Kicking Off the FSBO Blog
Welcome to the first ever FSBO.com blog. My name is Michael T. Malkasian, President of www.FSBO.com. At FSBO.com, we believe our greatest strength is our personal customer service. This blog will be an extended version of that service and will encourage YOU to comment on and question the information in this blog.
I will attempt to deliver updated industry news, home seller/buyer tips, as well as address some of FSBO.com’s most frequently asked questions. This is your chance to converse directly with the President, and I encourage you to do so. I am here to make your FSBO.com experience all that it can be.
For the rest of the year, we will be discussing upcoming changes and upgrades to the FSBO.com website, touch on the Real Estate market trends in your area, and hopefully hear from buyers and sellers as they share their stories on selling For Sale By Owner.
With that, I ask YOU my first question: Why are you selling FSBO (fiz-bo)?
This question is not as easy to answer as you may think, so please, put some thought into why you are really selling FSBO. Once we get that out of the way, we can start talking about the important stuff - How you are actually going to Do It!
December 4th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
I am looking for assumable mortgages and I have a suggestion. Why not add “assumable mortgage” to the list of features that a seller can post with his ad? You should also include an advanced search capability that would allow buyers to seek out specific features in a property.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
How many hits does your site get a month?
December 5th, 2007 at 12:03 am
I am glad to see the blog set up; I am on FSBO because I know that the average buyer is trying to save the real estate agent’s fee. I am a real estate agent too, so I should know. I am tired of hearing news agencies reporting that real estate is slow; if they would get off the band wagon, real estate would take care of itself. They aren’t making any more real estate.
December 5th, 2007 at 1:56 am
I am selling as FSBO because the savvy Buyer knows that people who use FSBO.com and other services to sell the property themselves have more room to play with when accepting an offer. Realtors commissions eats up the Sellers equity fairly quickly. Especially in a down market. If I had to pay 3% CSO on both sides that would be over 36K in commissions going to the Realtors. I need and want every penny! Heck, I got nice enough property, it should sell itself eventually.
December 5th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Please, please start a discussion about the real estate email scams that are happening. I am a Realtor and also have my private residence for sale on FSBO.com and have gotten these annoying emails (both at work and for my property listed on this site), where the “buyer” wants to send you a deposit before he sees the property, wants you to cash his check & give a small portion of the deposit (usually $5-7,000) back to his “agent” for his expenses when the agent comes to preview the property for him. You can draw on the buyers check after about 2 days, but then his check will come back NSF after a week or 10 days leaving you resposible for what you gave his agent. Please, sellers, be aware!
December 5th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
What about all of the annoying and harassing calls received from agents? I had to modify my listing to remove my phone number and last name - they started calling me at my office number (which was not posted on FSBO). What a nightmare.
One agent was really rude to me after I politely told her numerous times that I already had an agent if I eventually found the need for one and reminded her that might listing states this as well. This has been the worst part of listing on FSBO.
We haven’t posted pictures or the virtual tour yet but I am hoping there will be enough interest in the Chicago market that we can get a good price. Any feedback on property listed in Chicago? How long have people been trying to sell Chicago property?
December 5th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Roger,
FSBO.com currently receives around 300,000 unique visitors per month, which leads to over 30 Million Hits per month.
Thomas,
I appreciate your enthusiasm, and your optimism on selling FSBO. From the looks of both of your FSBO.com listings (http://www.fsbo.com/92729 and http://www.fsbo.com/97616) you do have nice properties, and I wish you the best of luck with your FSBO experience. One suggestion I might give is to also include a few interior photos of each property on your listings. This may lead to a few more buyer inquires for you.
I am excited to announce that early next year FSBO.com will allow users to upload UNLIMITED photos to each listing at no additional charge!
Dawn,
I am glad you brought this up. It is at the top of my list of topics to discuss, and will be the topic of today’s blog. I will be briefly educating our readers on what to look for, and how to protect themselves. This post will also be discussing what FSBO.com plans to do in the very near future to prevent these types of scams from ever hitting your inbox.
