Selling A Home By Public Auction

Going, Going, Gone!  If you've ever been to an auction you know how exciting it is. The adrenaline starts pumping as the item you have been waiting for comes up for bid.  The auctioneer begins his banter, and the first bid is offered.  SOLD to the highest bidder . . . . .

I've been to country auctions under a tent.  I've participated in benefit silent auctions - most recently the "Show Us Your Bra" gala event in Northampton, MA.  I've been to horse auctions and cattle auctions in a barn. I know about real estate foreclosure auctions.  Until this year, I had never heard about a public property auction held by a "private owner".

As a "for sale by owner" real estate advertising service, we're always open to new ideas and ways for people to sell their properties on their own. When a local auctioneer approached us about advertising his upcoming auctions, I needed to be educated about the process.

He told me that the owner can set a reserve amount to avoid selling too low, that buyer's must be pre-approved before bidding, inspections may be made before the auction, but properties are sold "as is", and buyer's pay a "premium", like a commission to the auctioneer that is stated in the auction rules.  The whole event can be over in 10 minutes! Now, that's fast marketing.

So far this month, we have advertised three auctions - one has sold, one didn't and the third just went online today.  Take a look! It would be interesting to know how real estate agents view properties that are for sale by public auction. Do they search these properties out for their clients or do they assume they are not worthwhile.  All I can say is that we are pleased to help educate sellers and buyers about the auction process and help consumers learn more about cost-effective  ways to buy or sell a home.

Massreia Investors Coming To Western Mass

Attention all real estate investors, landlords, flippers!

Thursday, August 7th - 6:00 PM - The Sheraton - One Monarch Place, Springfield MA

MASSREIA (Massachusetts Real Estate Investors Association) is coming to Western Mass.  After much planning, a new sub-chapter has been created in response to the needs of investors in Western Mass area - Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berskshire counties. 

We have been asked to participate as a Featured Speaker for the opening event, and will present "Pocket The Profit - Selling Solo In Any Market", tools and strategies for selling (and buying) properties "by owner".

Meetings will be held the first Thursday of every month at the Springfield Sheraton (One Monarch Place), beginning at 6:00 for networking, and followed by the meeting.First meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 7, 2008.  If you'd like more information, give us a call or log onto our website and join our newsletter for up to date information on these and other events.

Western Mass Open House Weekend - May 17th & 18th

We are excited to announce our first Western Mass Open House Weekend, to be held on Saturday May 17th and Sunday May 18th.  Participation in the event is open to anyone currently selling "by owner" in Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin or Berkshire counties of Massachusetts.

Home sellers will be encouraged to download and offer visitors a special newsletter which will include all open houses included in the weekend, with addresses, the seller's name and phone number and a photo of the property. 

Buyers who sign up for our Property Alert Notifications will automatically be given access to all open houses, along with mapping directions, Virtual Tours online and Print and Go property flyers

Agents who work with buyers are welcomed to attend the event, or pass along the information to their clients.   If you are a real estate agent in Western Mass and would like to be notified of future Open Houses or other events we may hold, please feel free to email me or call and you will be added to our mailing list.

NOTE:  Sellers who use our services are educated about the role of a buyer's agent in the sale of their home.  They have been given information regarding how the commission may be paid and most are open to buyer agent participation.  You will find that the majority of homes advertised through us have been carefully prepared for the market.  Many sellers have attended one of our Home Seller Seminars and understand how important it is to prepare and price for the market. It is not unusual for our sellers to pay for a pre-market home inspection and professional appraisal, or occasionally hire the services of a home stager or professional photographer. To see for yourself, feel free to their Virtual Tours online. 

Be sure to sign up to receive our Online Newsletters to learn more!

Women Build 2008 - Springfield Massachusetts

Massachusetts 4 Sale By Owner is pleased to lend our support to "Women Build 2008" project undertaken by the Greater Springfield, Massachusetts chapter of Habitat For Humanity.  The Women Build 2008 campaign will get underway on Mother's Day weekend and will end next year at this time when the keys to a brand new home will be turned over to a deserving family in the Springfield area.

