1 April 2007

Modified reprint of our March 9th  Your Home-Your Money.com website blog.  This was the final show of an eight-week radio series we did on selling For Sale By Owner, subtitled "FSBO RADIO".  The series was broadcast through Madison 1670 - the Pulse (WTDY) every Saturday mornindg at nine and included interviews with local real estate professionals. 

   FSBO Radio - Final Show of the Selling Your Home By Owner Series.

1. Intro: Need to begin with the basics - best market is the local market. People like to explore the neighborhood they want to move into. AFTER your home is staged and ready to show on an hour or two's notice...

• Get your yard sign out* - 76% of all sales start with a yard sign being noticed and read
• Put out directional signs*
• Get your flyers made up - with pictures*
• Prepare your guest book*

*These can all be provided by Capital Mortgage Advisors at no charge.

2. Now you are ready to promote your home. You have the choice of magazines, newspapers, community (limited geography) papers, the super market and so on. However, acording to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) over 70% of all buyers now begin their search on the internet

• Lots of information about neighborhood.
• Searches are easy with lots of variables.
• No salesmen to harass them.
• Great for looking at relocations.
• Search at their own pace.

                                        ****SO GO WHERE YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE - ONLINE!****

3. You can list locally for between $150 and $199 on FSBOmadison.com and MADCITYHOMES.com and that ilk. Be careful. FSBOMADISON used to pull your listing if you list somewhere else as well.  Read your agreement and know what you're getting into.

• Better than paying 6% commission.
• Limited effectiveness.
• 70% of all FSBOs are eventually sold by realtors (which means 30% are NOT)
• It's worth a shot to try it yourself and this is low cost advertising.

This is NOT Multiple Listing Service (MLS) which is used, paid-for, and maintained by the NAR and local Realtor associations.  It's a website that people go to because of your yard sign and reputation.  Will your Buyer know you are there?

4. Websites offer Flat -Fee MLS, meaning they're not based on a percentage of your home's value, websites are out there.  You WILL be on MLS, MadCityHomes.com offers that service as well. 

• You can list with FLAT FEE MLS and others like it.
• Usually $300 to $400 or more additionally
• Your listing is posted for up to 6 months.
• Relocators will search MLS directly or thru Realtor.com. 
• Still not free.

GET OUT PEN and PAPER - THIS INFO WILL SAVE YOU SOME MAJOR TIME!

5. You can go to these low-cost websites:

ForSaleByOwner.com - nationwide - $89.95 per month or $250 until sold.

Owners.com - nationwide - Package prices vary from $50 to $180 with FF MLS as $377.

SellHomesHere.com - Nationwide - Cumbersome. They link you to different services, which they may/may not get money from or own.

Yahoo Real Estate - Good ole Yahoo. Planetwide. Lots of trust and reputation here. And hits!  Decent rates and easy to use setup                 

• 21 Days - $49.95.                
• An Additional $12.95 to "feature" your home.                  
• Not the cheapest, but growing in popularity (and Buyers).

6. Now for the FREE ones:

VirtualFSBO - nationwide. They say a free full page with one picture. We checked it out, it seems so. (You can upgrade to 3 pix for $15 and flat fee MLS for $350)

CraigsList.com - Anywhere. Looks like a dumb site but it's very cool.

• Used by many local realtors successfully.
• List your home locally for FREE = with lots of pictures (they have an easy-to-use template)
• Listing good for 45 days.
• Divides states to cities and sometimes neighborhoods. Choose the closest ones as Buyers will look there.
• (Hot tip)Cannot list identical ad in multiple places - need to change the ad and/or ad title just a bit to get it in multiple communities.

7. Darren Kittleson of Keller-Williams here in Madison said they like to be on the Google hit list in at least 30 places when people click-search for Madison real estate. It takes a bit of work to be ranked by search engines, so make certain you post on websitews where your Buyers are looking.  Start your listing on the most popular websites and move - time permitting - to those a little more obscure.

8. You're not done - all your print ads should point to your web listing. List the address in your ads - it's what the big dogs do. Advertise your yard signage phone number, too.

9. Be sure to take advantage of our Help-U-Buy program. We can help your potential Buyers with Help-U-Buy. You can use our signs (with call capture and an individual toll-free extension to a recorded message), our directional signs, and flyers to attract the traffic you draw with your print and web ads as well as the ones cruising your neighborhood to check out housing.

Summary

It's not easy to sell For Sale By Owner, but it can be worth every effort in big savings. If you follow much the advice and guidelines given by us and the other outstanding professionals you've heard the last eight weeks, you will maximize your chances for success. 

Remember you can get the recordings of these FSBO RADIO shows at www.yourhome-yourmoney.com/fsbo.

For quick Q&A lessons listen at FSBO RADIO Factoids found at http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=10690 and http://www.10minutelessons.com/.

Thanks for reading and listening.  Good luck!

Art Blanchet

Bill Quigley

Disclaimer:  As is always the case, you must do your due diligence when attempting to sell your home.  Our advice is based on research and experience but has no legal weight.  We always recommend seeking legal and professional advice when undertaking the buying or selling of real estate.