For Sale By Owner Blog

Houses for sale by owner accounted for 5 percent of all home sales in Massachusetts in 2009, based on the Massachusetts home buyer and seller profile report from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors.

The 5-percent FSBO share in Massachusetts was much lower than the nationwide share of 11 percent. Of the FSBO sellers who were able to sell their homes in 2009, around 20 percent knew their buyers prior to the home sale.

The main finding of the study, however, is the increase in the percentage of first time home buyers in Massachusetts in 2009. More than 50 percent of home purchases last year were accomplished by first time homebuyers, an increase of 5 percent from the percentage in 2008.

The finding affirmed the contention by housing analysts and realtors that prospective home buyers were enticed by the federal tax credit incentive for first time buyers, the availability of affordable homes and the record low mortgage rates.

The age median for first time homebuyers was 30, a drop from 31 in 2008, with buyers aged 25 to 34 years accounting for 61 percent of all first time buyers and buyers aged 35 to 44 years accounting for 18 percent of all first time buyers.

In contrast to claims by online businesses involved in houses for sale by owner, the MAR reported that more than 90 percent of house sellers did not find buyers on their own but hired real estate agents or brokers to sell their homes.

The study also found that the number of home buyers in Massachusetts who bought a foreclosure home increased to 10 percent of all homebuyers, an increase of 7 percent from the 2008 percentage, but at the same level as the nationwide average.

The median annual income of home buyers in the Bay State climbed up to $94,800, a significant jump from the $88,100 median in 2007 and much higher than the nationwide median income of $73,100. Based on civil status, 59 percent of home buyers were married couples, 12 percent were unmarried partners, 14 percent were single men and 15 percent were single women.

A higher percentage of buyers with immigrant origins was reported as 13 percent of homebuyers in Massachusetts disclosed they were born in other countries, compared to the nationwide share of 9 percent.

Additionally, most recent sellers of listed homes and houses for sale by owner reduced their asking price by 6 percent while 23 percent offered incentives to entice buyers.

Whenever you list homes for sale by owner either by yourself or with the help of a flat-fee listing service or a low-commission-rate service, or if you are an agent listing homes for sale, always double-check and review the details in your listings to prevent irreparable consequences.

According to realtors like Jim Crawford in Atlanta, Al Fackler in Boise and Kimberly Barnett in Chicago, errors as simple as typo errors, spelling errors and a single character error in telephone numbers, street numbers, number of bedrooms, square footage of homes and home lots, map coordinates and zip codes can spell doom for sales or can ignite future liabilities.

These realtors said that all listings must contain accurate information and must include crucial information that prospective buyers need to know, such as prohibition of pets on properties in multifamily buildings or location of the property in a community where certain fees are paid.

Real estate listings are generally accurate, according to many realtors. But they admit that there are still many listings which are published online without much thought about their impact on prospective buyers. Sellers should realize, according to the realtors, that most prospective buyers now search the Internet before pursuing further their home buying efforts and therefore sellers must present their properties to buyers in the best way they can.

Sellers who list homes for sale by owner must also make sure that the pictures they include in their listings are clear and that the images represent the real conditions of the house inside and outside. The pictures used must also be relevant and of good quality. Huntington Beach realtor Althea Garner said that pictures of celebrities do nothing to improve salability.

According to Illinois realtor Eileen Landau, the practice of virtual staging can provide ideas on how properties would appear if they are enhanced with interior decoration strategies. However, images of the real conditions of the properties should be included in order to avoid charges of misleading or deceitful information.

In addition to tips concerning listings, sellers of FSBO homes are also advised to save on commissions while getting quality marketing help from professional real estate agents by negotiating with them.

Sellers can list homes for sale by owner with the help of professionals at a reduced cost by improving the salability of their FSBO homes and by also hiring the same professionals in looking for another property to buy.

You can access a for sale by owner listing through a discount broker if you are a buyer looking for an FSBO home. Similarly, you can sell your house through the FSBO listing of a discount broker if you are a homeowner looking to sell your own home.

Discount brokers attract homeowners trying to sell their homes because these brokers charge only for the services needed by home sellers. Some of them even offer full brokerage services at discounted commission rates in their effort to promote and grow their services.