As a for-sale-by-owner real estate advertising service that is also a member of the Western Massachusetts Home Builders Association, we have had the opportunity to work with builders throughout our area, some of whom are accomplished female business owners and successful contractors.  Statistically, women make up a very small percentage of those involved in the building trades. Through a special partnership with the Hampden County Women’s Correctional Facility, Women Build 2008 will provide low-risk incarcerated women the opportunity to learn building skills through on-site job training in the construction trade. 

We would like to invite members of the Active Rain community as well as business owners throughout the area to join us in supporting the Women Build 2008 initiative. We are announcing the year-long event in our new Buyer's Guide To 4 Sale By Owner & Builder which will be distributed throughout Western Massachusetts.  

If your company provides products and services to home buyers and would like to show your support for Women Build 2008, please contact us.  Eligible businesses include: lenders, buyer's agents, home inspectors, attorneys, home furnishings, interior design, etc.   

Buyer's Guide To 4 Sale By Owner & Builder

We would like to introduce our brand new publication this spring - The Buyer's Guide To 4 Sale By Owner & Builder.  This brand new, unique digest-sized guide is the first of it's kind (that we know of anyway) and is representative of the changing world of real estate as it embraces the for-sale-by-owner concept, is focused on the buyer's need for accurate information and resources beyond what an agent might provide, and regional in its approach.  

Featured in this informative guide will be articles pertaining to financing, regulatory changes in Massachusetts, how to work with agents (dual agency, buyer agents, etc), green building and remodeling, property tax tables, and a great Q & A section.  For the first time we are inviting area buyer brokers/agents to participate with us, using display advertising, writing articles for the guide as well as our blog, and for our website.

Buyers will be able to learn about relocating to Massachusetts, particularly Western Massachusetts through a series of articles relating to our towns, cities and community events.  A drop distribution is planned for 15,000 and the guide will be revised three times per year with seasonal content.  While we are initially focusing on Western Mass., we may extend the guide (online at least) to other parts of Massachusetts.

If any buyer agents, lenders, home inspectors, builders, attorneys or others who commonly work with buyers and who are reading this post would be interested in talking with us about how to be included in a local guide, please feel free to email us or call.  This is a pretty exciting time for those who operate within the real estate community and related services who are looking for a new way to attract buyers of their services and those not afraid to explore new avenues. 

Derrill's Race - May 4, 2008

The crocuses are up, I can see some bare grass and it's time to dust off those sneakers in time for Derrill's Race. Word has it that local teams are already forming and as the race's webmaster, we are receiving email requests for information and registration. Derrill's Race is a 5K Run-Walk charitable event held on the Manhan Rail Trail, right behind our office in Easthampton, Massachusetts. To my knowledge, the use of the rail trail (Easthampton's five mile bike path) as our race route is unique and its hard for participants not to take in the beauty of the Nora Valdez mural and sculpture as they begin their run. I love having my office border the bike path. Haley (my loyal office dog) and I are often found taking a noon walk along the trail, meeting neighbors and visitors to town along the way.

More Home - Less Money - Tips For Massachusetts Home Buyers

In many parts of the country, property values have tumbled in recent months. Western Massachusetts, however, seems to be holding its own. Buyers who have been waiting patiently, hoping for prices to drop more, may be disappointed. Recent reductions in mortgage interest rates mark the start of the spring real estate season and will be welcomed by many potential home buyers. With prices remaining stable, how can buyers s-t-r-e-t-c-h their buying power further? Here are a few helpful ideas:

The Future of Syndicated Listings

Now that RSS syndication is becoming utilized more frequently to allow real estate listings to appear on additional websites and real estate portals, I have been doing some thinking. What will happen to all these syndicated listings as they find their way across the Internet, replicating again and again. The original provider of the listing information has lost all control over the content the second the first syndication is made. 

In December 2007 we began syndicating our regional for-sale-by-owner listings to a handful of hand selected websites based upon having compatible search engine rankings and those that did not exist for lead generation or other affiliate advertising promotion. We also checked other FSBO websites to see where they were promoting their syndication.  Many of these companies say they will syndicate your listing to 20, 30, 50 sites or more.  Before you jump on the chance to upload your home for sale on Sulekha.com, one of the many partner sites touted by Fizber.com, you may want to check it out.  It appears to be a free classified website for the US/India marketplace.  A quick search of Boston single family homes returned only 7 listings. The first listing I checked was also posted as a home available in New Jersey.  HMMM.

