it is not decorated. 

I always try to tell my sellers to make themselves as available as possible.  So pulling your listing off the market for a few days, or removing the sign from your front yard, can only hurt your chances at generating a successful sale. 

So, let’s here you thoughts:  Keep on or take off?  Decorate, or not decorate?

Yesterday, The Bush Administration laid out a plan to freeze interest rates for approximately 1.2 million people who are facing interest rate increases on their sub-prime adjustable rate mortgages.  They are hoping this will help the foreclosure/housing crisis.  Click here to read the full story from ABC News.

Let me know your thoughts…Is this a good idea?  Is this plan too late (are we already in a housing/sub-prime crisis)?  How do you think this will affect the housing market in years to come?

The CBS Saturday Early Show recently featured FSBO.com as part of the five key things to consider before you start showing your home - Click here to check out their article and video!  The segment was quick but informative.  Touching on Home Staging, Virtual Tours and Photos, FSBO Marketing, Online Appraisals, and Online Real Estate Auctions.

I thought this was a great segment.  My only comment would be you DO NOT need to be as  “cyber-savvy” as they mention to have a successful listing on http://www.fsbo.com/, or on any other site in our industry.  Our user’s ages and computer skills vary significantly.  Anyone can list on FSBO.com easily, and in a very short time.  We do encourage you to take your time, and build an effective ad though. 

FSBO.com users have 24-hour access to editing their listings.  We are available Monday through Friday to help with any difficulty you may have.  We do not charge for adding or scanning photos.

With that, I say you do not need to be as “cyber-savvy” as most experts will tell you, but more “Resource-savvy”.  You need to utilize the resources that are available to you, such as the FSBO.com Customer Support, Photo Department and the online tools we have provided to make things easy for you.  Most online companies are willing to help you to create an effective advertisement that satisfies both your needs, and the needs of the buyer.

So, do you think you need to be cyber savvy to list your property online?

 There are many different types of Internet Scams right now, so I will just tell you about the main one that is targeting the Real Estate Industry.  It is called the Check Overpayment Scheme.    

How to Spot The Scam: 

Basically, you will receive an email/message from your online ad from a fake buyer willing to pay full price for your property, sight unseen.  They will send you a large down payment via check or money order, and come up with a reason why they need you to refund a portion of that money right away after you deposit it at the bank.  These checks or money orders look very real, and usually take the bank some time to realize they are fake.  By then, you have already mailed back a real check to the person pulling the Scam.  They deposit your real check and your money is gone. 

Key Facts: 

• Buyers are usually from out of the country
• Avg. amount they are currently sending for down payment $38,000
• Avg amount they are asking for you to return $8000

What FSBO.com is Doing About It:  

 We are currently building a system that will filter any message sent through our system for suspicious activity and key phrases.  We will continue to build on our library of key phrases as more and more scams are found and reported. 

FSBO.com will manually review all suspicious messages from buyers before allowing them into the Seller’s inbox.  Those found to be scams will have their Names, Email Address, and new key terms permanently blocked from our system to prevent them from sending other messages to our sellers.

Also, our sellers will be able to automatically “Report Fraud / Solicitations” on any message that might have slipped through our filtering system.  FSBO.com will again manually review these messages and block them as necessary.  This system will be in place early in the new year. 

The best way to protect yourself is to use common sense, and realize that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

For Additional Info on Scams please visit the Frequently Asked Questions section of FSBO.com or at www.fakechecks.org