Many prospective home buyers prefer FSBO homes over other types of existing homes because most these homes are well-maintained and many FSBO even carry out useful home improvements just to add value to their homes and make them more saleable.

For some fortunate buyers, there are FSBO homes that are sold at very affordable rates because the owners need to move to another state for employment reasons or there are family events that necessitate the immediate sale of the homes. In most instances, a prospective buyer can access these homes through the for sale by owner listing of a discount broker.

Similarly, sellers of FSBO homes can sell their houses with help from discount brokers. There are discount brokers that have packaged their services to cater to the level of needs of FSBO sellers. For sellers who want quick results but affordable fees, there are discount brokers offering a flat fee for around $3,000 for full services except Multiple Listing Service listing.

For sellers who want listing in a major MLS, an additional commission fee of around two to three percent is added to the flat fee. According to discount brokers, when the flat fee and the commission fee are added, the total is still much lower than the total commission fees charged in traditional brokerage agreements, saving the home seller several thousand dollars in commission.

For FSBO sellers who have the ability to market and sell their homes, they can maximize their commission savings by paying discount brokers only for paperwork and for facilitating the home sale transaction with the mortgage bank, title insurance firm and lawyers.

To find good discount brokers, you can go to Alexa.com and look for real estate brokers that get high traffic. Whether you are selling or buying through a for sale by owner listing, there are discount brokers that offer services that match your needs and your budget.

If you are selling your home, make your for sale by owner listing with a flat-fee Multiple Listing Service to cut commission costs and at the same time assure yourself of a sale at the right price.

You just pay a small one-time fee for your FSBO listing and the fixed-fee MLS company will market your property through the major MLS systems in the country, including the web portals of major real estate brokers.

Just make sure you are dealing with a fixed-fee MLS provider that has a wide network in the real estate industry and is affiliated with the major real estate brokerage firms in the country or in your state.

In many cities, there are web sites specializing in selling FSBO homes and offering flat-fee MLS in their own areas, so look for those focused in your area. In Madison, Wisconsin, for instance, the most well-known is FSBO Madison, largely because it pioneered the use of the Internet to sell FSBO homes without help from realtors and Multiple Listing Services.

In addition to FSBO web sites that focus on certain areas, there are also a lot of FSBO sites that operate nationwide. FSBO.com, which is widely mentioned in various news items, offers for sale by owner listing services to property owners at a flat fee of $299 for MLS listing in certain markets.

Since there are now a lot of providers of fixed-fee MLS, research first and then compare the services they offer. Typically, the basic flat fee covers MLS listing and listing in the provider’s web sites with videos and photos for six months. Additional services such as extra photos, showcase advertising, virtual tours and yard signs entail additional fees, but are still low-cost when compared to total commission fees in conventional real property sales.

There are also now providers of fixed-fee MLS services that have developed proprietary software so sellers of homes, like you, can easily use their services to market their homes. You no longer have to download PDF forms, fill them out and then send them through fax. Now, you can provide all needed details online so your property information can be added more quickly to the MLS data system.

Lastly, one advantage of using a fixed-fee MLS provider for your for sale by owner listing is the ability to make your price competitive so you can sell your house more quickly. Because your costly commission fees are eliminated, you can reduce your asking price and attract more purchase offers.

As a seller of a for sale by owner home, the possibility of wasting time with a potential buyer who will not be pre-approved for a mortgage loan is high. Such situation is certainly frustrating especially if you have already spent months negotiating the sales price. What is worse is that you might have even turned down other offers.

With the tighter lending guidelines being implemented today, almost 50 percent of home buyers were lucky enough to obtain mortgage loans.

This is based on a study conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association wherein they have observed lenders reject applications due to inability of the applicant to shell out a bigger down payment amount or low credit score.

In order to avoid such time-wasting situation, sellers are advised to focus their attention on buyers who already have obtained a pre-approval letter. Keep in mind that this is different from being pre-qualified, which still lacks the credit score, income and other financial background check.

