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fsbo: ForSaleBYOwner.com Founder Sells Home- Using a Broker - 08/03/11 09:38 PM
The Wall Street Journal has reported that ForSaleBYOwner.com founder Colby Sambrotto has sold his Manhattan condo with a broker after failing for 6 months as a For Sale by Owner.
Here's the best part: The broker got him $150,000 more than he was asking when he was selling on his own. So much for saving on commission- he netted more even after the commission!
The story is that Sambrotto went for 6 months selling "By owner" on the Internet, online ads, and the rest of the FSBO gig at an asking price of $2 million for his Chelsea condominium. He then … (49 comments)
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fsbo: Forbes: List with the Guy Driving the BMW - 07/03/11 01:17 PM
Forbes.com has published one of those silly For Sale By Owner glorifying articles we sometimes see and the advice in it is so poor it borders on comedy. I've blogged before on the trainwrecks I saw when I ran a flat fee MLS for sale by owner assistance business, and I feel quite qualified to answer.
They start with Exhibit A, Barbara Marquardt, who estimates that she's saved $30,000 in commissions over 20 years selling her homes herself without a broker. I firmly believe that this is the truth. Ms. Marquardt has indeed avoided paying $30,000 in commission. When I ran … (95 comments)
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fsbo: Honor - 03/19/11 11:56 PM
Earlier this week, I called a For Sale by Owner to show their home to a buyer I am working with. We just put their home under contract and need to find that next move up home for their family. They are nice people, and while I do not work with buyers as often as I once did, I was jazzed to help them.
The FSBO agreed to the showing and prior to the appointment one of my clients shared that she walked through the house earlier that week after I made them hip to it. No worries there, as we … (30 comments)
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fsbo: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Taking Flat Fee Listings - 10/28/10 04:41 AM
Rather than post a REALLY long comment on Broker Bryant's post on the subject, I thought I'd write my own post on Flat Fee MLS listings. Ann and I ran a flat fee MLS company for 4 years in tandem with our company, and I know a ton about the Flat Fee niche. Essentially, for a flat initial fee of $200-$400 typically, you enter a listing onto the MLS under an exclusive agency agreement, where the sellers are their own defacto representative. If they find their own buyer they are exempt from commission, and if a buyer comes through their MLS presence … (212 comments)
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fsbo: If I Can Get XX Dollars For My Home, Why Do I Need a Broker? - 09/22/10 06:38 PM
Early on the the beginning of the company, I listed a gorgeous old home that dated back to colonial times just outside the border of a village. It was a striking place, and even though it abutted commercial properties, its location outside the border of the village gave it residential zoning. A non-residential use required a special use permit, which probably would have been forthcoming for the right applicant.
We had offers from a lawyer, an art gallery, and others, all contingent on that special use permit.
However, the owner refused to do business with any of the offers.
He wanted … (11 comments)
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fsbo: For Sale By Owner and Security - 09/07/10 12:26 PM
I have blogged about security and home sellers before; I debated how to approach this subject today, because I don't want to give any wing nuts any ideas. But bad people will do bad things anyway, and good people will be good anyway. And I don't think any creeps read me. So here it is. I got the following email from one of my agents: Hi Phil, I just called up a FSBO. This one had paid some company to list it on MLS but the appointments are handled by the owner. The property is vacant. The owner gave me … (13 comments)
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fsbo: Do It Yourself Hell - 08/29/10 10:31 PM
I don't have any issues with For Sale By Owners. It is a free market. I equally have no issue with FSBOs who pay a fee to enter their home on the MLS and then try and act as their own listing agent. What I do have a problem with is people who distrust agents because they paint us with a broad brush in the lack of integrity department but then turn around and misrepresent themselves. That wastes my time.
Today I walked through a home which was billed as a "totally renovated home." It was not. It was an incomplete, sloppy, half … (8 comments)
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fsbo: If You Want Me to Work For You, You Have to Hire Me - 07/10/10 10:13 AM
You would think that all the stuff published by financial advice websites would have some consumers more educated about the role of real estate agents, especially in the case of a short sale. They don't. I have to educate many who reach out to me and set them straight on certain ideas in their head that they get from who knows where- most likely these asinine "what your agent hopes you never know" online columns that sow discord rather than educate.
A few brief examples:
The Open Listing. The guy is essentially a FSBO but wants me to do the short sale once … (54 comments)
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fsbo: I'm Worth Every Penny - 04/18/10 08:02 PM
I've noticed something lately. Even though sellers are getting less for their homes than years past, commissions are not down. I see more bonuses offered. I see strong cooperative commission offered in the MLS. Brokerage as an industry has not been decimated by the market downturn or the advance of technology the way other industries have. In spite of the naysayers and blabbermouths at the keyboard, the market is efficient, and it is proving the worth of brokerage.
