FSBO BLOG

I am happy to announce the latest version of FSBO.com has now been launched.  Among the many new features we have added, the most notable is the addition of our ability to take Rental and international Listings.  We now also allow our users to upload an unlimited number of photos to each listing at no extra charge.  Please visit www.FSBO.com to check out the new site, and to give me your feedback.

It is currently FREE to add your Vacation Rental, Long Term Rental, and International Listing to FSBO.com.  Please add yours today.

NEW FEATURES FOR SELLERS:

• UNLIMITED PHOTOS 
  • You may now upload an unlimited amount of photos at no additional cost
• FREE VIDEO UPLOAD
  • You may now upload one video to your listing at no additional cost
  • Professional Editing and Photo Tours Available in the Video Section
• NEW MESSAGE CENTER
  • Double Duty:  You no longer have to log in to check your messages. Messages will be sent directly to your email address, along with a copy of that message saved in your message center for later review.
  • Report Spam - You can now report scam emails directly to FSBO.com with a click of a link
• New Open House Features
  • Enter Unlimited Open House dates  - Add as many Open House dates that you have scheduled (or add them as you go along in the process of selling your home
  • FSBO.com now gives Buyers the ability to Search by Open Houses in their area so be sure to get yours posted right away
• New Hit Counter 
  • Your hit counter will now display both “Total” Visitors, and “Unique” Visitors.
• Rental Property
  • If your property is also available as a rental, you may automatically add it to our New Rental Section at no cost!  From your registered user’s area, you can select “Add as Rental” and we’ll automatically copy your property listing information over for you.  From there, you can then edit your Rental record to include more specific rental information to your potential new renters! 

I will be posting all week long about new Features and Promotions like our “FSBO.com National Open House Day - May 17^th & 18^th“

I am excited to have created a profile on a website called www.activerain.com to.  Please feel free to check it out at:  http://activerain.com/malkasian1

ActiveRain is a Bellevue, WA based technology/media company hybrid that operates the largest and most active social network in the real estate space.  This site mainly benefits Real Estate industry Professionals, but I just thought I would share it with you.  I plan to duplicate my current blog on there to raise more awareness for FSBO.com and its customers. 

If you have any experience with Activerain.com, please feel free to share your experiance with us.

Ok, we have a winner.  Dahlia of North Pole, AK successfully guessed that it took me 23 takes to shoot the intro portion of my First video.  So far the feedback from the 2^nd video has been that it was much better, so at least I am improving. 

Since Dahlia’s listing is current “Under Contract” she will not be needing the Virtual tour.  I have decided to simply reimburse her for her Gold Package Listing ($99.95) for her participation and for winning my first ever contest. 

Since I can’t help to promote her listing (because it is Sold), I have asked if she was willing to answer a few questions for me regarding her experience with FSBO.com.  I have in no way modified her answers:

1. Did your buyer find you on FSBO.com, if so, by phone or email?

Our buyer is our friend from church, but we were contacted a lot this spring from potential buyers via the fobs website.

2. What other methods of advertising did you use: Other websites, newspaper, word of mouth, etc…?

We used (unsuccessfully) the newspaper on Sundays, and we posted flyers at the air force and army bases, as well as posted our house on ahrn.com (a military housing service) and also on baseforsale.com (a free classified website for the military).  Here in North Pole, AK, we are surrounded to the north and south by military, and they were our target market.  The other websites and flyers always had our FSBO.com listing, so the other forms of marketing always brought them to our website on FSBO.com
 

3. How long was your property on FSBO.com before going under contract?

We posted it in July, which, is the tail-end of house-hunting season here in Alaska (winter will be setting in and families usually don’t want to move in freezing, snowy weather) so we were late in doing that, but by February, we had an accepted offer!

4. Briefly describe your experience with FSBO.com, from the sign up process, uploading photos (did you do it yourself), receiving your supplies via UPS, leads received, etc…

It was the best site that we found for the “bang for our buck”.  It was very simple to make our site - we started uploading photos and had it going in probably less than an hour!  We received our sign and flyers very quickly (thank you UPS!).  We were very pleased with the customer service:  we posted a photo of our house just to get one on the site, but it wasn’t the “keeper” photo.  We had asked for our flyers to not be printed until we got an acceptable photo of our house on the site and because they had already been printed, we received another set of flyers with the correct photo on them!  Thank you!!  We will definitely use FSBO.com again - we saved so much by NOT using a realtor!  Great idea and keep up the excellent work!!

Thanks again for everyone who participated, and as promised, I will be sending all of you a consolation prize via email shortly. 

Mike Malkasian

I just wanted to share a testimonial we received recently from a former FSBO.com seller.  They were able to save a total of $18,000  by selling without the help of a real estate agent. 

Testimonial…

Awesome experience. The closing contract worksheet was well worth the $30 cost … it saved $18,000 of our $80,000 profit.

List Price $330,000

Sale Price $325,000

Days On Market - 12 Days

The forms they are referring to can be found in the “Real Estate  Contracts” section of FSBO.com.  I provided details on Real Estate Paperwork options for FSBOs in a previous blog.  Please click here to check it out.