In case the potential buyer is not yet pre-approved, you should first inquire about the steps they still need to take in order to obtain a mortgage loan. Make sure that you do this before negotiating the sales price. This way, you will not be only wasting time but you will also be giving great advice to the buyer.

By doing so, you also encourage them to transact with for sale by owner sellers instead of hiring brokers or agents.

One of the advices you can give the buyer is to look for a mortgage lender either in person or online. There are so many available information and resources they could utilize from the internet in order to ensure that they get pre-approved.

By providing assistance to the buyer, sellers of for sale by owner homes will be able to save time. In addition, they will benefit much from the experience, which they can use to help out a fellow FSBO seller.

The real estate market today has been making it difficult both for buyers and sellers to come to an agreement about financing a sale of a house. Houses for sale by owner need to have more options in financing. With this, a lot of buyers and sellers are settling for rent-to-own, or leasing.

This option is similar to a simple lease. The tenant would be renting the house and would pay for monthly expenses such as rent and other fees. However, this option is different in such a way that there are some terms that can be different, based on the agreement of a buyer and a seller.

For instance, the seller may ask the tenant to give a certain amount to make sure that the house is being sold and “reserved” for them. This deposit would be part of the total value of the house, if the tenant agrees to purchase the house in the future. The seller and the tenant can also agree upon a specific amount of time for how long the house would be rented.

There are advantages and disadvantages to the rent-to-own option for houses for sale by owner. For the homeowner, they would get monthly income from the rent, as well as the deposit that the renter pays at the onset. Aside from this, the option already secures that the renter would most likely purchase the house.

On the other hand, a buyer would be able to experience living in a house that can be purchased in the future. Being able to live in a house that you are considering would help you well in deciding whether or not it is worth your money.

The lease-option also poses the risk of having the house back to the landlord’s ownership. The house can be damaged and be in need of major repairs. To avoid the hassles and troubles associated with this, sellers can specify rules for maintaining the house.

Meanwhile, a tenant, upon deciding that the house is not worth to be purchased, would lose the deposit that was given at the start of the term.

The rent-to-own option can be attractive to a lot of buyers and sellers of houses for sale by owner. It is important to talk it through during negotiation.

Tenants of commercial buildings and other similar properties are the number one people in the eyes of those that own the properties. If we would look at real estate by owner perspective, we would find out that it is highly important to listen to the tenants and to adopt according to their needs and preferences, especially with regards to the facilities, location and other details of the offices.

Real estate experts discussed points related to this, and said that until the year 2010, tenants would be in the driver’s seat. Rental rates of offices have decreased by 12 percent only in the past year. Similarly, industrial lease rates decreased by a large 25 percent. This happened after financial difficulties have injured the real estate market.

It seems that not only those that own a home are experiencing renting and leasing problems. A lot of offices have vacated their offices in the past year, in search of more affordable spaces. Because of this, commercial and office landlords have been forced to drop their lease rates to be able to accommodate the financial capacities of their tenants.

This has also caused the cessation of developments of new offices. With the Internet effectively uniting teams that are scattered, more and more companies are seeing the advantages of maintaining a small decent office and keeping everyone else at home. This helps them save, but the real estate by owner perspective is not as good as the office renters.

For instance, in North Texas, people are expecting that offices would not be built in another five or seven years. On the other hand, the office buying and selling industry is expected to improve in the coming year, as the coming years are even expected to accelerate for the industry. This is expected to happen as the credit market sees some improvements, as well as more foreclosures and more agreements between buyers and sellers.

As stimulus packages are launched and more help comes from the government, for sale real estate by owner would continue improvements in the coming years. With the right marketing strategies, more and more offices would again be attracted to get a physical and commercial space.

A lot of homeowners are taking it upon themselves to sell their houses. In fact, it is a little sector in the real estate market that continues to strengthen. However, a lot of homeowners are not aware of all the things they have to do. They brave the real estate sea and end up drowning in the tensions and the tiring processes they have to go through.

