HGTV is currently looking for First-time Home Sellers to be part of their new show “My First Sale”.
Here is a brief description of the show and what they are looking for…
“MY FIRST SALE, a brand new show on HGTV, is kicking off its first season and looking for first-time home sellers in the Denver/Metro area.
We are looking for fun, high-energy people who are just starting the process of selling their first place! Our goal is to capture all the trials and tribulations of preparing for resale, pricing, negotiating, and ultimately selling a home for the first time.
Taping is getting underway this month. Ideal candidates will be interesting, energetic, financially open (people who don’t mind sharing frankly on camera about the experience and the purchase details.)”
If you are interested in participating, please leave a comment with your FSBO.com ID #.
Hopefully this will turn in to some NATIONAL media exposure for your property!
Need more exposure for your property? Are you willing to pay a Buyer’s agent a commission? FSBO.com offers Flat Fee MLS Listings which will list your property on your local MLS as well as Realtor.com. And here is the best part - we are running a special for the month of August…
One time set up fee to list your property on your local MLS and Realtor.com for six months with one photo. This gives your property exposure to thousands of local real estate agents and millions of potential buyers. If a broker brings you a buyer and you accept an offer you will need to pay them a commission. All commission is negotiable, but the average is around 2.5-3.5% and will need to be stated up front upon entering the MLS. *After submitting your FSBO.com listing, you will be contacted by a licensed agent to complete the MLS listing process.
This offer is only good on US properties until 8/31/08 and is not valid on prior purchases.
We know times are tough in the current housing market, as the cost of gas and food continues to increase. But we feel that there is a light at the end of the tunnel – at a time when every dollar most definitely counts, recent data from the FSBO.com Home Index reveals that the average FSBO.com seller saves $10,000 by selling their homes themselves.
Ten thousand dollars – can you believe it?! We decided to have a little fun with that fact and created a Facebook group called “Whatwould you do with $10,000?”, a forum where we can all spend a few minutes daydreaming along with others in the FSBO.com family and in the Facebook community about what we would do if we had that extra money. This group is fun way to pull sellers and potential buyers together to increase awareness of and spark discussions about the benefits of buying and selling For Sale By Owner. It’s a win-win situation – the more people we get involved in these types of discussions, the more people to potentially see your listings!
I’ve already posted some of my dream purchases, and I hope you’ll join the group and join me in sharing your thoughts about what you would do with $10,000!
A reporter is working on a story for the USA Today on open houses. She is looking for anything inventive sellers might be doing to help drum up traffic at open houses in this fairly slow housing market.
If you have done something very creative to attract buyers to your open house or have a good story regarding turn-out/sale during our FSBO.com National Open House event we want to hear from you! If you are willing to speak to this reporter please leave a comment with your name, FSBO.com ID # and your unique open house strategy/story.
The deadline is quick - we need responses by tomorrow morning (6/5/08 at 11am EST). Hopefully this will turn in to some National media exposure for your property!
I am happy to say that Video Number 4 is now ready. In this video I show you the steps I took to prepare the outside of the home. They say that curb appeal is the most important part to preparing your home for sale. If the buyers do not like what they see from the outside, they will most likely not waste their time looking at the inside. Below the Video Player are details on each project that I completed, as well as an update on the new idea I had that is mentioned in the last part of the video. Enjoy…
Projects: Pressure Wash House and Vinyl Siding: Due to current water restrictions in Georgia, I was not allowed by law to do this myself. I was forced to hire a professional. Total cost was $120.00 to clean and pressure wash the entire outside of the house, driveway, and back patio. Had these water restrictions not been in place I could have done this myself for free, since I have access to a pressure washer, and it would have taken me about 3 hours.
Mulch Front Yard and Tree Bed: I bought 8 bags of red mulch at Home Depot for $3.33 each. Even though the mulch that was there was fine, new mulch just has a richer color to it, and looks much better.
Trim Bushes: Most experts will tell you that your bushes and trees should never touch the house. This was a simple and free job that did not take very long, but make a huge difference in the curb appeal of the home.
