Here is good news for FSBO sellers. More and more homebuyers are using the Internet to buy a home. This means you, as an individual homeowner selling your home, have higher chances of selling your home by yourself, without the services of a real estate broker. You can post your FSBO homes to as many classified ads sites as you can, knowing that many potential homebuyers are surfing classified ads for FSBO homes for sale or looking at online FSBO listings.
According to the National Association of Realtors, one-third of all home buyers in 2008 first saw the house they bought on the Internet. Back in 2001, only 8 percent used the Internet to buy their homes. Meanwhile in 2008, the number of people who found the homes they eventually bought through real estate brokers has decreased to 34 percent of all home buyers.
In 2001, almost half of all home sales nationwide were through real estate agents, according to the realtors’ group. This figure decreased to 34 percent in 2008. The percentage of sales through yard signs did not change, staying at 15 percent of total home sales. Others that declined are sales through newspaper ads and magazine ads and through contacts such as neighbors or friends. Meanwhile, sales through home builders or their agents increased from 3 percent in 2001 to 7 percent of all home sales in 2008.
Tommi Crow, chief executive of real estate business tool provider Crow Erickson Inc., said more and more buyers and sellers are using the Internet to buy or sell their FSBO homes. Sellers of FSBO properties are now aware that they can reach millions of prospective buyers, without spending on real estate agents. Crow said the trend of bypassing the use of real estate agencies to sell FSBO homes is growing fast.
Crow added that there are free and low-cost online tools that FSBO sellers can use, such as Craigslist, usfreeads, MSN, Google, Yahoo, Infotube, Realtor.com and numerous free classified ads sites.
While FSBO sellers can have more confidence in the results of posts on online classified ads, FSBO can also improve their sales results by capitalizing on the Obama administration’s foreclosure program for first-time homebuyers.
FSBO sellers can persuade first-time homebuyers to buy by informing them about the tax credit worth $8,000 under Obama’s program. FSBO sellers should also learn about the preferences of first-time homebuyers, such as preference for space over other amenities, need for energy-saving features and preference for FSBO homes located in safer areas.