Posted by David Krulac on December 11, 2001 at 08:25:57:
advertising in the newspaper and in the multilist still bring in more buyers than a yard sign.
If the yard sign is on a heavily travelled street it will get noticed more, but some of the people who notice won’t want to live on a busy street.
One house that I bought last year was on a cul de sac with only 4 houses. There was next to no traffic on the street and the yard sign was ignored. As a result there was no interest in the house, except me.
You don’t need the MLS to sell, but for most people that’s the way to go, even at a discount broker. In my area 90% of the houses sell with a broker. Most of the FSBOs don’t sell because their overpriced and end up being listed with a broker.
Posted by Dianna on December 10, 2001 at 22:09:56:
Hello,
Newbie to this site, and I love it! I am an investor looking for good sites for listing FSBO properties. Free is good, but I’m ultimately looking for results. Any info would be appreciated!
A long answer - probably not what you’re seeking - Posted by Nate(DC)
Posted by Nate(DC) on December 10, 2001 at 23:19:53:
Dianna,
It was not clear from your message whether you are looking to LIST property on a FSBO web site, or BUY property from a FSBO web site.
In either case, let me offer some advice. These are solely my opinions.
If you’re looking to list property for sale - I have not, yet, seen a FSBO website that is worth paying for. If you find a free one, that is fine; however, expect to get what you pay for. If you want to list property for sale cheaply, in my view the best investment is to spend a couple hundred bucks for one of the discount broker services to get it into the MLS. That will market it to all the agents in your area. I would also spend money on signs, flyers (you can take those to real estate offices if you don’t want to put it in the MLS), and newspaper ads, before I would use a FSBO web site.
If you are looking to BUY property, you should be looking for a motivated seller. That’s how you get the best deal. In my experience, people trying to sell FSBO are generally NOT motivated sellers. Why not? Well, look at the primary reasons people try to sell FSBO:
They are cheap. Too cheap to pay a broker to sell their house. Do you think they’d accept a low offer on their house? Unlikely!
They aren’t really serious about selling. There’s no deadline coming up. They’re not about to buy a new house or be transferred cross-country. They’re just testing the waters, seeing what kind of offers they might get…they might take a good one if it came along, but they’re in no hurry to sell. Certainly not likely to take a low offer.
Their idea of their house’s value is so inflated that no agent will take the listing. Certainly these folks won’t cut you a good deal.
I could go on, but you get the point. Typically people selling FSBO are NOT what we would call “motivated sellers”. You are just as likely to find them by looking at listed property, maybe more so. And, the REALLY motivated sellers are the ones that aren’t even trying to sell, but have to sell anyway.
I have bought numerous houses from FSBO’s or former FSBO’s. That FSBO sign is out in the garage because the only people that called wanted to offer them half of what the property was worth.
There is no question that you want someone to be motivated to make the best deal. Some of those motivated sellers are in that group. They may not be so motivated when you first call them but if you follow up you will discover their real needs.
Number one selling tool is still the sign in the front yard. Offer owner financing and it will sell. Want all cash and it becomes a numbers game. The more people you make aware of the house the more likely you will find the cash buyer.