December 5th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Angela,
I can understand your frustration with solicitations from Realtors and Mortgage professionals. Please note that this is not a new technique for them, and those types of calls should be expected no matter where you decide to advertise your FSBO property.
First, please get yourself registered on the National Do Not Call Registry. You should not receive anymore calls like this after being registered for 31 days. If you do, you can report them at http://www.donotcall.gov. Most responsible agents would first check to see if you are registered prior to soliciting you.
Second, your response to the unfriendly Agent could not have been more perfect. Be polite, and let them know you will keep their information if there is ever a need to utilize their service. A good agent will thank you and let you be on your way.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Thanks for the response Mike. Unfortunately I am already on the Do not Call registry, but it isn’t helping.
Can you provide city specific info on the average time a property is listed before it is sold? Chicago is my focus!
Thanks.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Hi Mike,
In the Circlepix and link to my Virtual Tour, there is plenty of interior to see. So, that is why I am not posting interior pictures.
Thomas
December 5th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Hey Mike,
Like Angela, I would like to know what the average time is that property is listed before it is sold. Inquiring minds want to know before they sign up. I am realistic, I do understand it’s a “terrible” market and unpredictable. Just looking for a ballpark time.
Thanks,
Michelle
December 6th, 2007 at 2:32 am
I did receive the email scam and they sent the check when I advised not to until a contract was in place. Call bank check written on and it was a real account number, just did not belong to that person or money market check. Reported to local police where check received. Filed away. Check and amount requested for agent were in the average amount you mentioned.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Angela & Michelle,
Determining the average days on the FSBO market, and accurately tracking the success rate are very difficult in our industry. Because the Seller has control over their own listing, they are able to delete the listing after it sells with out ever reporting it to FSBO.com. Unlike with a Realtor where proper reporting is part of the process, we are unable to track the national, or city specific data that you are requesting.
I always tell my customers that some houses will sell in one day, and while some never sell at all. Just a few days ago I received an email testimonial from a seller stating that they received a phone call on the first day they were listed on FSBO.com, and ended up with a contract on the house shortly there after. However, at the same time, I received another email from a different customer stating that they had not had one phone call through their listing online.
We are working on a survey system to gain feedback from our sellers upon deletion of their listing online. This will hopefully give us a better understanding of success rates in your areas.
In a Recent Money Magazine article (http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/18/real_estate/home_sale_broker.moneymag/index.htm) it was quoted that “Last year about 20 percent of sellers unloaded their homes without an agent, up from 12 percent in 2005, reports industry newsletter Real Trends. And that’s expected to rise again next year.”
This is good news for those attempting to sell FSBO, now and into the future.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I HAVE INVESTED ON YOUR SITE WITH ONLY THREE PEOPLE ASKING QUESTIONS ON MY HOME, THEN I WAS GETTING REALTORS BY THE DOZEN TRYING TO HAVE ME SIGN A CONTRACT. THEY ALL CLAIMED TO HAVE A BUYER IN THEIR POCKET. BIGGEST LAUGH I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. NEEDLESS TO SAY I HIRED A REALTOR AND YOU GUESSED IT; ZIPPO, NOTHING. THE CONTRACT IS OVER THE END OF DECEMBER, NEVER EVEN CONTACTS ME FOR WEEKS ON END TO SAY WELL THE MARKET IS DOWN ETC., ETC., CAN’T WAIT TILL ITS OVER.
January 1st, 2008 at 12:41 am
Please keep these excellent posts coming
February 13th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Windows Server 2008: Redmond’s new…
InfoWorldWindows Server 2008: Redmond’s new server OS hits paydirtInfoWorld, CA -2 hours agoIT will download the trialware of WS08 in record numbers….
May 8th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
moyer Angela fl moyer myers Angela