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.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you are well aware that I promote Buy Owner on a regular basis. Here’s an old post from October 2008, , where I go into a detailed explanation of why I support Buy Owner after using their service. Not only did I have no complaints with the company, but also I thoroughly appreciated the professional writing and photos, the convenience of virtual tours, the friendly customer service, the simple step-by-step guidance, the fast response I received from potential homebuyers and so much more.

However, I realize that I’m just one person, with one opinion. Therefore, I insist that you go read the testimonials from other users of Buy Owner, viewable here. These are examples of real testimonials given by real customers.

Typical responses from sellers include that Buy Owner helped bring a large sum of potential homebuyers to their homes, that they received a fast response from homebuyers who found their homes online, and that many of their homes sold within days!

So don’t take my word for it - let the testimonials speak for themselves.

 Reading through the real estate articles on Yahoo!, I came across an article where just one paragraph jumped out at me:

“Advertising for an average agent costs almost up to $1,000 per month and can be much more. Just two real estate magazines’ page ads run over $400, and sellers always want their houses in print. And then there are the costs of signs, lockboxes, Web site fees, any kind of print media and mailers, etc. In our area, we are rural, and many of our homes here sell under $150,000, so these numbers are not a far stretch.”

This is why I have become such an advocate of Buy Owner! Rather than paying for a whole year’s worth of advertising month by month by month, you could choose an affordable advertising package on Buy Owner and pay a flat, one-time fee! Your listing stays on the website until the house/condo has been sold! Of course, it is up to YOU to show your own home, but you don’t ever have to pay a ridiculous amount of money to constantly advertise your property month after month. And if you want changes made to your text after a day, a month or a year, the writing department will be happy to do it, free of charge!

Finally, I conclude with Buy Owner. Selling your home FSBO is made easy with the help of the Buy Owner team!

Using Buy Owner

Buy Owner’s philosophy is simple: It’s “U” that makes the difference! By selling your home on BuyOwner.com, you are allowing anyone with an Internet connection to view your property. While it is up to you to sell your own home, using Buy Owner leaves the advertising part up to a team of professionals.

1. Professional writers create a descriptive, informative ad detailing your house inside and out, from front to back! Potential buyers can also take a look at photos of your home. If they live out of state or out of the country, there is a convenient virtual tour option.

2. A professional photographer takes high-quality resolution pictures of every inch of your property, top to bottom, inside and out. Buy Owner offers virtual tours so that people may come into your home without literally setting a foot inside the front door! The site also shows you how many people view your listing and allows buyers to get into contact with you. It’s all about the networking!

Real Estate marketing is dependent upon networking. Maximizing your home’s exposure on social network sites is going to be increasingly important as our world continues to thrive on technology. You can have the Internet at home, at the office and even in the palm of your hand on a cell phone! Facebook may be the latest craze, so you must stay on top of the trends. However, if you want professional assistance and guaranteed good service, you can’t beat Buy Owner, the leading FSBO company in the country!

I’ve been saying this for a long time: buyers want to SEE your home, not just hear about it. A simple exterior shot, slightly blurred, maybe when it’s raining, will not do the trick. The buyer wants to know if your place is worth the time it will take to visit.

SHOW IT OFF!!! Take as many photos as you can, and showcase your residence with virtual tours, using a great FSBO help like Buyowner.com. It will pay off, and MarketWatch agrees:

From MarketWatch: “To sell a home with an Internet listing, it pays to provide pictures — and lots of them, according to a recent study from an e-commerce and online marketing firm that serves the real-estate industry. Compared with listings that had only one photo, those that had 21 or more photos received double the number of responses to the listing broker or agent, according to Point2 Technologies. Listings that included no photos generated significantly less response than those that had one, the firm said. “

In today’s tough market, agents are dropping like flies, and I say this will be for the best of homeowners everywhere. According to a recent article in Naples, Florida, this market is weeding out the so-so agents, while retaining the ones who work hard.

“The first half of this decade was a seller’s market, a cash cow, one of those sure bet investments that sounded too good to be true. Lots of folks were trading in their old jobs for Realtor’s jackets. It wasn’t a bad idea at the time: Money was everywhere in the market and ripe for the taking.

But nearly two years ago, for various economic reasons, Florida’s real estate market started falling, and it didn’t stop. And it caused some real estate agents to reconsider their occupation.”

When the market bottoms out and begins thriving again, I think we’ll have a very different set of players in the real estate world: in addition to whatever agents have survived, there will be an increased demand for the incredibly valuable companies like Buyowner.com, which help you sell your home yourself with no commissions.

Someone asked me the other day what exactly a real estate agent offers that you can’t do yourself. My answer is always the same: not a lot.

Using an agent is for people who don’t want to work at selling their home and are willing to pay the 6% to pay someone else to. It’s that simple.

