FSBO Jane

As most of you know, and from the title of my blog, I am an advocate of the “for sale by owner” model. I have had much success with the company Buy Owner who operates the web site buyowner.com. Recently I have been inundated with emails telling me that “my favorite FSBO is out of business.” Most of these emails are from real estate agents who forget I can Google their name and find out who they are. So it was time to get some answers.

The Daily Business Review posted an article indicating that Buy Owner’s assets had been turned over to Michael Moecker and Associates for liquidation. But, it also said that they were an Assignee for the Benefit of Creditors, also known as ABC. This is an alternative to bankruptcy. Now granted that Michael Moecker and Associates is known for liquidations, it seems they don’t plan on liquidating Buy Owner. How do I know this? Because the company is still running. You don’t run a company to liquidate it, you just liquidate it.

It seems that Buy Owner is still alive, although like most real estate companies in this market, they are struggling. But this is the time to thrive. Investors and flippers want to make as much money as they can, that makes FSBO the best possible was to sell a property.

Oh, and to all those people sending nasty emails to me, here’s more news. ForSaleByOwner.com IS part of the Tribune bankruptcy. Apparently it is going to be split off to some smaller entity. ByOwner.com is on auction. That’s right. The owner is auctioning off his assets but shows no financial statement indicating how much income the assets generate. To me, that seems a bit shaky.

I have to give Michael Mocker and Associates credit for seeing an opportunity here with Buy Owner. While the other two major FSBO’s are either in bankruptcy or bailing out in fear, they have decided to put time, effort, and money into keeping the last standing FSBO around. If I were in a position to do so, I would swoop in and scoop up all three companies and corner the entire FSBO market. But that’s just me.

It’s no secret that today’s economy has made selling difficult. Last month, an article in the Las Cruces Sun-News explored exactly what that means.

In part, the article points out, this economy demands more of sellers, from updating and decluttering to flexibility and savvy pricing.

“Howard Dukes, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Las Cruces, said that potential buyers need to walk through the door and feel a connection to the home.

‘Create a wow factor so that when somebody comes in they say, ‘I can see myself living here,’ Dukes said.”

The article goes on to list five specific ways to improve a home’s appeal, borrowed from about.com. To read the full article, click here.

It’s no secret that I am a Buy Owner fan. It is the company that helped me through my FSBO transactions and it is the company I recommend to friends and blog readers.

I keep up with their blog, and during the month of January, that was especially helpful. I e-mailed several posts to my friends who are ready to sell, but I forgot to mention it here. Essentially, the entire month was a 31-day series on why to sell with Buy Owner.

Definitely check it out. Even if you’re not sure you want to sell FSBO, if you’re about to sell your house or you’ve had no luck selling it thus far, there is no harm in reading the 31 reasons why selling with Buy Owner is a smart choice. Because I sold a house using Buy Owner, I can acknowledge that what they say is true. You don’t pay anyone commissions, so it’s more money for you. People can find all the information on your house without leaving the comfort of their house, on the Internet. There are also new features of Buy Owner, like seeing what houses other people are viewing right at this moment, and the extra advertising on social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook.

Reading these 31 reasons to sell with Buy Owner will explain better than I ever could on why selling FSBO is the way to go. It also explains how Buy Owner stands out from other FSBO companies, so that when I continue to mention this company in the future, you will understand why.

For most people, the thought of buying a home with 100% cash, no mortgage, seems like an impossible dream. But the benefits—no monthly payments, full equity, financial freedom to pursue other interests or opportunities—cannot be denied.

Perhaps that’s why some of today’s home buyers are doing just that: buying their homes with 100% cash. Take a look at these clips from around the Web:

• BuyaHousewithCash.com

  “For many people, the cost of renting or paying a mortgage is the biggest chunk of their monthly budget. When that cost is eliminated, you have the financial security that most people only dream about.
  People who own their own homes without a mortgage know that a minor downturn in the local job market or the national economy won’t put their home at risk of foreclosure. True home ownership may also allow you more financial flexibility. “

• Xin Lu at Wise Bread
  

  “You actually own your house - I think psychologically there is a big benefit in knowing that you own your house free and clear. You also free up quite a bit of income because you will have no rent or mortgage.”