Every company that was going to "change the industry" hasn't.
Every trend predicted to supplant brokers with technology has not manifested itself. And it won't.
… (4 comments)
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fsbo: Nyack, NY: For Sale by Owner vs Broker Revisited - 03/27/10 07:09 AM
This past December I blogged about 2 neighboring homes for sale in Nyack, NY that were featured in a New York Times article discussing the merits of using a broker to sell a home and the reasons people sell by owner. The homes were side by side; I was familiar with both, and even showed the one listed to buyers last autumn.
I was in the neighborhood again yesterday, and what I found was worth capturing with a photo.
Yes: The home listed with the broker, my capable friends at Wright Brothers in Nyack, is under contract at an asking … (31 comments)
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fsbo: For Sale By Owner Myths - 02/12/10 12:15 PM
For Sale by Owner, or FSBO is not uncommon in Westchester County. I have sold quite a few of them. I had an interest in a FSBO assistance firm, and a number of selling gurus like Craig Proctor have systems for converting FSBOs to listings thorugh such programs. I have seen dozens of FSBOs sell their own homes, and I am firmly convinced after what I have seen that most people who sell on their own are doing themselves a disservice.
First, let me say "most." If a guy puts an ad in the paper and sells his house in one … (12 comments)
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fsbo: For Sale By Owners on Realtor.com? - 02/05/10 12:32 AM
A client called today asking about a listing she found on Realtor.com. It was there in her zip code, but she couldn't find it in her client IDX portal. The MLS number did not match our MLS. We contacted the phone number on the Realtor.com write up, and it is one of those companies that will list a house on the MLS for a flat fee. I've dealt with them before and closed a few transactions. I was paid, and they were on our MLS. No issues there.
What was peculiar about this listing was that the home was on an out of state MLS … (78 comments)
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fsbo: What Does a "For Sale By Owner" Want? - 10/11/09 02:36 AM
Many of my colleagues believe that a for sale by owner (FSBO) wants to eat their young, draw and quarter real estate agents, and own a broom with a glove compartment. My experience is that few do. FSBOs are not a different species.
Consider this: Home Depot sold tens of thousands of drills in recent years to people who didn't want drills.
They wanted holes.
FBSO's may not want an agent, but nobody with their home listed on the MLS wants an agent either. You read that right: No home seller wants an agent. They have no use for them.
They … (101 comments)
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fsbo: Anti- Competitive Move? Wisconsin Brokerage Could Invite the Feds Back - 06/17/09 07:47 AM
According to Inman News, Wisconsin's largest real estate brokerage has adopted a policy of excluding the listings of non-traditional brokers from appearing on it's site in home searches. This is not good in my view, for several reasons.
After a long battle with the Department of Justice is finally over for the NAR, one of it's members is now virtually inviting another case to be filed. The last case did not exactly go well for the NAR, and was bad for the public's perception of REALTORS. When a consumer searches for homes online on a broker's site, they expect to … (3 comments)
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fsbo: Brokerage is Alive and Well - 01/18/09 09:04 AM
The reports of our demise seem premature. Even in this horrendous economy, there is no groundswell, grass roots change from traditional brokerage to virtual office, online, discount/FSBO brokerage despite the chatter to the contrary. Contrast that with the almost overnight decimation of stock brokerage and travel. The Internet hammered those professions, yet, as Active Rain and other sites clearly illustrate, the 'Net has actually helped real estate brokerage. Why?
You can't click on a house and buy it. You have to see it, walk through it, smell it, and sit in it. And few do that without a licensee present. Few do … (27 comments)
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J Philip Faranda, Broker-Owner
Briarcliff Manor,
NY
More about me…
J. Philip Faranda (J. Philip R.E. LLC) Westchester County NY
Address: 522 North State Road , Suite 100, Briarcliff Manor, NY, 10510
Office Phone: (914) 762-2500
Email Me
Phil Faranda is broker and owner of J. Philip Real Estate LLC in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Since founding the firm as a sole practitioner in late 2005, the team has grown to over 20 agents and closed 300 transactions valued at $125 million. He is in his 3rd term as Vice President of the HGMLS. This blog commentary is geared toward consumers and industry colleagues alike. You can reach him at (914) 723-8900. Warning: *Sarcasm and irony advisory at all times.*
  
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