While doing some research for one of our home seller seminars, I was searching for homes in Springfield, Ma and clicked on a link to Homesbyowner.com where, much to my surprise, a photo of one of our seminars appeared as a supplemental Google Base listing. As RSS feeds begin cloning themselves, being duplicated on site after site, I am now seeing the same listing duplicated 5 times on one website, all having been pulled from different sources.  If a private seller posts a listing on more than one website, it is not unlikely that the listing will now end up being syndicated back to the original website. Following me?  We all know that the majority of FSBO websites are loaded with outdated properties to make them look bigger and better than they are.  Enter syndication and these websites bulk up like they're on steroids.  Maybe syndication isn't such a good thing after all.

Buyer Brokers and Private Home Sellers

While some real estate agents go out of their way NOT to show a home that is offered "for sale by owner", many buyer's agents are finding that it pays to include FSBO showings along with MLS listed properties that would meet their buyer's criteria. Learning about privately offered homes for sale may take a little extra work, but the end result is that your clients will be pleased that you are not steering them in one direction only.

Many for sale by owner advertising services offer Property Listing Alerts, similar to MLS feeds where you may be notified of new properties coming on the market.  We recently expanded our alerts to include status and price changes and even open house announcements.  The internet has made it possible for a lot of information to be visible and easily shared, often using Web 2.0 features where you can email a PDF listing to a client with a click of the mouse, view Virtual Slide Shows, etc.

For best results when approaching a private home seller on behalf of your clients, we highly recommend:

1. Make sure that your clients understand that they may be responsible for paying your fee as most private home sellers have priced their property without the idea of paying a commission.  That said, let them know that you will try to negotiate the best price for them, no matter what home they choose.
2. When calling private home sellers, do NOT start of by dangling your buyer in front of them like a carrot, while trying to get them to agree to pay your commission over the phone.  This will turn them off very quickly and you are likely to lose the opportunity to show the home to your clients.
3. Do identify yourself up front as a buyer's agent representing one client.  Your goal should be to set an appointment to bring your buyer to see the home - period.
4. When negotiating on behalf of your buyer, understand that many sellers are aware of how your commission can be handled so that it does not affect their bottom line. 
   

We have had many sales reported by our advertisers where their has been buyer broker involvement and the majority have been very positive.  Typically, the broker's commission has not come out of the seller's pocket.  This works well, especially if the sellers have priced their property based upon a professional appraisal, which we recommend.  

The real estate industry is changing rapidly and more home sellers (and buyers) are taking the time to educate themselves about the process.  In areas where there is a strong regional for sale by owner service, consumers tend to be easier to work with. They have had the benefit of understanding how buyer's agents work and are less likely to feel that all calls from agents are listing requests in disguise. 

Real Classified Ads By FSBOs ---who haven't come to our seminar yet!!!

From time to time I find an interesting marketing idea from a private home seller who is struggling.  In addition to finding signs that are attached to the front of the house (for extra visibility, I presume), classifieds are always a good source of fun.  Recently I saw an ad in the local paper that said

"FSBO - 3 bed, 2 bath ranch on quiet street. Asking $235,000.  Will take $220.000, call xxx-xxxx."

"FSBO - Great home near park. Then, they included a website name with no ad# and no phone number."  Because the website was a freebie and loaded with junk, there were about 100 listings in their city.  Maybe they thought "great home" would be the key to find them.

"FSBO - 3 bedrooms, nice yard, near elem. school. Call xxx-xxxx."  When I spoke with the gentleman and mentioned that their was missing information in his ad, he said "I only have one bath so I didn't want to put that in.  I didn't put the price in so people would call and I'd have a chance to talk to them first."  He told me he got lots of calls and so I asked him what response he had. It suddenly dawned on him that they were all calling to ask the price, then they hung up.  

This is why we started having seller seminars and now invite attorneys, inspectors, appraisers, FSBO specialists (like me), stagers and lenders to help.