You can, however, organize your search using only the basic features of Microsoft Excel. You will just use the blank flexible charts. You do not have to study how to format the cells or how to get the sum of numbers. In fact, you are going to use only five to ten columns depending on the number of FSBO homes you are going to compare.

You will just fill in the black cells so that you can organize the information that you get from your online search. Putting pieces of information in columns and in rows will enable you to compare easily. You will also immediately see what you are missing.

On the first column of the Excel chart, list the specifications or characteristics of a typical home. These include the type of house, asking price, total floor area, lot size, type of neighborhood, accessibility to work, distance from schools, accessibility to shops, presence of parks, traffic noise level, nearness to a busy street, sidewalks, corner lot, kitchen upgrades, bathroom upgrades and many other features that are important to you and your family.

You can also add photo locations or photo codes to your list, so that you can easily access the files where you put the photos of the houses FSBO in your short list.

Having your house details in a chart will make your comparison easier. As you look at the data in a chart, you can also see which certain good features of a house can balance out less desirable features. For instance, you may decide that a smaller but costlier house nearer to your work is better than a larger but cheaper house farther from your work.

But if you are a person who does not mind long travel, you may find that the larger house is better because it has wide living area or its woodwork makes you feel good.

To start your search, you can type FSBO, the plus symbol and the name of your city. This way, results from established FSBO websites, newbie websites, homeowner websites and classified FSBO ads will appear. You can narrow your search by typing again the plus symbol and then type 3 beds or any other specification very important to you.

Additionally, you can go directly to established houses FSBO websites such as forsalebyowner.com and then use their search tools.

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.

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.

Contrary to the statements of some real estate organizations that it is difficult for homeowners to sell their homes without the help of agents, homeowners nationwide have been selling their homes with limited or no assistance from real estate agents. According to ForSaleByOwner.com, FSBO listings comprise about 20 percent of the nationwide residential real estate market.

With the preponderance of FSBO websites offering innovative services, you can take at look at these services, particularly those that are based in your area, and you will find a website that will suit your needs.

There have been FSBO websites serving only local areas that have become popular nationwide because of their success in selling for sale by owner homes.

When choosing a FSBO service to help you sell your home, look for a service that offers you several options or customized packages. Bloomkey.com, for instance, offers a service called Interactive Decision Making, which enables you to easily create your own real estate sales package from among available sales services. With this module, you pay only for the services you need and not pay for the services that you yourself can do, such as showings, open houses and additional marketing activities.

FSBO.com is another popular website that helps owners sell their FSBO homes. It has been helping sellers, buyers and renters since 1997. You can also choose whether to avail of a flat-fee MLS, a flat-fee listing marketing package or another package with added options. The website tells you upfront how much it costs to list and how much commission to pay to the buyer’s broker if you agree to sell your home to a buyer with an agent.

Another popular FSBO service is ForSaleByOwner.com, which has been offering online real estate marketing services since 1999. It is upfront about its flat fees and it offers tools that help sellers sell their houses independently, such as downloadable forms and live customer support.

For a flat fee, this FSBO service offers you full advertising, pricing report, yard sign, step-by-step instructions, printable flyers, home selling guarantee and live support.

All in all, flat-fee FSBO services save you the six-percent commission that real estate agents collect and help you sell your FSBO homes within a reasonable time.

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.

The only expenses that may be covered by the FSBO home seller are closing costs and the services of a lawyer or a third party that will facilitate the closing and accomplish all activities related to the real estate sales contract. Other expenses by the FSBO seller could be advertising or marketing costs.

In the case of buyers looking for FSBO homes without help from brokers or agents, buyers’ expenses could just be gas money in going around the neighborhoods looking for FSBO properties.

But since the real estate market is not ideal or balanced some of the time for FSBO sellers or for prospective buyers of FSBO, the services of brokers may be needed.

In a seller’s market, some sellers of houses for sale by owner may no longer need the services of brokers because buyers abound and they do not need to look far for buyers. On the other hand, in a buyer’s market, some sellers need help from brokers because it would be hard to find buyers.

In the case of home buyers, brokers are needed if the market is a seller’s market. The competition for buying homes would be fierce, necessitating the assistance of a real estate agent who has access to listings that are not available to direct buyers. If it is a buyer’s market, the buyer can find and buy a great home without hiring a broker.

For sellers of FSBO homes, they can benefit from the services of brokers and still save on commission by hiring discount brokers or flat-fee brokers. Some brokers offer full services at a discounted commission rate because they are promoting their services while other brokers offer specific brokerage services at fixed rates to cater to budget-conscious sellers.

There also brokers who package certain commonly needed brokerage services and offer them at a certain rate with options to include additional brokerage services at additional fees.

For first time buyers of FSBO homes, it is highly recommended that brokers are hired to prevent costly mistakes. Buying houses for sale by owner entails FSBO networking, home inspection and other brokerage activities that only an experienced real estate professional can offer.

The key is to price it just right, not underpriced nor overpriced. Here are some tips that you can take note of as you price your FSBO house:

• You have to aim to get the price right as early as possible. If you overprice your house, you would not get as much offers as you want. On the other hand, if your house is underpriced, it may create a negative impression on prospective buyers. After all, low-priced items are usually associated with mediocrity and substandard quality.
• Base your price on the location of your property. Make sure that you know the prices of other homes in your area, since this would affect the price of your house in a big way. For instance, areas that are in demand have high house prices, while those that are not hot in the market would not sell as high.
• Consider the current condition of your house. Of course, a well-maintained house has more value than one that has a lot of needed repairs. It would be better if you sell a house that is well-maintained and price it higher than a house that looks dilapidated. Buyers want to get a no-fuss house, one that would not require them to get busy just doing repairs and maintenance works. This is your job and responsibility to present a house that is well-kept.
• Take note of extra amenities. If you have extra amenities such as a pool or a hot tub, you can set the price of your house a little high.
• Evaluate your house against other properties for sale. This would help you get an idea of the prices of houses near yours. You can look in the Internet and check the prices of other houses. You can even drive around and ask about the prices of houses. This would give you a good range which you can use and base on when you set your house’s 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.

To address this concern, buyers and investors will be more confident about the transaction if they order a title search. Basically, it involves the checking of public documents, particularly land records, to determine who has the right on the property and what these rights are.

If you fail to order a title search, you may find yourself paying for debts that are attached to the property. Keep in mind that such debts stay with the property and not with the owner. It will be possible that you may have to face numerous lawsuits if the property has several liens attached to it.

Some would argue that the purchase of title insurance is enough to protect them. But there are situations where the investor pays cash for the FSBO homes and might not consider the purchase of title insurance as necessary.

On the other hand, you do not have anything to lose if you do decide to order a title search. It is even recommended that you do so even before you start negotiating prices. This way, you do not have to waste any more of your time and money in case there are problems with the title.

To further protect you and your investment, you will still need to purchase title insurance. You will only have to pay for this once and you can enjoy peace of mind knowing that the costs incurred in case of liens attached to the title will be covered.

Experts usually recommend that buyers purchase a separate policy if they will be going through a mortgage lender. Usually, the title insurance required by lenders just protects the lender and not the buyer.

When ordering a title search during the purchase of FSBO homes, look for a company that specializes in state, municipal and even federal lien search. Some companies also provide judgment search, tax status as well as an in depth look on the chain of liens and titles. A full title search involves going back to the very first owners of the property while a current owner search will involve just the last sale.

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.