There are a lot of things you have to go through before you finally seal the deal to the best buyer of your house. Here are some things you have to go through as you sell your house, the for sale by owner way:

• Vacate your schedule for open houses and meetings with prospective buyers. Your weekend may be sacrificed when you decide to sell your house through FSBO. Open houses are best done during the weekends, since this is the time when most people can easily go to different places. Also, when you have a short list of buyers, you would need more time to meet with them and negotiate. A lot of your time may be gone as you sell your house.
• Make sure you get professional help. You would need to make sure that you know all the correct procedures in selling a house. The house contract is not enough,. Even the offer of the buyer should be written on paper so that everything is clear. There are also processes that you would have to deal with the lending company as the financing of your house is transferred to the buyer.
• Help the buyer too. Buyers would be attracted to sellers who would help them finance their houses. This extra offer would increase your chances of selling the house. Aside, from that, it also ensures that your house would be paid correctly.
• Prepare your house. Even before you post advertisements, make sure that your house is enough to be presented to anyone interested to buy it. Make some repairs, repaint some parts of the house, improve and beautify your lawn, and remove things that make it look too messy. A clean and well-kept house would appeal best to buyers. They do not like to get a house which would need to be repaired and worked on. Make it look as close to a new house, and you would surely sell your house as fast as possible.

Holding open houses are essential in selling for sale by owner homes. It would give prospective buyers more bases for deciding whether or not to buy your home. Ultimately, the aim for holding open houses is to attract them to buy your house with the best price that they can offer.

How do you achieve this? Here are some tips for you to get the most out of open houses:

• Prepare your house. Make sure that your house is prepared to be shown to outsiders. Give your house a make over, especially in areas which are highly noticeable. It is highly important to clean the house before you show it to other people. Aside from making a bad impression about the house, it can also make a bad impression on you as a business contact.
• Schedule on a weekend. Of course, this is when buyers are off from work. This increases your chance to show your house to as many people as possible. It is also preferable to conduct an open house at around 1:00 to 4:00 pm, times when most people are doing nothing. You can publish your schedule through the Internet, and also indicate it on the For Sale By Owner sign on your lawn.
• Stage your house. Rearrange your furniture so it appeals best to most buyers. Remember that the more space and storage, the more it appeals to more buyers. Get the opinion of family and friends so that you can gauge how attractive your house already looks. Based on their suggestions, make the adjustments.
• Have a sign-in paper. During your open house, make sure that you are able to get the buyers’ names and contact details so you can follow up on them.
• Distribute important information. Print out flyers which contain essential information about your house. This would make it easier for you so that you would not be bombarded with a lot of questions.
• Give refreshments. Entertain your visitors like you would anybody visiting your house. Give them refreshments. You can even bake cookies. This may not create any impression about your house, but more on you as the owner and as a seller. It reflects that you are someone that is good to work with.

For Sale By Owner or FSBO is getting more and more popular as sellers of properties are trying to keep up with the intense competition in the housing market. More and more houses are being foreclosed, and the prices continue to fall sharply.

A lot of homeowners are then resorting to selling their houses through FSBO, for them to be able to pocket the commission that they are supposed to pay to real estate brokers, and also to have more flexibility in pricing their properties.

However, a lot of work is required when dealing with FSBO. You have to do everything on your own. This might take its toll on you, so it is best if you first gather all the information you need before you decide. Here are some points you have to remember about FSBO:

• FSBO is time-consuming. Get ready to have your weekend to be entirely devoted to your FSBO home. You might need to arrange site visits and meetings with prospective buyers. For you to be able to successfully sell your house, you should expect to spend a lot of time working on it.
• You have to have an open mind. Do not be greedy, in other words. For you to have a realistic estimate of how much your house should sell, conduct your own research and weigh all your options. You might want to browse through the Internet or ask around your neighborhood about other properties for sale. You can also hire a professional appraiser for you to have a logical estimate of how much your house is.
• You have to make your house presentable. Living in the same place for a lot of years might have already made you so used to its appearance that you are not even aware that it actually looks messy and disorganized. Before you even show your house to prospective buyers, first conduct a general cleaning of your place. Also, you might want to conduct some repairs and repainting jobs. Also, it is highly important for you to spiff up the lawn. First impressions are very important, and this also goes for your FSBO house.

With determination and dedication, you would be able to sell your FSBO home in no time.