• DaveRamsey.com
  

  “The most ideal way to buy a house is the 100%-down plan. Sounds weird, doesn’t it?! But think how much fun that would be! Don’t borrow money. Period. If I can’t get you to postpone the purchase that long, I strongly suggest you save a down payment of 20% or more, choose a 15-year (or less) fixed-rate mortgage, and limit your monthly payment to 25% or less of your monthly take-home pay.
  You want your new home to be a blessing, not a curse. If you buy a house with nothing down and a huge monthly payment, you’re inviting Murphy to move into the spare bedroom. You do not want Murphy as a housemate - believe me! Slow down and realistically think through everything before you jump head-first into making this major purchase. If you don’t, you’ll just be giving Murphy an open invitation to overtake the house.”

• MoneySavingMom.com
  

  “As you will recall, our big goal for this year is to save up enough to pay 100% cash down on our first home. This has been a long-time dream of ours and we’ve been actively working the past year towards this. In actuality, though, we’ve been dreaming and working towards this even before we got married.”

I have a lot of respect and admiration for people who pursue this goal. And I have to say - reading their thoughts only increases my faith in For Sale By Owner home selling. By selling with a reputable FSBO company, you get all the important exposure and advertising, while keeping the large chunk of commission that could have gone to an agent. By buying through a FSBO home, you get the best price possible, since 6% doesn’t have to be added on for commissions. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Thinking of buying a new home? Worried about getting the best rate on your mortgage?

Take a look at the GuaranteedRate.com and Zillow.com!

Here’s how they work:

GUARANTEED RATE.COM*
1. Choose loan: purchase or refinance.
2. Pick the state in which you live.
3. Enter an estimated loan amount.

ZILLOW.COM*
1. Choose loan: refinance or home equity
2. Type in the purchase price of the house.
3. Enter your zip code.

In order to find the best rate, you begin the process the same way on each site entering the type of loan, your location and the estimated amount needed. However, while Zillow provides a list of lenders (leaving you to do all of the work), Guaranteed Rate does the work for you by giving you their result in addition to offering its competitors’ information up front to ensure that you’re getting the best rate possible.

*Neither service requires your Social Security Number.

I enjoy visiting the real estate section of the Chicago Tribune, mostly because it provides articles about both informative and quirky real estate in my area, and I enjoy the local aspect. However, when I came across this article, I had to write a detailed comment that argued the subject matter.

Titled “6 homebuying mistakes and how to avoid them,” the article offers tips that I mostly agree with and have even recommended to my readers in past blogs. It says to avoid not getting pre-approved for a mortgage: true. If you do get pre-approved, it saves time, improves your credibility and lets you know what you can afford. The article also says to avoid not using the tax credit, which I also just informed you of. Unless Congress decides to extend this offer, your deadline to use the free $8,000 tax credit expires Nov. 30. Three more tips are offered, which are more abstract and can be read here.

One piece of advice that stuck out to me was this: avoid working without a real estate agent. False. It claims that the real estate world is too complicated for an average person to figure out. Guess the writer doesn’t have much faith in the common people.

Once you decide that you need an agent, the article recommends that you interview multiple agents to find a credible one, and to fight the pressure to buy that some agents present to you. Who has time for all that, when you’re trying to find the right house at the right price, without a bunch of other fees, like paying for an agent?

I’m here to tell you that you can handle the FSBO (for sale by owner) way. You have all sorts of online guides, articles, blogs, books and newsletters that will help you along the way. When advertising online, websites offer detailed guides to help you with the process. If you work through a company like Buy Owner, you get tons of advertising, total control of your sale and no commission payments. You sell your home, and you get all the profit!