Using a company like Buy Owner is a smart alternative, allowing you to combine your own personal knowledge with the professional advertising and assistance of a nationwide company. Think of the things a typical real estate agent provides, and look at what Buy Owner does. A sign in the front yard? Check. Marketing materials? Check. Helpful real estate information? Check. Buy Owner clients actually receive more than that: nationwide advertising, professional photographs, property descriptions written by an in-house writing staff, customer service… Plus, there’s the added benefit of all the advertising linking back to the seller directly.

That’s something you won’t find with an agent.

1. I have control.

2. I choose the package.

3. I can monitor views/matches for my home.

4. My property appears on Buy Owner’s high-traffic Website.

5. I get professional photographs.

6. The writers create quality descriptions.

7. Buyers call me directly.

8. Referrals for mortgages, titles, attorneys.

9. Nationwide marketing that points people to my ad, in a way I couldn’t.

10. Successful history. (They worked for me before.)

I’ve spent a lot of time here posting about disappointments I’ve had with FSBO companies. Today, I want to tell you about the company that met all my expectations and then some: Buy Owner. A while ago, I posted about the things to look for in a FSBO company: Buy Owner provided every one. I have not a single complaint about their service.

In addition to quality photos and text, I was looking for: attention to professionalism, a website with a large readership, ads that bring buyers to me, available customer service and assistance with getting the right buyers. Again, Buy Owner did all these things, too.

SUPERIOR PHOTOS/DESCRIPTIONS
If you use a good FSBO company, you should be getting assistance with marketing your home–including stunning photographs and great descriptions. Let’s face it, you’re not a photographer. I know I’m not. So why would I trust myself to take the best photographs? Buy Owner sent over professional photographers to take showcase-worthy pictures. The same goes for descriptions. Ok, so maybe I have some writing ability. But not everyone does. Buy Owner had their professional writing staff create my properties description. Not just four lines of text saying “great view”, they wrote a multi-paragraphed indepth description of my property.

VIRTUAL TOURS
The photographers go through these pictures with you, including virtual tours, to make sure you’re happy. Buy Owner also uses professional writers to create clear, feature-filled descriptions of properties. The rep I met with took very detailed notes about every aspect of my property-from the floors in my kitchen to what shopping malls were nearby.

EXCELLENT WEBSITE
Plus, Buy Owner’s website is the best I know of. Their marketing campaign includes national television commercials, frequent billboards and other things to bring millions of people from all over to their site. These visitors look for properties–your property–meaning that the buyers are coming to you. Of course, I still marketed my home, too: that’s the FSBO way. But Buy Owner made everything simpler, easier and better.

ADS THAT BRING BUYERS TO ME
Unlike byowner.com and some other disappointing FSBOs, Buy Owner puts your phone number up with your advertisement. They’re not trying to steal interested parties, getting them to buy a more expensive property like a real estate agent does. They have every reason to make sure you sell YOUR home.

Also, unlike other companies, Buy Owner doesn’t squeeze tons of ads into one spot. Your ad is your ad. You have your own section in the magazine and your own page on the Website. You also won’t see Google ads popping up all over.

AVAILABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE
The people I dealt with at Buy Owner were always helpful and on top of details. If I called with a question or to update something, they got it done right away, helpfully.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Your ad with Buy Owner contains so much information that it really works to prequalify interested parties. What do I mean? When your advertisement gives tons of quality photos, virtual tours, detailed community information, room dimensions, lengthy descriptions, square footage, features, listed schools in the area and more, the buyer looking at your ad has all the information to know if they’re interested. A simple listing in the newspaper may bring a few calls, but of those few calls, the majority will be calling to find out if they’re interested; not because they’re interested.

TOOLS FOR YOU
Buy Owner has a special section for sellers that gives you statistics on your property’s activity online. It also allows you to print flyers, add photo captions, schedule open houses and more! The seller tools give you control over your advertising.

A really great feature of the seller tools is that you can pause it. Right after I started my ad, I had a family crisis to take care of. I was able to put my advertising on hold until I got back–there’s no time limit at all. When I called Buy Owner to ask them about pausing my ad, they told me I can do it online myself, or they can do it for me. They also said that the property is listed until its sold… so no matter what the real estate market is doing, you’re covered!

STEP BY STEP GUIDANCE
Once I found a buyer for my property, I called Buy Owner. They put me in contact with their transaction team who offered to help write up the contract. As an ex-real estate person, I didn’t really need the help, but hey, why not: One less thing I have to do. They also told me about their title department and how they could assist me with the closing. It was then I realized what they said was true, start to finish, Buy Owner is there to help. I know a lot of people who want to sell their homes FSBO are scared of the contract and title part of the process. Its normal, but you’re not alone. Unlike other services, Buy Owner was there to help, whenever I need them.

From beginning to end, each transaction I had with Buy Owner was smooth and successful. I have no complaints!I highly recommend them, and I always tell my real estate classes this. My students are surprised to hear someone so passionate about a FSBO company, but trust me: this is for real! Don’t take my word for it; try Buy Owner and see for yourself. You too will be saying Thanks, Buy Owner and you’ll be hooked on the FSBO way.