Pine Straw and Lawn Mowing: For this I did hire a professional. This did two things for me, saved me a lot of time, and allows me to advertise that the house is professionally landscaped. Before they laid the pine straw, they sprayed special chemicals that I would not have any access to that will prevent weeds from growing back up through the straw in a week or two. Second, they got a much better price on the 25 bales of pine straw that they used for the job. The cost, and time it would have taken me to lay 25 bales would have been a much bigger burden than paying the $250.00 it cost me.
Window Washing Pretty straight forward and free, but must be done.
So, that is all for my landscaping and curb appeal tips. It’s now time to get to the marketing. My home has been on the market for 11 days now, and as promised in the video, I have not shaved / trimmed my beard since then. (Disclaimer: Mike reserves the right to shave his beard at anytime he deems necessary, but will try his best to get the home sold before that happens)
I just wanted to wish everyone who is participating in the FSBO.com National Open House Day good luck. Please feel free to post on this blog about your experiences over the weekend. I will be sure to report on how I have done.
Also, for any buyers reading this, it is not too late to go to FSBO.com, and search for open Houses in your area this weekend. You are encouraged to go meet with these owners face to face, instead of just calling or emailing.
This is a reminder to anyone participating in our National Open House Day next weekend that time is running out to receive a FREE Open House Sign. All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog, or my previous blog about National Open House day with your FSBO.com ID# and the time and date of your Open House, and we will send you a free open house sign/arrow to help you drive traffic to your home.
As a bonus, we will now be sending TWO FREE Open House signs to anyone who comments from now until Monday night at Midnight!!!
Our professional photo affiliate will compile a professional slide show using YOUR photos (up to 20) that includes nice graphics and music. The unique FSBO.com player allows you to share this as a link, or as an embedded code (like I have done above) on any other website or webpage you might have access to. The player will include Contact and Property details. Once you order the Gold Plus Package from FSBO.com, our affiliate will contact you with further instructions on how to submit your photos. FSBO.com will automatically add this tour to your listing once it is complete.
In preparation of the FSBO.com National Open House Day coming up on May 17th and 18th, I wanted to ask YOU a few questions to get your feedback on holding Open Houses based on your past experiences.
What are the best times to hold and Open House?
Which is the better day: Sat or Sun?
How do you handle multiple prospects in your house at one time?
Should you be worried about your safety?
What did you do right, what did you do wrong?
As for me, I plan to hold as many open houses as my schedule will allow for. My house will be open on both May 17th and 18th, starting around 9:00AM. I plan to have some light Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments to keep people in the home for as long as possible, a large stack of brochures, and all of the paperwork necessary for those buyers to make an offer which I purchased from FSBO.com’s Real Estate Contracts page. Since the house is vacant, I will bring a comfortable chair and a book to occupy myself while there is no one at the house.
I’ll post pictures for everyone of my National Open House Day experience after the event. For now, I’d like to hear your stories, or plans regarding open Houses you have had recently.
NOTE: If you want FSBO.com to send you a FREE Open House Rider for your property, simply post a comment on my first blog on the National Open House Day.
May Day, May Day, it’s time for National Open House Day!
Spring has sprung, spring cleaning is done-it’s the perfect time to sell your home! In recognition of May as “National Prepare to Buy a Home Month,” FSBO.com has set two dates (May 17 and 18, 2008) for “National Open House Day” to give our customers increased flexibility to participate in this event. I encourage all of our current customers to add either date to their online “Open House Calendar”. We now give buyers the opportunity to search strictly by Open houses in their area, so it is important to post this info ASAP.
As part of the promotion for this event, I want to give each and every one of you a FREE “Open House” sign for your yard or subdivision. Due to the large number of listings we have online, it won’t be possible for me to do that. So, in order to receive your FREE Open House Sign/Arrow, you must first post the May 17th or 18th Date on your Open House Calendar, and then leave a comment on this blog with a link to your listing or with your listing ID#. Once I see that you have the open house dates set, I will ship you a Free Open House sign/arrow.
P.S. I will be holding an Open House on both days for my home that I have been making the videos for. Good Luck!
