I've personally put together several FSBO programs over the past 10 years.  One was particularly successful, and the other really never gained too much momentum.  I think the biggest reason for one succeeding and the other failing was the timing.  In 2003, Utah was going through a slllllooowww purchase market.  Allot of listings, stagnant value's, and allot of agents were struggling.  I heard a Ron Quinterro FSBO tape and thought it over and decided to jump in the FSBO market as a mortgage loan officer.  The reason was to hopefully help the sellers with their property by making a buyers purchase go more smoothly.  Of course what I thought would be my hot market turned out to be entirely different.  I closed a ton of loans from those listing, and ended up talking to allot of buyer agents.  I did however develop a number of great real estate agent relationships. Of course these real estate agents later listed a number of the FSBO listings that I had helped, and of course helped as buyer agents with the same sellers after selling the home.

The second venture was a more sophisticated program that we developed in conjunction with Circlepix virtual tours.  However, the timing was completely off.  The market at that time was booming through out the country.  We ended up spending ALLOT of cash on fancy signs and pretty pictures, but had little success convincing real estate agents that they needed are help acquiring the FSBO's.   The reality was they didn't need us anymore then the FSBO's needed us in a HOT market.

The reality is this, when its a buyers market, FSBO's are allot more humble and willing to work with someone who they don't deem a threat.  In other words, real estate agents pound them during tough times hoping to list their home.  A mortgage professional approaches them and is only offering to enhance their own marketing efforts in selling their home.  This of course makes it a much easier opportunity to develop a relationship with that seller.  And if the mortgage agent is competent and understands the FSBO program, they can usually turn that seller over to their real estate agent relationship who then can list the home for a realistic value.

Some states have recently made it more difficult for mortgage professionals to assist with these campaigns.  But if your creative and both the agent and mortgage officer brainstorm, there maybe a number of ways to utilize that mortgage relationship for new leads.  If your allowing your "ace" mortgage relationship to just sit in their office and eat bon bons, then you need to rethink your relationship. I think their are many MOTIVATED loan officers out there that would be more then willing to work closely with a real estate agent at this time.  You just have to be open to the possibility yourself......