So who needs an agent? Do it the FSBO way! To read the article and voice your support of FSBO buying and selling, click here.

Ever feel like you didn’t get what you paid for? Like if you paid $50 for a plain white T-shirt with a store logo on it, and then you wondered if that logo was really worth it? Or if you visited a high-end restaurant and paid $100-plus for a dinner that didn’t even quiet your stomach rumbles? Contrarily, ever feel like you tried to save money by paying less for something that wasn’t worth it? Like if you bought a bike from a garage sale, but the brakes were dangerously squeaky and slippery, and you wondered if the cheap buy was worth the lack of safety?

Buy Owner’s services don’t feel like that. You get exactly what you paid for.

To suit all financial abilities, Buy Owner offers different advertisement sizes. The most affordable ads are short and sweet, such as one or two paragraphs of text, highlighted with photos. For a little more money, you could score four paragraphs of descriptive text and additional photos. The most expensive ad package, called Elite, provides your house with a personal website and individual descriptions of each room, supported with an array of photos.

Depending on how much you can afford and how much your home has to offer, you can choose the ad size that works best for you. The ad size you choose, along with how much you’re selling your home for, will decide how much you pay. Therefore, you get exactly what you pay for.

Visit BuyOwner.com to find out more.

As a FSBO (for sale by owner) seller or buyer, the Internet offers an arena of information for you to acquire the tips and knowledge you need to be successful. But does it ever frustrate you when you’re trying to find an answer to a question, like the steps to making a bid, and all these realtor and agent websites show up? “We’ll do all the work for you” doesn’t exactly help when you’re trying it the FSBO way.

That’s why I find and save a multitude of FSBO blogs in my Favorites folder. And as you know, the Buy Owner Blog tops the list. This blog only covers topics that are helpful to FSBO buyers and sellers, with topics so widespread, you’re sure to find what you’re looking for. I almost always do.

Two recent blogs that I found to be helpful included one about how to accept a bid, as a seller, and one about how to make an offer, as a buyer. Each article covers the questions that a buyer or seller would have without help from an outside agent. But they also make it clear that the process is possible alone, and you’ll come out of the process with a lot more money and pride.

To check out these particular articles, read 8 Tips for Accepting a Bid and Making an Offer.

When it comes to buying and selling FSBO, there are no limits to types of homes offered. If you do a quick search on any site to see what’s available for sale by owner, you won’t only find single-family homes and apartments. Many of the options present an investment opportunity, with the possibility of building houses or an apartment complex on vacant land, or living on a property that also contains a separate house, a guest house, a manufactured house or a vacant lot.

Doing a quick search on the site I find most credible, Buy Owner, I found all sorts of investment opportunities for anyone interested in real estate revenue. With Buy Owner, it’s so simple, because if you choose to do an advanced search, you have the option of choosing business property, vacant land, commercial property and others.

One option I found included a duplex that is available to own and currently contains renters. That’s immediate income for whoever purchases it! I also found a two-flat that had one renter and a bar in the bottom, which would obviously provide immediate income. Lots of vacant land was available, with permits already allowing construction. I found a few lots that included an extra lot next door, and one property included three gorgeous homes that could all be rented!

The best part of it is that even if you don’t realize there’s an investment opportunity available with a purchase, the writing description will usually point that out for you. Why not at least consider the possibility of making an income with your real estate purchase?

A June article in TheAdvertiser.com highlighted 2009 real estate statistics, minus FSBO listings. Overall, things are good, according to reporter Mary Jane Bauer, but they’re not as good as the previous years.

“As to the number of houses for sale, it seems like there are more to me but the MLS shows 1,574 new listings for 2009 and 1,750 for 2008. Perhaps there are more ‘FSBOs’ now.”

Indeed, more FSBOs could mean things have gotten back to normal or even exceeded 2008’s numbers - that’s what I’m hoping, at least.

To read the rest of the article, click here.